We left Cologne today via the A1 and made battle with the frequent roadworks on our way south to Trier. But first we made a detour through Luxemburg. On way there we made a few wrong turns and ended up being directed through single lane farm roads in various states of repair. It was nice to see a bit of the real countryside though. It made a nice change from the smoggy haze that we have been surrounded with recently.
Our first stop in Luxemburg was Vianden. A pretty little town with a stream running through its middle and being overlooked by an old castle on the hill. Little old streets, lined with little old plaster houses on either side. The impression is that this town is reasonable well off judging by the way the houses are well looked after. We battled the wasps at the local bakery to get some lunch. We’re not sure what the story is with the wasps, but they are everywhere and seem to swarm all the sweet little things in the bakery (buns and cakes). No one seems to be bothered by them, they seem to treat them more as a nuisance like flies. Kirsten (Copenhagen) got annoyed with us for trying to shoo them away, saying “Now you have just annoyed him!” Opps. Perhaps they aren’t as aggressive as the ones we have at home.
Our next stop was Luxemburg city, which was just that a stop, and not much more. It was very much a flying visit, with Justine doing a quick run around for some photos. Parking here is diabolical (even by European standards), besides we couldn’t be bothered with the visual pollution that was being disgorged by the tour buses when we were there. Dealing with them wandering around dithering their way across the road when they saw fit, was quite enough. So we moved on from the highlighter bright, glitter tee shirts shouting slogans like ‘I love NY’, and headed out of town towards our next stop Echternach.
Our visit here confirmed that we prefer the smaller towns to the large cities. This seems a nice town with lots of trees and leaves. Our visit here included a visit to Saint Willibrord Basillica. This was interesting to say the least. This basilica was consecrated in 1953 after it was almost demolished in the ‘Battle of the Bulge’. It had quite a new feel to it in a nice way, it had very cool stained glass windows that almost had a Picasso look to them. Down the length of the nave it had alternating square pillars and round columns. The usual crypt was underneath the alter end of the church, with the sarcophagi being very simple almost minimalist.
But to the left of the main door as you exit, there is a little room which is just filed with ‘Holy Relics’. This really is incredible. There are what appears to be tibia, bits of skull, knee caps, bits of pelvis, finger fragments, and numerous other bits and pieces of bone, far to many to describe. They are all carefully mounted into a large case that also houses St Willibrord’s robe.
This raises several questions. Are these all pieces of St Willibrord? If not, who else is in there and why? How did he manage to be broken up into so many fragments? And the big question, dare we say it, are they really authentic? When confronted with some thing like this it is hard not to be cynical about the whole relic thing. We were asking ourselves, are they authentic? and are they presented as real to confirm the authenticity of the man and therefore the authenticity of the faith? These questions are far too big for us to answer. But it does remind me of the quote ‘believe in God whatsoever you perceive him to be’. If this is what it takes for believers to believe, then I guess they have served a purpose.
One of the interesting things that we found as we were leaving this town was that the border between Luxemburg and Germany runs right through the middle of the town. We discovered this as we crossed national borders about three times as we were trying to get out. We’re just glad that we didn’t have to produce our passports each time. One of the main indicators that you were in a different country was the price of the fuel. Diesel is about 35 Euro cents cheaper in Luxemburg than Germany, so consequently there are very few gas stations on the German side of town.
From here we drove on to our final destination for the day, Trier. Or so we thought. GPS Jenny took us to the address that we had booked for the night, but the hotel was nowhere to be seen. We walked in circles around the streets for half an hour looking for the place and still no luck. The right street, the right number, but no hostel. We finally went into the railway station across the road asking for directions, only to be told that the place didn’t exist. So what now?! And then we had an inspiration, we broadened the search on GPS Jenny, only to find there was another place by the same name in a small village 10 kms away. And ‘Voila’, there we were. Right name, wrong town.
