Trees & Schnee

(Sorry...I can't give up Fahrenheit!)

First, some good news: the first snowfall of December for Lux Ville is forecast for this weekend. At the moment, my phone tells me that there might be a few flakes of schnee tomorrow; on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, a few more. After weeks of cold, wind and rain, these snowflakes are practically a Christmas miracle!

And second, a few words about Christmas trees.

Weekend Roundup, Dec. 9-11 (and beyond)

This is the last weekend roundup of the year – and my very last appearance on Sara Flanagan’s 9-11am block on ARA City Radio (103.3 & 105.2). Please feed my ego one last time (on the radio, anyway...) and tune in!

A few events for this weekend follow below...but we all know that the real stars of the show this time of year are the Christmas markets. So, be sure to check out my Christmas Market Roundup, a compilation of dates and links to markets throughout Luxembourg and along the French, German and Belgian borders. 

Bittersweet News

Hello there.

Well, I wish I didn’t have to write this post, but I suppose it’s better to spread the word sooner rather than later… So, here goes:

2011 Christmas Market Roundup

My dad at the Strasbourg Marché de Noël

I’m just going to come right out and admit it. I’m a Christmas market junkie. I love the wooden chalets, I love the lights, the festive tunes, the holiday bustle, the treats and of course, the glühwein (or vin chaud, depending on where you’re sipping it).

Last year, in addition to Luxembourg Ville, we enjoyed visiting the markets in Trier, Kassel, Bad Hersfeld, Strasbourg, Maastricht, Valkenburg, and (pausing for a breath) Montreux. If you’re heading to any of those for the first time, I’m happy to share thoughts or recommendations for all of them if you e-mail me at luxemblogger@gmail.com.

On tap for us this December: Köln, Brussels, small towns in Alsace and the Black Forest, Stockholm, Paris and Besançon – whew! (Something tells me that I’m going to need to borrow a pair of pants from Santa Claus himself by the time this month is over…)

If you have nearby markets to add to the list or any tips, recommendations or maybe a glühwein recipe to share, please contribute to the comments section below!

Joyeux Noël!

Weekend Roundup, Nov. 25-27

It won’t come as a surprise to you to hear that there’s lots more to eat and drink this weekend as the holiday season officially kicks off. So, loosen your belt buckle and get ready for some serious noshing!

And please tune in to ARA City Radio (103.3 and 105.2) between 9-11am tomorrow to hear me dish details on these events and more!

Weekend Roundup, Nov. 18-20

I'll be highlighting a few of these events on Friday morning between 9am and 11am on ARA City Radio (103.3 and 105.2), so please tune in! 

And as always, if there's an event you'd like me to highlight, shoot me a note at luxemblogger@gmail.com. 

Here are my picks for the weekend, and some additional event-finding resources:

How to Saber a Bottle of Crémant

Today is the 20th anniversary of the release of the very first bottle of Crémant de Luxembourg. But I’m not writing this post to tell you about that. You can read all about crémant and how it came to be such a success for the Luxembourg wine industry in my Luxemburger Wort article at this link.

Right now, I’m here to teach you the ultimate party trick. I’m going to tell you how to saber a bottle of crémant.

Weekend Roundup, Nov. 11-13

I’m stopping by during Sara Flanagan’s 9am-12pm block on ARA CityRadio (103.3 and 105.2) on Friday morning to talk about a few of the events below. I hope you can tune in!

Do you have an event you’d like me to include on next week’s Weekend Roundup? Or a funny joke I can tell on the air? (I need all the help I can get, folks…) If so, send me a note: luxemblogger@gmail.com. 

User’s Guide: What the U.S. Embassy Wants You to Know

Read their brochure.

About three years ago, a small group of Americans walked up to the U.S. Embassy in Luxembourg and rang the buzzer to alert the guard. When he answered, they announced that they were there for dinner. It was Thanksgiving, after all, and they had heard that the Ambassador always prepared a large holiday feast for all U.S. citizens in the area.

