Vianden, Luxembourg

Tuesday, we took a couple of days off, and made a 3-night trip to the town of Vianden, in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is about 4 hours by train, followed by a half-hour by bus, into the heart of the mountainous country of Luxembourg. Dark forests, deep gorges, running mountain streams, lakes, orchards, and farms, dotted with little tiny towns of about a thousand people each every few miles. The town of Vianden, founded in Roman times, is located less than a mile from the German border, about two hours north of the city of Luxembourg. It is the site of the Castle of the County of Vianden, who is the ancestor of the house of Orange-Nassau, from which William of Orange (and today's Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands) are descended. The castle is on the mountain above the town.

The buildings and architecture in Luxembourg are very different from Flanders, which in turn is even different from the Wallonian part of Belgium. Luxembourgish architecture, even the brick and stone buildings, are covered in stucco which in turn is painted in various colors. The Luxembourgians keep their towns clean and neat.

However, many of the Luxembourgians had an "attitude", somewhat arrogant and superior. Of course, Luxembourg has the highest per-capita income of any European country, has one of the lowest tax rates, lowest unemployment rates, and highest standards of living. So I guess they have a reason for feeling superior: they are.

Overall, however, most people we met were nice. Vianden is a tourist town, and we met many nice and wonderful people from all over Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, England, and even Alaska! French is heard as often as German. Luxembourgish is a combination of German and Dutch, and is different from both -- to the point of being considered its own language.

The castle has been fully restored and is kept in pristine condition by the government of Luxembourg as a national monument.

A Hike in the Luxembourg Woods

Tuesday, after arriving at the hotel and unpacking, we hiked up the mountain to the castle, and continued beyond, going further up into the hills and forests of Luxembourg. We probably hiked a couple of miles. The hiking trial led back down into the town of Vianden, and the woods looked like a well-groomed and manicured park. The trees were old and huge.

Very relaxing and enjoyable.

Inside the Vianden Castle

Wednesday, we hiked back up to the castle (yes, we hiked all the way to the top of that mountain), and took the castle tour. We enjoyed meandering and strolling through the old rooms, reading the details in the English-language brochure, and learning about the castle and its inhabitants, history, and culture. Here is a photo of the town of Vianden taken from the castle. You can see the town through the Byzantine windows of the castle keep. Here is the dungeon, which has been turned into a cafeteria today.

The grand banquet room.

The large kitchen (yes there's also a small kitchen).

The family dining room for the Count and his family, separate from the knights and other nobles who dine in the banquet room.

This is the outer walkway around the chapel.

One of the Count's main responsibilities is the protection of his serfs. When enemy armies approached, the peasants would flee to the safety of the castle. There, they would go about the business of living, including making of cloth, leather, maintaining weapons, etc.

One of the largest rooms was the "agricultural stores" area where they stored grain and other edibles for use in time of seige. The castle included a well dug 150 meters (460 feet) through solid rock, a magnificent engineering feat for the day.

Below is the knight's room, where the knights would suit up, go over battle plans, etc.

The castle was quite impressive, with large courtyards, bed chambers, and yes, even a torture chamber, although the torture chamber was not stocked as are the ones in Ghent, Bouillon, and the tower of London.

Trinitarian Church Next to Our Hotel

Immediately next door to our hotel is a church of the Trinitarians which dates from 1267. The church includes a cloister of the monastery from the Trinitarians (a catholic religious order, like the Benedictines, Jesuits, Franciscans, etc.). Here is a pic of the cloister courtyard. Below is the inside of the Trinitarian church. There was a dispute between the Trinitarians and the Knights Templars around 1300, and the Pope decided in favor of the Trinitarians, and told the Templars to go build another church further down the hill. (That church is also still standing.) The Templars were put out of business (e.g., eliminated) around 1318. Interesting history.

Here is a view of the church and its attached cloister, taken from a tower of the town's ramparts, which we followed on a hike through the mountain woods descending from the castle. Our hotel is next door to the church on the right, behind the tree.

