Our short break away proved to be extremely relaxing and just what we needed.
As planned, we drove across the country into Germany to spend the first night in Cologne at the Eden Hotel. We had a splendid view, as our room was directly opposite Cologne’s very impressive cathedral.
The next day, we spent some time properly exploring the city, including its many fabulous bakeries. In the afternoon, we decided to head south-west to Monschau.
Monschau turns out to have half-day closing on Wednesdays, so a lot of the curious little shops that line its streets were closed. It was also bitterly cold, with snow lining the ground of the park and the hillside. Nevertheless, we enjoyed looking around the town, the scene of one of our very first dates back in early 2000. We stopped for a quick bite to eat in a restaurant to debate whether to spend the night here or drive further.
Eventually, we decided to drive a bit further, so I programmed the navigation system to guide us to the town of Vianden in Luxembourg. Wanting to drive along only nice scenic roads, I told it to avoid motorways when planning the route and within seconds, we were underway.
Satellite navigation continues to impress me, every single time I use it. There I am, in a small town in Germany, wanting to drive to a small town in Luxembourg, and this funny box of tricks knows exactly how to get me there. It even speaks the route to me, telling me when to take each turn. Even though I know how this technology works, it still feels like magic when I use it.
Anyway, a couple of hours later, we crossed the border into Luxembourg and rolled into Vianden, which was shut. Pretty much every hotel we tried was either closed or in a half-demolished state as it underwent renovation for the coming tourist season. We quickly exhausted all of the suggestions in our guide book.
Eventually, we found a cosy looking inn along Grand Rue. I went in to check for the availability of rooms and, to our great relief, they had some available. Not only that, but we had a fantastic dinner there, too, even if the environment did ultimately become very smoky.
The next day, we decided to drive down the eastern side of Luxembourg to Echternach, but because that was only a few tens of kilometres, we had plenty of time to spend exploring other things.
We started with a visit to Vianden’s magnificently impressive castle, which no visitor to the duchy should miss.
After that, we headed west in the car to explore some of that side of the country. Accordingly, we stopped off briefly in Esch-sur-Sûre and Wiltz. Mid-afternoon, we arrived in Echternach and soon found a hotel in the centre of town. In fact, it was very close to the youth hostel, where I once stayed about twelve years ago when on a biking trip through the Ardennes.
The next day was very drizzly, so we had a quick walk around Echternach before departing for the capital. Again, it was only a few tens of kilometres to the city, so we made it there very quickly. It took a bit of time to find a suitable hotel and park the car, but then we were free to start ambling around.
By the end of the day, we hadn’t even made it down to the lower Grund neighbourhood, which is always worth a quiet walk around, so, with the lack of a destination in mind for the next day, we decided to spend a second night in the capital.
Sunday morning saw us rise late, as the clocks had gone forward during the night. We piled into the car around noon and began the 400 km drive home, which we completed in remarkably good time, despite many kilometres of single-lane roadworks as we passed into southern Belgium.
All in all, our first extended trip in the new car was a glowing success. We’re already looking forward to making the next one. As always, we took a lot of photos.