Châteaux Vianden et d'Urspelt

Vianden is a commune in Luxembourg, and about 25 minutes from John's office. Vianden boasts one of the country's largest castles, and it is just beautiful. 

From the website: Vianden Castle was constructed between the 11th and 14th centuries on the foundations of a Roman 'castellum' and a Carolingian refuge. Until the beginning of the 15th century it was the seat of the influential counts of Vianden who could boast their close connections to the Royal Family of France and the German imperial court. 

In 1820, under the reign of King William I of Holland, the castle was sold piece by piece, and as a result, it fell into a state of ruin. It was a pile of rubble until the family of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg transferred it to State ownership in 1977, and it was restored to its former glory.

Boo fell asleep on the 45-minute drive and was not pleased to be awakened. She perked up pretty quickly.

Ugh, the tongue pose she won't quit.

There was some kind of documentary or movie (super low budget) being filmed while we were there, so we'd randomly see people in full costume run by, including a cardinal who, ahem, vigorously adjusted himself right in front of me. Guess the costume pants weren't very comfortable.

Nice views from the top balcony. 

Lots of famous people have visited this location, including FDR, Truman, Queen Elizabeth II, and Patrick Swayze.

Kitchen

One random thing I wanted to note was how inexpensive souvenirs are across the board here. I purchased three really pretty copies of charcoal rubbings of the castle, plus a magnet for like €12. Yay!

On our walk back to the car, I admired a few houses covered in grapevines.

After our castle tour, we headed to our own castle for the night: Château d'Urspelt. Urspelt is a little farm town directly next to Fischbach, where John works. This castle is about 300 years old, and served as the local command post for German soldiers until it was abandoned, becoming a bunker for U.S. soldiers during the 1944 winter of WWII. The château suffered a lot of damage (the soldiers burned woodwork to stay warm), but was restored in 2005, and is now used as a four-star hotel/wedding venue. Oh, and had we booked a day in advance, it would only have been €80. Alas, we paid a whopping €20 more. The bed was super comfy and the shower was excellent.

We made dinner reservations at Victoria, the castle' restaurant. The food was FANTASTIC. We started with an appetizer of raw salmon with some kind of spiced mayo:

Boo had spaghetti Bolognese. John finished it off for her because it was so good:

John had mushroom ravioli in a creamy truffle soup, also delicious:

I forgot to take a picture of my food, but I had quail that was stuffed with foie gras, on a bed of mushroom risotto. Really, really good. The wine and champagne with dinner were also superb, as was the apple tartelette with salted butter ice cream and molten chocolate cake:

The reasonable serving sizes meant we were pleasantly full and not stuffed. We headed to bed with happy tummies and slept like the dead. After a nice breakfast provided by the hotel, Boo and I took John to work in the morning (5 minutes up the road) before heading back to Vianden to explore a little more.

First, we stopped at an overlook, which happened to have a WWII memorial to U.S. soldiers. Vianden was the last city of Luxembourg to be liberated (22 Feb 1945):

After finding parking, we tried to find the park we had driven by the evening before.

The quest to find yet another park.

On our way, we ran into a chairlift that takes you to the top of a mountain to overlook the town. Yes, please.

The lift went all the way to the top of the mountain. It was REALLY HIGH.

Really, really high. I was a little nervous, but Boo was totally fine.

At the top, we hopped off and sat at a little cafe, enjoying the view, cool weather, and a drink. It was noon, and people were already hitting the sauce, but I stuck to a delicious cappuccino crème:

We took a few pics of the view and headed back down.

Now it was time to find a park. We strolled along, took in the sights, and crossed a cool bridge:

Yes, THE Victor Hugo (author of Le Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame) lived in Vianden for a few years. 

We ended up bringing John back to eat dinner at the restaurant in the background of the above picture. 

We finally found the park and played for about an hour. As we were leaving, a swan strode in like it owned the place. 

 I'd have greatly admired this park if it was one of the first I'd seen here. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but nothing compared to the others we've encountered. The structure above spun around and lifted up and down. It was pretty neat. 

 

We picked up John and headed back to Cafe Du Pont, mainly because it had a pretty view, but also because Boo wanted their tomato soup (we had browsed the menu). 

I forgot to mention that Vianden is right on the border with Germany, so everyone was speaking German, including our very friendly, very tall waiter. He also spoke excellent English and adored Boo, so it was a nice time. I ordered a caprese salad and French onion soup. I actually didn't like my soup so much, so John finished it for me, but it was pretty.

John ordered Jagerschnitzel, which he had enjoyed in Germany on his way to Iraq a few years back. I regret not ordering such deliciousness. After looking around, it seemed most patrons were eating schnitzel with various toppings and sauces, so that must be their specialty:

I didn't want to be "that customer," so I didn't get a good shot of John's food. Boo enjoyed her tomato soup and bread. 

For dessert, I got a crème brûlée, and John got the mini apple strudel. He won, as mine was a little too brûléed for my taste:

Not pictured: apple strudel that was eaten rather quickly.

15,000 steps later, it was time to make the "long" drive back to our apartment. Boo had been complaining about being sleepy all day, and promptly fell asleep from about 7pm-4am, and then again 6am-9am. I hadn't realized how much she needed the sleep until I saw that the dark circles under her eyes I attributed to her Italian roots were noticeably lighter. Accordingly, I've reinstated a 90-minute nap most days. We walk a lot for a little Boo every day, and she needs the rest.

I'm planning to book plane tickets to the UK pretty soon, since we have to do so a month in advance, and I'm going to start planning a train trip to Paris once Fall really hits. I don't want to go for the first time without John, so I can get my bearings with a second set of eyes on Boo. It's about a two hour train ride away, so we will probably go a few times.