Saturday, October 10, 2009

Echternach

When we last met our heroine, she was off to Echternach, deep in the heart of "little Switzerland" and then....nothing. As it turns out that i have been in areas so quaint, that they are internet free! (i apologize if i am making even more typos than usual, but this keyboard is entirely random and difficult to navigate.)
On Thur4sday i took the bus from Luxembourg city to Echternach, which took just under an hour. It was raining when i arrived, but that did not dissolve my spirits, as the town is so charming. It is kind of like Tallinn, in that it is very small and very medieval feeling. There is a square and a pedestrian street, a church and a school and that's about it. I checked into my Hotel, Le Pavillion, which was very cozy; i then proceeded to explore the town.To my delight there were hardly any tourists and almost no one spoke English. There were however lots and lots of kids. There is an enormous boarding school in Echternach and after school and into the evening, the kids just roam freely. Some were as young as about 8 years old. They weren't creepy - like children from a certain movie that shall not be named - they were just hanging out and eating candy. It is hard to imagine people in North America letting children roam unsupervised, but to the best of my observation, not one of these children was being molested. Crazy.
Echternach
I walked around all the streets at least twice before i decided to venture across the bridge into....Germany! Germany is a stone's throw from Echternach - literally, i threw a stone and hit German soil. Unfortunately, the town on the German side isn't very attractive, but i did hike up a mountain path into the forest to see what i could find. (nothing)
Bach to Echternach, i had dinner outside of my hotel, sitting in the stillness, watching people walking sturdy rottweilers and German Shepards and listening to a couple of old men talking vibrantly in Luxembourgish.
And that was my day in Echternach.


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