Wednesday 1 July 1998

  Slideshow Pictures

We entered Luxembourg city on Rue de Thionville instead of Buoulevard Grand Duchesse Charlotte as we had intended, but after realizing this and asking for directions, we managed to find Hotel Central Molitor. Rita went inside the hotel to get parking instructions. She was told that we could park the car at the underground parking lot about a block away. It cost $25 overnight and we had our first experience with automated attendants. Eventually figured out how to feed the attendant with money. It accepted about 5 different currencies. Even the locals asked for instructions on the use of the attendant, and with broken German I was able to help.

The elevator was tiny, we had to take turns taking our luggage up to our room. The hotel room was small and cramped, not one of the best hotels we stayed in, but the bathroom had a hair drier and a bidet. Rita thought that the nicest thing about the hotel was the light fixture in our room.

It certainly wasn’t luxurious but it was centrally located.

Had late lunch at La Fontaina which was on Place de Paris. People spoke French, Belgian and German. Rita and Rachel saw a few women with obviously dyed red hair, and felt very good about themselves. Lunch cost $75 and it wasn’t very memorable. I had schnitzel. .

As can be seen in the picture above we had no difficulty finding our way around Luxembourg. After lunch we crossed the bridge over the Pétrusse to the East side, where the Ducal Palace is located.

Walked around Boulevard F.D. Roosevelt and found a square with rows of outdoor restaurants and a bandstand where a Jazz band was just setting up to play.

We had two beers each and Rachel had a peach melba. On our way back to the hotel we stopped at another square where classical music was being played, performers were projected onto a large TV screen above the stage. We arrived back at the hotel about 9:30 p.m.. Made phone calls to Tina and Dean, and Rick.

Thursday 2 July 1998

Hotel room had a kettle and instant coffee. Had breakfast at the restaurant, modest buffet, but a nice restaurant with good view of Avenue de la Liberte. After breakfast we went shopping. Rachel had noticed an inflatable plastic chair, the night before, so we went back to the store and she bought it. Rita bought a cigarette lighter, with Luxembourg on it, a lotion dispenser, soap dish and egg cups. Rita was in shopping mode. Went back to the hotel, packed, checked out. Cost $211 CAN., and left hotel at 10:30 a.m. found a gas station and filled up.