EUROPE – PART 3 – LUXEMBOURG, GERMANY, LIECHTENSTEIN

Less than half the land area of Prince Edward Island, Luxembourg is roughly triangular in shape, boxed in by Belgium, France, and Germany.  This small country is the birthplace of the idea of a unified Europe and the headquarters of several European institutions.  It’s also very wealthy, with a long-held reputation as a tax haven for the rich, thanks to its airtight banking secrecy laws.  One could reasonably skip Luxembourg on a northern European trip, but that would be a mistake.  There's much to see and do, the people are friendly, and the abundance of French-speakers made it easier for us to communicate.

After a leisurely six-hour train trip from Ypres to Luxembourg City, we settled into our modest hotel near the station.  What a pleasure is train travel: downtown stations easy to get to and from; no security ordeal; always on time; quick transfers; and lots of room onboard for luggage, sitting, and reading.  We had time on our first afternoon to walk to the center of the old city, get our bearings, and visit the Tourism Office where we got all the information we needed for our two-day stay.

On our first full day, we took a couple of walking tours of the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We strolled along the valley park in the Basse-Ville, crunching fallen leaves and soaking in the dappled sunlight of a beautiful fall day.  

In the Haute-Ville, we particularly enjoyed the magnificent Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Bock Casemate, a vast defensive complex of underground tunnels and galleries begun in 1644 and used for military purposes until 1867.  Several times, we found ourselves coming back to Place d’Armes, a central square where residents and tourists gather to people-watch.

On Day 2 in Luxembourg, we opted for a self-guided day trip.  As we continue to learn how to travel, one important lesson is how to use public transit, and 2017 has been our year.  Our five-year-old granddaughter, Lucie, understands bus schedules better than I do!  I wish we’d learned forty years ago, but I suppose you’re never too old.  Now, it might make sense to rent a car for a day trip into the Luxembourg countryside.  That is, until you discover how much a public transit day pass costs, about the same as a good cup of coffee: $6!  For $6, you can ride the trains and buses all day, anywhere in the country.  So, we did!

The Luxembourg countryside is a mix of farmland and forest, a dead ringer for the Bonshaw Hills on our Island.  Our first stop was the pretty little town of Vianden in the Ardennes region, home of Château Vianden.  The Château, one of the more interesting ones we’ve seen in our travels, was rebuilt by the government after falling into ruins in the mid-nineteenth century.

From Vianden, it took a couple of buses to get us to Echternach by early afternoon.  This town of 4,000 lies on the west bank of the Sûre (Sauer) River, the border between Luxembourg and Germany in the region called La petite Suisse.  Echternach bills itself as the oldest town in the country.  The tranquil pedestrian mall that runs between the bus station and the main square made for a lovely walk.  We visited Saint Willibrod Cathedral, founded in 698 by the English monk of the same name.  Just a couple of blocks away stands the church of Saints Peter and Paul, the oldest part of which dates from the second century AD during the time of Roman occupation.

After two full days in Luxembourg, it was time to pack the tent again and travel to Frankfurt, Germany, next stop on our European itinerary.  We crossed the border and entered the Saar Valley, a heavily-industrialized area marked by gigantic steel mills; quite a contrast from the tranquil countryside we’d seen since Ireland.  As the bus approached Saarbrücken, it dawned on me that the city’s name must mean “bridge over the Saar”.  I was close, “brücken” means ‘bridges”.  We boarded the TGV and, two hours later, walked through the very crowded Frankfurt Hauptbanhof (my other new German word for the day) and took a cab to our hotel, the Alexander am Zoo.

Frankfurt, the business and financial center of Germany, straddles the Main River, hence the oft-used name “Frankfurt am Main”.  We walked to the center of the city along the pedestrian Zeil Mall, said to be one of the most frequented shopping districts of Europe.  We then made our way to the old centre of Frankfurt, the Römerberg.  The city is in the process of rebuilding this historic quarter after it was completely destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II.  To get a better view, we climbed the corkscrew stairway to the top of the 95-metre Saint Bartholomeus Church tower.

Frankfurt is a walkers’ paradise.  There are beautiful parks in the city and along the Main River.  We took a sightseeing cruise along the river and learned about the importance of river transportation in Europe.  Frankfort’s river port handles 2,500 ships per year, not including the cruise ships that call here transiting from the Rhine to the Danube.  In fact, the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal provides a navigable artery from the North Sea all the way to the Black Sea.

At 10:00 on Saturday morning, things were relatively quiet in central Frankfurt.  That soon changed!  By the time we arrived at the Kleinmarkthalle, the place was abuzz.  Though not the biggest, it's one of the most attractive markets we've seen.  We’d been told that to sample the best sausage in Frankfort, one had to stand in line at Schrieber’s, a hole-in-the-wall run by two seventy-something sisters.  After twenty minutes or so, it was finally my turn.  This special treat was well worth the wait!

Frankfurt stays home on Sunday; everything was closed and downtown was deserted as we strolled through city parks, past the financial district, down to the river, and back along the Zeil pedestrian mall.  The only people around were tourists and a few locals out for a stroll on a cool, misty day.  Frankfurt is a nice city, but not one we’re likely to visit again.  It lacks the charm of Bruges and the sophistication of Luxembourg.

