Weekend in Luxembourg

We spent the past weekend in Luxembourg. Why Luxembourg? Rachel was competing in a middle school math competition. This weekend she was a "mathlete". Since Rachel would be there we decided this was our time to visit.

Rachel, AJ & Stefanie - Rachel's ready to fly

Rachel got to fly with her team but the rest of us drove. After dropping Rachel at the airport we made the five hour drive. A fun bonus of this trip was a hotel with a pool. We spent our Friday afternoon swimming and working out while Steve took some calls. That evening we headed to The Grund area of Luxembourg for dinner at a beer hall. While the atmosphere was cool, the service was not, but we still had fun.

Saturday was our big tourist day. We started with Vianden Castle which is 45 minutes outside of Luxembourg. It is an amazing feudal castle originally built between 1100-1400. What I found most interesting was that it was sold off piece by piece through the years. Then the Grand Duke of Luxembourg transferred it to state ownership in 1977 and it was rebuilt. 

AJ in the stocks

Stefanie in the stocks 

Stefanie and AJ make a smiley face in the castle

Next we had an awesome tapas lunch at Una Mas. The kids learned all about tapas in Barcelona and definitely enjoy it. We then spent the afternoon exploring Luxembourg City. We walked part of the Wenzel Walk and explored the Bock Promontory and the Bock Casements. Standing on top of the wall affords beautiful views of the Pétrusse valley. 

Stefanie, Dominic & AJ

Underground there are 23km of mazes that was used as part of the defense system of the city starting back in the 17th century. During WWII as many as 30,000 people took shelter in them. We also realized that we couldn't let the kids wander around here on their own or we would lose them. Luckily we figured this out before Dominic got too far ahead of us!

We explored the main plazas of the city Place de Guillame and Place d'Armes. There was even a flea market which was fun to poke around. Then we headed over to the Palace of the Grand Duke, you can only tour it in the summer but right across from it is The Chocolate House. Here you can order many different types of hot chocolate. The chocolate flavor comes as a chocolate block on a stick that you stir into your hot whipped milk. It's a delicious way to have hot chocolate. We also sampled some cake while we were there. It was a lovely afternoon break.

Dominic, AJ & Stefanie

We spent the early evening swimming and working out (notice a trend?) and then had a lovely Italian dinner near our hotel! We started our Sunday leisurely and then headed over to the International School of Luxembourg for the math competition award ceremony. Rachel's team didn't place but she had a fabulous time.

MIS Middle School Math Team