Above the Clouds

I was originally planning to be in S. Korea this trip but when a friend canceled due to a family emergency I flew over here instead to explore my family’s roots in Luxembourg and the countryside. This has been an inspirational trip so far, from the people I’ve met to the amazing towns and countryside. Usually when I think of travel I want to visit Asia but now I’m craving more of Western Europe!

…. Read more here

Here is an easy contest to enter! Wine lovers may get the chance to experience Napa like never before. Morton’s The Steakhouse just started a sweepstakes to win a trip for two to Napa Valley. Not only will the winners receive free airfare, but they will also get exclusive access to the “Celebrating the Legendary Blend” event at Charles Krug Winery. For the first time, the 2nd and 3rd generation of the Mondavi Family will come together to host an unforgettable wine dinner, pairing brand new Morton’s menu items with incredible wines from the Mondavi family.

Guests can enter online by visiting www.mortons.com/sweepstakes/ . One lucky winner and their guest will receive:

-         Roundtrip coach airfare to San Francisco International Airport on October 6^th, 2010

-         Dinner at Morton’s in San Francisco on October 6^th, 2010

-         Roundtrip ground transportation to and from Napa Valley

-         Hotel accommodations in San Francisco on October 6^th, 2010 and Napa Valley on October 7^th and 8^th, 2010

-         Exclusive access to “Celebrating the Legendary Blend” on October 7^th, 2010

You can enter in this contest from now until September 17^th.

It is so awesome to be able to travel between countries with no stops at borders. The only indication you’ve left one country and entered another one these days in the European Union is when the carrier on your mobile phone changes!

The public transportation system works extremely well – you never have to wait very long for either buses or trains. Today’s highlight was a visit to the picturesque town of Vianden. Cobblestone streets wind their way up the hillside among beautiful European architecture. In the summer brightly colored flowers drip from nearly every window sill and veranda. A river runs through the town and the outskirts are surrounded by miles and miles of forest interspersed with agricultural land. The castle on top of the hill dominates for miles. After hiking up to the castle you can then continue further up the mountain via a dirt trail and take the chair lift all the way down to the town far below.

Victor Hugo spent some time here and a hotel and restaurants bear his namesake. The Vianden music festival is in full swing. Concerts are held in the castle and musical prodigies are invited here from around the world – from well-known music conservatories including Julliard in New York City.

Finished off the day at with a nice meal at a Nepalese Restaurant. A gentleman walked in selling Korean bookmarks. After talking we found out he is Bulgarian. So to get this straight, we are eating Nepalese food in Luxembourg while being sold gold bookmarks from Korea by a Bulgarian Caucasian vendor who spoke fluent Korean! Oh yea! Now off to Bruges.

Did you know southern California born General George S. Patton is buried just outside of Luxembourg City at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial in Hamm. He is the most famous American buried in Luxembourg! This is well worth the short drive from Luxembourg City – hundreds of white marble crosses mark each grave. Patton’s grave is marked the same way, yet his grave is solitary “at the head of the troops” in front of all the other crosses. Note the date of death on his grave site – its just after WWII ended. No he did not die in the war, unfortunately he met with an untimely death in what was a rather minor car accident

I’m used to county fairs where people show up dressed in their grubbies or not dressed up at all. So imagine my surprise when I visited the 670th annual Schueberfouer fun fair and saw people dressed to the nines in their finest all the while trying to avoid messing up their clothes while eating the messy fair food! The Hollenblitz is supposedly Europe’s largest indoor roller coaster so I had to try it out. Yes, most of the screams were coming from me on this mild rated ride. Check out some of our photos below – will post more when I get a chance in our main photos gallery. Now off for some more exploring!

What an amazing day, from racing through the rural Luxembourg hillsides up hills at 240 km/hour in a new Porsche 911 Carrera 4S to gorging on local Sauerkraut and Wienershnitzel at the Schueberfouer fun fair held every year since 1340, (670 years and counting – I’ve scheduled a return in 30 years for the 700th one).

We visited Moselle, Luxembourg’s largest wine region. The focus here is on white varietals with some Pinot Noir thrown in for good measure. Immediately on the other side of the Moselle River is a German wine growing region where their rieslings are a bit sweeter than the Luxembourg counterparts. Grapes from two different countries are mererly a hundred meters apart in some places.