While the U.S. Embassy offers a number of services to Americans living in Luxembourg, an all-you-can-eat Thanksgiving buffet is not one of them. (Though I definitely think they should reconsider this policy, don’t you?)

So just what is the Embassy good for, if not for a decent slice of turkey? I had the opportunity recently to sit down with David Fetter, the Embassy’s chargé d’affairs (i.e. the guy holding down the fort until the new Ambassador arrives in a week or so) and Dr. Stephanie Shaheen, the Embassy’s public affairs officer, to ask a few questions, like: When is it appropriate to go to the Embassy with a problem, and when it is not? How long should a person expect to wait for a response from the Embassy? and Why doesn’t the Embassy ever update its web site?

Weekend Roundup, Oct. 28-30

I’m headed back to ARA City Radio (103.3 and 105.2) this morning with City Magazine’s November cover model (!), Sara Flanagan again this morning around 10am with a few highlights, and I hope you can tune in! Because there’s so much going on in Luxembourg this weekend, it’s scary.

No, really: it’s scary. There are plenty of events around town this weekend for children and adults who want to celebrate the American tradition of Halloween, from a spooky castle tour to horror films and chances to get freaky on the dance floor. The Wort/English has a great list at this link. 

But there’s one Halloween treat that’s not a trick: daylight savings time ends this weekend, so clocks fall back one hour. After all of that spooking, you’re going to need that extra hour to get some rest.

Vacationing with Vauban

Cancale oysters, fresh from the ocean.

Three weeks ago, Nick and I were on the Brittany coast of France, in the town of Cancale, sitting in the sunshine on concrete steps and slurping raw oysters pulled fresh from the ocean, pried open by women who spend their entire day shucking oysters of all sizes and shapes for locals and tourists who visit their stands. There are normal-looking oysters for the ridiculously inexpensive price of 5€ to 8€ a dozen, and there are also oysters for sale as large as your hand that you’ll wonder how in the world people eat without dripping oyster liquor all over themselves. Then there are the briny Plate-Belons, les plates, the flat regional specialties that the women will tell you to eat as they are; you won’t even be allowed to buy a lemon to take away with your douziane. And no matter which stand you buy your huîtres, you’ll hear the same advice: when you’re finished eating, oyster shells get tossed into the sea; lemon rinds and plastic plates and knives go back to the stand.

What a lineup!

When the tide is high, those concrete steps disappear into the ocean. When the tide is out, sailboats sink lazily into the muddy floor of the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel. Nearby, men in waterproof bucket pants work the oyster beds on foot or by tractor, meters from where the fruits of their labor are distributed to happy stomachs. All day long, the silhouette of Mont-Saint-Michel sits on the horizon, an especially breathtaking sight against the tangerine glow of sunrise.

Even though it ends in an “r” – as the best oyster-eating months do – October is the off season in Cancale. Which is why we love it there. It’s the only place we’ve been to twice on vacation while living in Europe. I mean, let’s face it: fall colors + quiet seaside town + cheap, fresh oysters + the most unreal deep turquoise ocean you’ve ever seen, well, that all adds up to a pretty stellar vacation for this household.

Oyster beds in Cancale

Lest you think I’m in cahoots with the Cancale Tourism Office by using fancy phrases like “tangerine glow” to describe the sunrise, this post isn’t actually about my vacation. It’s actually about something interesting I learned while on vacation that ties back to Luxembourg.

(But I’m including a few more Cancale tidbits at the end of the post, in case you want to go.)

Weekend Roundup, Oct. 21-23

This face was meant for radio and today, it's going to do just that: I'm making my debut this morning on Luxembourg's ARA City Radio for a very brief, shining moment during Sara Flanagan's 9-11am block to plug a couple of events going on this weekend in Luxembourg. This might be my only shot at radio fame, so wish me luck! (If it goes badly, at least Urban is on my way home.) 

