Family camping

Our brand new giant sized tent certainly got a good workout last weekend! Jeroen and I drove to the charming medieval village of Clervaux (northern Luxembourg) last Thursday week ago. Leaving straight from my work at 5.30pm meant we arrived JUST before it got dark. All those practice sessions putting up the tent with our eyes closed ;-)) paid off, we had no trouble putting up the tent in the dusk/dark. AND we also got to test out the tent's water, wind and lightning proof-ness almost immediately. Within 30 minutes of setting it up, the heavens opened and we could fully enjoy sitting and/or standing in all that new space :-)

After a soggy Friday morning, and the rematch of our Luxembourg mini golf game of 2006 (and yes the score now stands at 1-1) we were joined Friday evening by Ge-or, Mary and their lively 4 year old, Matteo. Mary is originally from Colombia and it was her very first camping experience, so we were curious to see how the next couple of days would pan out.

Nestled in the beautiful green hills of the Ardenne, Clervaux is "famous" for its benedictine abbey and 12th century "castle" - castle in inverted commas because it does not really fit the traditional image of a castle (no moat, no turrets, no fortified walls), it really just looks like a big white house! A beautiful big white house on a hill that is ! Matteo was very keen to pay a visit to the castle in the hope of spotting a real live knight. He had even brought along his own sword and shield to compare notes ;-) The abbey is not really that old in comparision, and only dates back to around 1909 but dominates the "skyline" of the little village. It too is beautiful, and is crafted out of what looks like big blocks of grey granite. From just about everywhere in the village you have a view of the bell tower, and the bells chime out across the valley what seems like every 15 minutes!
















We all paid a visit to Luxembourg city, or in Luxembourgish more commonly known as Lëtzebuerg, on the Saturday (with a day ticket for the train, for ALL 5 of us, costing only EUR6.00 !!) And yes, Luxembourgish really does exist as a language, I am not making it up! It sounds like some sort of bizarre cross between German, French and Flemish and according to Wikipedia a total of 390,000 people in the world speak it, which is actually less than the entire population of Luxembourg the country!

Luxembourg city has the honour of being called one of the wealthiest cities in the world, due largely to its huge banking industry, has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 4 times (!!), and is also home to the European Court of Justice. The layout of the city itself is quite complex and is built on several levels because it straddles a series of small valleys and rocky outcrops. It certainly makes for dramatic views, with graceful arched bridges stretching high above a narrow valley right in the middle of the city. The afternoon was spent walking leisurely around the city, and another snowdome richer, we headed back to our campsite to light up that BBQ again.

The campsite itself was extremely relaxed and well run. Situated on the banks of a small creek, within a 10 minute walk from the centre of the village, it was perfect. The bathrooms were brand new and VERY clean, ordering the day before meant we had fresh croissants for breakfast every morning, and there was even a swimming pool - what more could you ask for?!

The swimming pool came in very handy on Sunday, not only as relief from the very warm 32C but also to keep Matteo entertained. With the resident rat making a visit from across the creek two nights in a row also providing some night time entertainment!

Once again a relaxed camping weekend in the sun, and who knows, maybe we have even managed to convert Ge-or and Mary to weekends away camping-style :-) Unfortunately I think this will be the last one for us this year, it is getting just that little bit too chilly in the evenings now. But here's looking forward to bringing that tent out again in 2010.

Alli xxx