Our Hotel

Debbie found this quaint little hotel right next to the Trinitarian Church: the Heinz Hotel, run by the same family for several generations. The building was originally built as a hotel and brewery for the monk's cloister next door.

The hotel has some of the most beautiful stained glass windows.

Even the regular windows were beautiful. That's a clothes press in the window, circa 18th century. We enjoyed numerous meals at outdoor cafes along the streets of Vianden. No, that's not pizza, it's Luxembourgish crepes.

Nice Photos of Vianden Castle

If you've got a camera, why not take some pictures, eh?

Castle at Clervaux, Luxembourg

On Thursday, we took the bus about an hour north to Clervaux, Luxembourg. Notice the bus stop, built into the rock mountain, with a flower box on top of it.

The courtyard of the castle of Clervaux contains the last Sherman tank to be put out of action by the Germans in the closing hours of the Battle of the Bulge. This tank was defending the castle at Clervaux. The castle contains a very nice, and very big, WWII museum dedicated to the Battle of the Bulge, similar in size, scope, and collection to the museum in Bastogne. This museum is Luxembourg's version of the Bastogne museum.

Unlike the Vianden castle, which is on a mountain overlooking the city, the Clervaux castle is in the middle of the city center. The city grew up around the castle. The white building below is the castle, which dates from the 13th century.

In addition to the WWII museum, the castle has a collection of models of 22 of the best castles in Luxembourg. Below is the model of the Vianden castle.

The Clervaux castle also houses the Steichen collection "The Family of Man", which I cover in another post below. You might want to do a google or wikipedia search for "The Family of Man", since it is world-famous. Edward Steichen was born in Clervaux, hence it is fitting for his exhibit to be housed here.

Clervaux also has some very pretty architecture, classical Luxembourgish.

Stoltzburg S.E.O. in Luxembourg

On the way back from Clervaux, we got off the bus at the Stoltzburg S.E.O. (central electric authority) Hydroelectric plant. Here's the deal: they started with a lake high up in the mountains, with a river way down in the valley. They tunneled up from the river, up through the mountain, up to the lake. They let the water run down the tunnel and through turbine generators when they need extra power. But, since most of Luxembourg (like Belgium) power is generated by nuclear, they keep the nuclear plant humming along on full power all the time, and they use the hydro power to meet peak demand. Then, when demand is slack, they keep the nuclear plant humming along at full throttle, and they use the excess electricity to (get this!) pump the water back up from the river to the lake! This keeps the lake full. Ingenious. Of course we use this kind of arrangement back in Virginia (Bath County has a plant like this, as does Lake Marion in South Carolina). But still, it was interesting. Debbie and I toured the hydro plant, including the turbine room, deep, deep back in the mountain. Here is the entrance in the side of the mountain. From the entrance, you walk down a looooong tunnel, lined on both sides with photos and hands-on exhibits about energy and power and the water cycle and hydro generation and stuff. At the end of the loooong tunnel is a heavy steel door about two feet thick, that opens into the stairwell leading down another 50 feet to the turbine room.

Voila. The turbine room, with ten turbines. This plant is about as big as Clark Hill.

And here is the control room. The operator saw us, smiled and waved, then went to the rest room. Go figure.

Fun and educational.

"The Family of Man" Exhibit

The castle at Clervaux holds the permanent home of the photo exhibition titled, "The Family of Man". This collection of photographs, compiled by Edward Steichen, contains 503 images taken by 273 photographers in 63 countries, and is considered by Steichen to be "the culmination of his career". The photos offer a snapshot of human life, from birth, life, marriage, love, joy, sadness, despair, tragedy, innocence, death, -- in short, the entire human experience. Many of the images are famous. We thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit.

Luxembourg Train

You've seen the trains in the movies with the individual compartments with several seats in them? Yep, they're in Luxembourg.

Ettlebruck, Luxembourg

On the way back from Vianden, we stopped in Ettlebruck. Another nice picturesque Luxembourgish town. Here is an interesting, elegant, bus destination board. More examples of Luxembourgish architecture. The Luxembourgians love colorful paint.

They also seem to like bronze statuary.