Or, instead of wishing me luck, perhaps you could help everyone else out and chime in below? Overall, I have to say that this is a pretty awesome weekend to be a kid in Luxembourg (check out the Saturday events). But what other activities should be included in the Weekend Roundup that you've got your eye on? 

User’s Guide: Getting to Germany for a Klein Price

Over the past several months, I’ve shared tips for getting to Paris (and the rest of France) on the cheap, I’ve told you how to get to and from Luxembourg on Ryanair, and I’ve told you how to visit wineries in Provence via public bus.

Now, it’s Germany’s turn. And there are a lot of wunderbar deals to be had on the Deutsche Bahn (DB). Of course, the standard rule applies: the earlier you can book, the better your chances of scoring a cheaper ticket from Luxembourg. But there are several ways you can be creative about booking your travel, and several options for last minute trips from Luxembourg Ville.

The Mythbuster Tour

It’s taken me two days to sit down and write this post because I haven’t been able to walk to my computer.

Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration, but my legs have been a bit sore. That’s because Nick and I did a Very Awesome Thing this past Sunday: we went on a 6.5 hour guided walking tour around the former fortress fortification lines of Luxembourg Ville.

It’s a program that has been offered once a year for the past four years by the Luxembourg City History Museum and this year, I happened to stumble upon it on the museum’s web site. (A notice also appeared in Lux Ville’s CityMag; order your free subscription by e-mailing your Lux mailing address to citymag@vdl.lu.)

The walk was essentially a combination of the Vauban and Wenzel city walks, with some passages through outlying neighborhoods thrown in for good measure. There were only nine people in the English-speaking group including Nick and myself, so I’m guessing that you may not have been able to make it to the event. But don’t worry, I’ve got a few fun facts from our fabulous, fearless guide to share that will make you feel like you went along for the tour...

Bragging Rights for the Unathletic

As a newlywed, there are certain things you agree to because you think your significant other will eventually forget about them. Like riding your bicycle halfway across the country.

A few weekends ago, we finally completed a ride that Nick has wanted to do for over a year: the Piste Cyclable 2, a bike path that stretches from Luxembourg Ville to Echternach on the Luxembourg-Germany border, a one-way ride of 42 kilometers. It wouldn’t be our longest ride ever, but I was nervous because we had ridden part of this path last summer; I remembered more than one large hill, and had a nagging fear that there could be a lot more. And if there’s one thing that this House Frau does not like, it’s hills. (This would be in addition to wind and rain, if you’re asking.)

While I secretly prayed for a thunderstorm, we went ahead and made plans to ride to Echternach on a Saturday and spend the night. On Sunday, we would cycle home along the Sûre River on Piste Cyclable 3, a short 24km and mostly flat ride to the Wasserbillig train station where we’d catch a train back to the city.

Time to Wine

It’s a given that the wines of Luxembourg are delicious: grapes for wine have been grown in this country for over 2,000 years, so, winemakers here obviously know what they’re doing. Taste aside; moving to Luxembourg last year, I immediately discovered two wonderful reasons to drink Luxembourgish wine.

First of all, wine is bigger in Luxembourg. Oh yes, you read that correctly: in one of the world’s smallest countries and the only Grand Duchy on the planet, the wine is bottled in 100ml bottles that are 25 percent larger than a normal wine bottle. Which makes your lovely dinner last about 25 percent longer. (Don’t worry, it’s available in normal 75ml bottles, too.) We’re talking co-operative produced table wine in big bottles here, but it’s tasty, crisp and refreshing and – to get to the second reason I love Luxembourgish wine – it is so much easier for me to recycle. Instead of walking my grocery cart full of empty jars and wine bottles all the way down the street, nearly a full mile, to the nearest recycle bin like I normally do, I can just skip to the grocery store two minutes around the corner with my giant empties. (Score!)

Alima grocery stores in Luxembourg Ville have a large, boxy green machine, usually near the registers, where you can insert your empty 100ml wine bottles and – voila! – out pops a coupon refunding the 20 cent bottle deposit that you didn’t even realize that you paid because the wine was so inexpensive to begin with. You can use the coupon toward groceries. Or toward more giant bottles of wine.

