Luxembourg City

So today, our big event was going on a discovery tour of Luxembourg City. But I had an important American moment today: on the way to the train this morning I heard Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" coming over the radio from one of the shops. (I also heard "Telephone" later) Then, I sat through another two orientation session at the Chateau, had lunch, and then we visited the two military cemeteries in Luxembourg. First we visited the American Military cemetery - it looked like this:

Then we went to the German military cemetery, also in Luxembourg, and literally about half a kilometer down the road. It looked like this: 

The American cemetery is very well kept - the grass is trimmed and the place is spotless. The German cemetery is much darker, much spookier, and not nearly as well kept. Very interesting. I have to say that I am proud that I signed the guest book at the German cemetery, which is cool.

Then, we spent the afternoon with a small group walking around Luxembourg City. It is a very old town, having been founded as a fortress in 963. Yeah, that old. Anyways, my team leader was Kelly, a former Miami student who is now the Student Activities Coordinator for MUDEC. She was very knowledgeable about the city, which helped greatly. One cool part was that as it started to pour, we ran into this little shop across the street from the grand palace, called Chocolate Company. We took a little spiral staircase up to the second floor of this little cafe. We ordered some hot chocolate (I had white hot chocolate, my favorite) and they serve it in a very awesome way. You are given a mug full of steaming milk, and then a wooden spoon with a block of chocolate on the end. You then dip the chocolate spoon into the milk, and let it melt. It was perfection. 

Eventually, we got back on the train (I'm leaving out a ton of details about the trip through Luxembourg City, sorry, I'm very tired now) and got back to the Chateau for a barbeque. I had a hamburger, with ketchup (yay for ketchup!). Also, they served us wine in little tiny cups. So, I had a small cup of a white chardonnay, and then with dinner I had a small cup of a red cabernet. Then, Norby and I walked around and met some of the other kids who are living in Esch and their host parents. We are scheduled to meet at the pub, Pitcher, on Sunday with some of them. Then, we are all going to Greg's (a Miami student) host parent's house to have a traditional Luxembourgish dinner. I'm very excited.

Norby's two friends from Germany, Ute (? a girl) and Rhiner (?) are here now. They are visiting for the weekend and staying with us, as well as accompanying us to the Schueberfouer tomorrow night. I am going to try to catch the bus tomorrow morning, because all of the other Esch kids said it was faster, so we'll see how that goes. But I must sleep now, so more to come later.

If you want to see more pictures, you can find them on my facebook page. I think I made them available to all, so there should be no problem checking them out.