We drove through small empty villages among beautiful European archtecture, hillside cobblestone streets among acres and acres of vineyards. This is a cocktail free trip for me since I somewhat inebriated myself on cocktails in the San Francisco Airport. Not to worry, there is plenty of wine at my disposal.

Not knowing what to expect and having no plans whatsoever before I arrived here, I wasn’t sure how this trip would turn out. However this entire city and countryside feels like some location in a fairy tale and I am having a great time exploring most everything by foot. I brought the California sunshine with me and its bright blue days with a few wispy clouds hanging around making for good photos with warm temperatures in the upper 80s. In my travels it is rare when you have that perfect combination of temperature, humidity and bright sunshine which makes if feel exactly like spring especially with the surrounding bright green hillsides and vegation.

Leaving the sauna this evening the lifeguard spoke one word to me, “Adi”, which is goodbye in Luxembourgish. However I thought he was speaking French to moi, so I replied “Adiue”, however I was told immediatley after this encounter, that I just told him, “goodbye for life and I will never see you again”, which when thinking about it makes sense, yet this was not the most polite thing to say!

Luxembourg City is made for walking; everything is located so close by. You can be within the country by taking a relatively short walk and within a half days drive or less you can be in Paris, Frankfurt, Belgium or Amsterdam.

We came out of the sky in Frankfurt after a very choppy flight from San Francisco. Our landing even incorporated a nifty swerve at the last minute which produced a collective oooh and ahh from many of the tired passengers. I had planned on taking a bus from the airport to Luxembourg City however upon landing I discovered Hahn airport (as listed on my bus printout) was not Frankfurt airport. Running to secure a bus I bumped into a number of locals who helped direct me to another terminal. One lady said Hahn airport was only 20 minutes away. Whew, “thats great I though to myself, I will get into Luxembourg real early.” As it turned out, after a 2 hour bus ride, I arrived at Hahn airport and found another bus (another 90 minutes) to take me to Luxembourg City. Several bright shiny stickers in the front of the bus indicated no cell phone usage. However there were no signs preventing intimacy. In the seat directly behind me were lovers locked in embrace sensuously smacking lips every few minutes.

The driver told me the bus would leave in 2 hours so I walked out to look for some food. The bus driver started running after me saying, “we go now” – more miscommnication due to a language barrier.

Luxembourg City is a cute town and compact, most definetely built for walking. We have locations like this in America, but only in the hyper reality infused Las Vegas. Thre are many outdoor restaurants built on hills and narrow winding cobblestone streets. This is a very clean safe city with a fine selection of restaurants everywhere. A FunFair which has been held annually since the year 1340 just started – Im going to visit that tomorrow.

Thanks to Nora at The Professional Hobo for posting our “week in the life” slice from our trip to Ghana & Cote d’ivoire from last month: http://tiny.cc/xem3c

Nora spotlights a number of travelers who write about 1 week from one of their trips or ongoing travels and she has a variety of good travel content from her own trips as well as other travelers.

During a visit to the 100 million dollar Kenzo Estate in Napa, (one of Napa’s newest wineries and most expensive and a cool experience in an of itself) we discovered Moulton Brown in their bathroom. You can always judge the money behind a winery based on the quality of their hand wash and disposable tissue.

This is high end hand wash from London (Naran Ji); it sells for $25/bottle – lovely aromatics. Details? www.moltonbrown.com
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Our friend Lillie is the host for this event in Boston. It is  a nationwide movement to raise awareness about career breaks and extended travel.

Interested in extended travel?  Inspired by “Eat Pray Love” to see the world?  Sign up for the FREE “Meet Plan Go” conference on Sept. 14 to MEET a panel of career-break travel experts, PLAN your own international journey, and GO on that global adventure.  All-star panelists include Amanda Pressner, author of “The Lost Girls,” Bob Reil of “Two Laps Around the World,” and Stever Robbins, the “Get-it-Done Guy.”  Attendees will be entered to win free international flights and volunteer vacations from STA Travel, Gap Adventures, and more.  Help us spread the word!  Registration is now open at: MeetPlanGo.com

Matt & Sean of Royalty Rope Productions are involved with this annual festival. I attended one of their red carpet events last year on the blvd – they know how to do it right, as well as the after event parties!

If you get a chance check out this event; there are only a few more days – it runs until the 12th of the month. http://www.hollyshorts.com/

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