Oh, and did I mention that these giant bottles can be purchased for less than 5€ each?

(Keep reading and you’ll get a primer on Luxembourg wine, and a heads up on two can’t-miss wine festivals taking place in September.)

Fête de la Mirabelle (August 27 & 28)

Adding to the list of delicious things to discover in this part of the world is the colorful assortment of fruit available this time of year. Take the plum, for instance. Red and black plums are nothing new to me, but when I shop here, these old standards are part of a rainbow of selection of more colors and varieties of plum than I ever even knew existed: like yellow plums, the green Reine Claude, smoky purple quetsch and, of course, the golden mirabelle.

Mirabelles are the tiniest plums I’ve ever seen, about the size of a shooter marble. They taste plummy, but not as tart; they’re a much more mellow, sort of sugary sweet. You’ll find them in countless ways; cooked into tartes and tartelettes, preserved in syrup, made into confiture, and perhaps most popularly, turned into eau de vie, the fiery, alcoholic after-dinner digestif created to burn a hole through the large dinner you’ve just eaten.

This weekend in Metz, you’ll have a chance to find mirabelles in all of these forms and more, at the 61st annual Fête de la Mirabelle.

The 671st Schueberfouer (A Bit of History)

You’ve seen the posters up all over town; you’ve read articles in the news and on blogs in recent weeks, the program schedule has been released and finally: the Schueberfouer is here. It officially opens tomorrow (Aug. 18) at 5pm, though restaurants open at noon and rides are available from 2pm onward. This is the Luxembourg version of the summer state fairs you’ll find in the United States, but without the farm animals and without the deep fried pickles, Coca-Cola, Snickers and Twinkies. (Yes, world…Americans really have deep-fried everything.)

The Schueberfouer is a big deal. It attracts more than two million people annually, has been the subject of documentaries and a number of books, and is one of Luxembourg’s oldest traditions.

But like most things in Luxembourg, there’s more to the Schueberfour than meets the eye.

Congé Annuel

The congé annuel is a beautiful thing. As long as you’re not me, trying to take my father on a pastry hunt.

Last summer, my parents visited Luxembourg for the first time. Nick and I whisked them off on a grand tour of the country and the greater region, but, I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say that my dad’s favorite part of the trip was scoping out window after window of colorful, mouth-watering pastries and crusty loaves of bread at the boulangeries and pâtisseries that adorn so many street corners in this part of the world.

(Honestly though, who can blame him?)

Seeing this, I knew there was one window that I had to take him past: Jean-Claude Arens, a pâtisserie and chocolaterie near our apartment that has a window display that knocks my socks off every time I walk past. With a puffed chest, I led my dad around the corner to show him what would surely become his very favorite window of treats in town and… the shades were drawn, the lights were off, and a sign on the window read: Congé Annuel.

Luxembourgish Delights (and a new place to find them)

I never, ever, ever leave Luxembourg for a visit back to the U.S. without several tubes of Moutarde de Luxembourg in my suitcase. Really! In fact, my brother, who recently received a tube in Afghanistan (where he is temporarily contracting), thinks I carry it around with me everywhere I go. He has a point: I probably should.

First of all, it is absolutely delicious. Second, at a cost of about 1€ per tube, it’s cheap. And third, since it comes in a toothpaste-like tube, it’s easy to pack…which is also a good thing in case I get hungry while I’m on the road!

But lest you think that I’m a lover of moutarde alone, I’ll also have you know that I have been stopped at least three times by tourists scouring the wine section of Alima, and I always point them toward my favorites of Luxembourg’s predominant grape varieties. And, no guest ever leaves our apartment without a small bottle of Luxembourg wine or eau de vie as a souvenir to take home.

If you live in the Grand Duchy, you already know that there are more delicious foods and beverages produced in Luxembourg than you’ll ever have time to taste, and that each region of the country comes with its own specialties.

But, did you know there’s a map to help you find all of those tasty treats??