LUXEMBOURG DAY TWO!

Because we took in most of the sights around town yesterday, we decided to head to the Vianden Castle, known as one of the largest and most beautiful fortified castles in Europe.  But first, we made a stop for breakfast!

After John enjoyed a delicious piece of salmon quiche and I got caffeinated, we hopped on the free tram to the train station.  We ended up having to ask a lady at the Information Booth where to purchase train tickets to Vianden.  Would you believe she told us that they, too, were free!  Once in Vianden, she told us, we would then board a bus (also free) to the castle!  

It was all easy peasy—until we reached Vianden and didn’t see any signs showing buses to the castle!  Lo and behold, we just happened to turn a corner and finally we saw a long line of buses!  Whew!  We found the 180, boarded, and proceeded to make our way to the Vianden Castle.  (Or so we thought!)

We were dropped here, in the tiny town of Vianden, and were told we would have to take the foot path to the castle (located way above the bust of the man in this picture!)  Say what???

We started the trek through town and, luckily, found the town quite charming.  And we found the walk a WHOLE LOT easier than you would think! (At least I did!)

We meandered along the Main Street and stopped by a small church along the way.  

We couldn’t figure out who was buried there as the plaque explaining it was in every language but English!  Say what?

It was a cute church and gave us a little break from the climb!  Once we continued our hike, we passed by some really charming places!

We continued our hike, (John was the leader; I took up the rear as I was taking important photos),

when we passed by this whimsical cottage decorated to the hilt with garden art (my favorite)!  Let’s just say the owner did not have my self control with purchasing and displaying her garden trinkets!  I loved it — as it made me smile and think, “Well, why not!  If it makes the owner happy it makes me happy!”

The cottage was located literally right below the castle!  (It’s all about location, location, location, correct?)

The charm continued!  Let’s just say, John WAS NOT impressed!  But I loved it!

He WAS impressed, however, when we walked past these!

Ever so slowly we made progress traipsing up the hill!

At one point we thought about hijacking this adorable Smart car to take us to the top!  (Oh, how I miss my Smart car!)

Finally, and at long last, we were within reach of the castle!  I loved the hike up to it; John, not so much!

We looked around a bit but decided not to tour the inside.  You’ve seen one castle, you’ve seen them all—correct?  We proceeded to turn around and head back down the foot path! 

We passed by the whimsical cottage again and thank goodness for that!  I had totally missed its’ amazing garage on the way up!

We picked a spot for lunch and a brewski!

John was thrilled with his Schnitzel and I was thrilled with my brewski!  Oh, and the soup was good too.

After lunch we continued our trek through town passing by cute little nooks and crannies,

and sooooo many flowers!

We continued our hike out of town and partway up a hill to catch the chair lift to the top of the mountain.

The views were outstanding!

Back down the mountain and in town once again, John sat and had a long talk with a guy named Victor 

before we hopped back on the bus, then back on the train back to Luxembourg City.

We chose Thai for our last dinner in Luxembourg, even though I coveted another piece of that delicious Italian pizza we had our first night here!  It was a cute little restaurant with exceptionally good Pad Thai!  I forgot to get photos of the restaurant and of our dinner!  But here’s proof that we were members of the clean plate club!

                                                              Good Night, Luxembourg!