Vianden - An Easy Harley Ride

Sorry again for the long absence from the blog. It just seems to never get done! After returning from Spring Break with an actual motorcycle license, we've been enjoying our share of rides when the weather allows it. On this weekend in the end of May (yes it is August, now, jeez) we went to the small town of Vianden in the north east of Luxembourg. The small town on the river is dominated by a magnificent castle, once the home to the Counts of Vianden, who eventually moved north into the Netherlands. For a brief history, the castle was built by the Romans as a small rectangular fort commanding the high ground. In the 11th through 14th century it grew to it's current size. Fires and earthquakes left it in ruins and by the 1800s it was stripped to basic rubble. This patch of real estate has the ignominious distinction of being the last Nazi stronghold to be liberated in Luxembourg in WWII. Now, completely restored, it is a great place to visit.

Here, Jena has a delicious Pistachio gelato preparing for our visit.



A view from the back side over the river and the dam. If you look closely, I believe you can see Mr. Dam, Mrs. Dam, and the whole Dam family over there...



While we took many photos of the interior, they are somewhat run of the mill. However, Jeff found this to be really interesting. The view below is looking up from the lower floor (like a basement almost) of the chapel. You'll note the opening in the ceiling. This allowed the peasants to attend church without allowing them into the castle directly.



Another view, so you can see the difference of up and down stairs.




Later on the tour we wound up upstairs in the rich-people's church. It was definitely nicer! Plus you could spit down on the peasants if you got the urge through that big hole in the floor. Filthy peasants!



To give you an idea of the restoration, a "before" picture is below.



Most impressive to Jeff were the tapestries. This photo does not do this tapestry justice, for one there is no scale--the people in the picture are at least 10 feet tall. What is really neat is the number of animals...dogs, monkeys, a parrot, camels, etc. Anyhow, it was very cool and would look nice on our wall...if we had an 18 foot wall...



With the castle visit over and our ice cream settled, we headed down into town for an amazing dinner at a place on the river with a bunch of other bikers, as everyone rides when the weather is good. We had a great mixed grill platter and a local potato dish.



All in all a great little trip, about 45 minutes from the house. We're going to go back soon to do a ropes course in Vianden, complete with zip lines and that sort of thing.