Day 2: Vianden, Luxembourg Schiessentümpel Luxembourg City, LuxembourgAfter being treated

Day 2: Vianden, Luxembourg Schiessentümpel Luxembourg City, LuxembourgAfter being treated to a really nice breakfast of delectable pastries, fruit, and cheeses with our AirBnB hosts in Haillot, we hit the road and headed south to Luxembourg. Now, I was a little ignorant of the country, because I kind of thought it would be small, like Monaco or Vatican City. It is still quite a small country, but there are definitely different parts of the country and communities. Our first stop was the town of Vianden, a small town of about 2,000 inhabitants in the northeastern part of the Luxembourg. Vianden is known for the impressive castle that sits on a promontory overlooking the city. The castle was built over 3+ centuries (in the 11th to the 14th centuries) and has a Romanesque architectural style, characterized by semi-circular arches. (I’m totally using Wikipedia for all of this, y’all. Sorry not sorry). For a few euros each, my family and I took a two hour self-guided tour of the castle, which was really cool. I have to say, what was really amazing, and surprising, about the museum and exhibits was how modern it was. They used all sorts of technology, including advanced projector systems, interactive screens, and even virtual reality to tell the story of the Vianden Castle. It was a good marriage of new methods being used to tell the story of a historic site. After walking around town for a bit, we hopped back into the car and headed towards Schiessentümpel, a little waterfall on the Black Ernz river. It’s right off the side of the road, and many people parked about a half kilometer away and made their way to the picturesque spot. A cute stone bridge provides a path above the waterfall for guests. I wouldn’t say it was super spectacular, but it was worth it, since we were in the area. Our last main stop of the day was the capital city, Luxembourg City. The skies started to cloud up, and the rain showers started moving in as we arrived. Parking was quite a nightmare, but we finally found a spot. Dodging rain droplets by hiding under building stoops, the showers became drizzle, and we were able to walk around a little more. The city was really pretty, but my one visual complaint is that there was construction almost everywhere we turned. It was either giant cranes or other construction equipment that would block the views or mess up a nice camera shot. This is totally me ranting because I’d rather not have junk in my photos :) After we walked around for a few hours, we stopped and ate at a “Vietnamese” restaurant because every now and then, you crave Asian food on a vacation, right? At least my family does… The food was mehhh… not great. The people working in the restaurant weren’t Vietnamese, which probably should have tipped us off, but we were hungry so whatever. I ate pho, and the vermicelli noodles were thick and a little chewy. But food is food, and we didn’t get sick, so that’s a plus :) -- source link

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