Spring Break: Luxembourg (part 1)

As I mentioned, I had an amazing time in Luxembourg.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous while I was there, which meant in addition to eating lots of amazing food (I tried hare!) and exploring beautiful historic sites, I also spent a lot of time outside with Lydie soaking up some much-needed sun!
The first day we went out roller skating in Ingeldorf (the village I was in) and over to Diekirch (the next town) to explore and get some ice cream.  It was a blast, but it turns out I don't remember how to stop or slow down while roller blading...the things that keep me humble. haha.
I probably also would have been more graceful if I hadn't been attempting to also snap pictures of the countryside as I whizzed by.

Ingeldorf church

A little bit of home! (or rather, New Hampshire)

Diekirch was a charming town, and also lends its name to one of the Luxembourgish beers (I tried it on my last night-it was actually pretty good mixed with lemonade, but I'm not really a beer person).  If I remember correctly, there are two brands, one from the northern part of the country and one from the south.  Diekirch is the northern brew.
The town also has great ice cream, which was much more exciting for me.

the main street in Diekirch

The mascot-ish thing for Diekirch is a donkey, and there were images of them everywhere, including this fountain.  The ice cream was also different than American ice cream: milk-based, like normal ice cream, but with a much stronger fruit flavor more like sorbet.

In the afternoon we went to 'the lake', which has a real name but nobody uses it.  'The lake' us part of a reservoir system created by a massive damn, which we also went to see.  The lake was absolutely lovely and because we were off-season, also really empty and peaceful.

On the way back, we stopped at a viewing point so that I could see a castle.  Although the entire country of Luxembourg is only 2,586 sq km (998 sq mi), it has 7 castles.  I saw four during my trip, but only went inside one.  It was a great re-awakening of my love for tiaras (more on that later).  It even had turrets!  Edinburgh Castle, while awesome, was a military fortress and does not have turrets.

That night Lydie's sisters and I made dinner and I was introduced to 'bretzel', which is a pretzel but sweet and filled with almond paste and also possibly chocolate.  Around Easter there is a tradition where Luxembourgish boys give girls they like a present on a specific Sunday, and then the girls have a different Sunday to give the boys something.  One of these things is a bretzel and the other is a special Easter egg, but after much debate I can't remember which gender gives what.

mmm.