We picked up our rental from a cranky Hertz employee — clearly more interested in talking on her cell phone than serving us — and headed south toward Baden-Baden.  The city’s name evokes the natural springs and adjoining spas, defining features since Roman times.  We spent an enjoyable afternoon there, wandering through cobbled streets in the old town, and along the magnificent riverside park, the Lichtentaller Allée.  Baden-Baden is a popular tourist destination, summer and winter, and is the home of an impressive casino.  And it doesn’t take long to figure out that there’s big money there; Bentleys and Maseratis galore!

In nearby Bühl, site of our hotel for the night, I got my hair cut by Abdul the Turkish barber.  Watching him work on the guy before me, I could see this barber was an artiste, like a butcher with a sharp cleaver.  When my turn came and the job was nearly done, he pulled out a fresh blade for his straight razor.  I didn’t flinch when he tidied up the sides and back and shaved my neck with it.  But when he proceeded to singe the hair in my ears with a Bic lighter, it was all I could do to stay in the freaking chair!  There’s a first time for everything, I suppose.

We arrived at our next stop, Frieburg, mid-morning, found our hotel and walked to the old town.  Like Baden-Baden, the city features a historic core, a nice riverside park, and a panoramic viewpoint from the hilltop called Schlossberg.

We’ve observed that graffiti seems to be considered an art form in this part of the world, with the notable exception of Luxembourg.  I HATE GRAFFITI.  I can understand devoting a wall or two to budding artists but Freiburg, an otherwise lovely city, is plastered with the most tasteless crap imaginable.  It’s everywhere.  It must be very discouraging for civic officials and residents alike.

Freiburg is the gateway to the Black Forest, an area of mixed forest and agriculture located in the southwest corner of Germany.  It's a land of cuckoo clocks, stunning scenery and lovely towns right out of a Grimm Brothers fairy tale.  Ten minutes outside Freiburg, we found ourselves in the heart of the Black Forest.  Around every turn, we were treated to postcard-pretty scenery.  I’d have loved to have a bike to ride the winding, hilly roads, and the old forester in me drooled over the quality of the timber growing on steep hillsides.

At our first stop, Furtwangen, we visited the Clock Museum and learned about the interesting history of this craft, a hallmark of the Black Forest.  In Triberg, we parked the car and walked down a steep path to see the highest waterfall in Germany, a cascade ending in a series of pools just above the town.

On our way to Gutach, we stopped at the iconic House of 1000 Clocks and were serenaded by dozens of locally-made cuckoos.  On a stroll through the village, we walked around the tiny churchyard and watched several people tend gravesites, each one a pocket garden, a unique manifestation of a relative’s tender love and care.  It’s the little things that make a day interesting.

I’d read about the Black Forest Open Air Museum and wanted to learn about the distinctive architecture of the region.  The museum features a dozen or so traditional Black Forest farmsteads, as well as mills of different types.  All except one were moved from their original locations and reassembled at the museum site.  The oldest dates from 1599.  One was occupied by 16 generations of the same family over a period of almost 400 years!  What makes the homesteads unique is that they housed farm animals and people in the same building.  Some still do!

With a land area of 160 square kilometres and a population of only 37,000, you’d think tiny Liechtenstein would be the smallest country in Europe.  It isn’t.  Vatican City (0.44 sq. km.), Monaco (2 sq. km.), and San Marino (61 sq. km.) are smaller.  Surrounded by Switzerland and Austria, the tiny perfect state thrives on a strong financial sector, manufacturing, small-scale agriculture, and winter ski tourism.  There are more registered companies than citizens in Liechtenstein!  On a per-capita GDP basis, it's among the richest countries in the world, maintains no military force, is officially neutral, and boasts one of the world’s lowest crime rates.

We parked the car in the center of the capital, Vaduz (population 5,500), visited the local tourist office and hoofed it to Vaduz Castle, high above the town.  The castle is the official residence of Hans-Adam II, reigning Prince of Liechtenstein.  I knocked on the door and asked if he could receive our official delegation, saying I’d been sent by the Prince de l’Acadie himself, Cayouche.  “Avez-vous rendezvous avec Son Altesse?”, I was asked.  “Chez-nous, on a point besoin de rendezvous pour visiter d’la parenté”, I replied.  The guard slammed the door in my face!

I’d booked a hotel in the nearby village of Malbun, thinking it would be nice to spend a night in the countryside.  The GPS on my iPhone sent us straight up a wall, climbing almost 1,200 metres in 18 km. or so; one hairpin turn after another.  The alpine scenery was stunning.  Turns out Malbun is the country’s ski resort, sitting in a high meadow surrounded on three sides by snow-capped Alps.  Except for a few red-cheeked hikers, it was pretty quiet while we were there, but Malbun must be a happening place during the height of the ski season.  Sitting on a bench in front of the village chapel, we watched the sun dip below the mountain, thankful that we’d discovered tiny Liechtenstein, yet another pleasant surprise on our European adventure.