We were greeted by our ‘hostess with the mostess’, giving us the welcome that the German people are renown for. Blunt, direct, to the point of being rude. I quote “Here’s your key, breakfast is from 8:30 to 10:00, can you pay me.” As it transpired we found that breakfast was indeed served at 8:30, and if you turn up at 9:15, as we did, you will find that (a) there is not much food left as it doesn’t get replenished (b) what is left is cold, including the coffee. The other guests had obviously already experienced this as there was almost a stampede downstairs on the dot of 8:30. We then proceeded to upset our hostess even further by sitting at the wrong table. They all looked the same to us. It’s always interesting traveling around the various accommodations, you never know quite what you are going to get.
Our first stop in Luxemburg was Vianden. A pretty little town with a stream running through its middle and being overlooked by an old castle on the hill. Little old streets, lined with little old plaster houses on either side. The impression is that this town is reasonable well off judging by the way the houses are well looked after. We battled the wasps at the local bakery to get some lunch. We’re not sure what the story is with the wasps, but they are everywhere and seem to swarm all the sweet little things in the bakery (buns and cakes). No one seems to be bothered by them, they seem to treat them more as a nuisance like flies. Kirsten (Copenhagen) got annoyed with us for trying to shoo them away, saying “Now you have just annoyed him!” Opps. Perhaps they aren’t as aggressive as the ones we have at home.
Our next stop was Luxemburg city, which was just that a stop, and not much more. It was very much a flying visit, with Justine doing a quick run around for some photos. Parking here is diabolical (even by European standards), besides we couldn’t be bothered with the visual pollution that was being disgorged by the tour buses when we were there. Dealing with them wandering around dithering their way across the road when they saw fit, was quite enough. So we moved on from the highlighter bright, glitter tee shirts shouting slogans like ‘I love NY’, and headed out of town towards our next stop Echternach.
Our visit here confirmed that we prefer the smaller towns to the large cities. This seems a nice town with lots of trees and leaves. Our visit here included a visit to Saint Willibrord Basillica. This was interesting to say the least. This basilica was consecrated in 1953 after it was almost demolished in the ‘Battle of the Bulge’. It had quite a new feel to it in a nice way, it had very cool stained glass windows that almost had a Picasso look to them. Down the length of the nave it had alternating square pillars and round columns. The usual crypt was underneath the alter end of the church, with the sarcophagi being very simple almost minimalist.
But to the left of the main door as you exit, there is a little room which is just filed with ‘Holy Relics’. This really is incredible. There are what appears to be tibia, bits of skull, knee caps, bits of pelvis, finger fragments, and numerous other bits and pieces of bone, far to many to describe. They are all carefully mounted into a large case that also houses St Willibrord’s robe.
This raises several questions. Are these all pieces of St Willibrord? If not, who else is in there and why? How did he manage to be broken up into so many fragments? And the big question, dare we say it, are they really authentic? When confronted with some thing like this it is hard not to be cynical about the whole relic thing. We were asking ourselves, are they authentic? and are they presented as real to confirm the authenticity of the man and therefore the authenticity of the faith? These questions are far too big for us to answer. But it does remind me of the quote ‘believe in God whatsoever you perceive him to be’. If this is what it takes for believers to believe, then I guess they have served a purpose.
One of the interesting things that we found as we were leaving this town was that the border between Luxemburg and Germany runs right through the middle of the town. We discovered this as we crossed national borders about three times as we were trying to get out. We’re just glad that we didn’t have to produce our passports each time. One of the main indicators that you were in a different country was the price of the fuel. Diesel is about 35 Euro cents cheaper in Luxemburg than Germany, so consequently there are very few gas stations on the German side of town.
From here we drove on to our final destination for the day, Trier. Or so we thought. GPS Jenny took us to the address that we had booked for the night, but the hotel was nowhere to be seen. We walked in circles around the streets for half an hour looking for the place and still no luck. The right street, the right number, but no hostel. We finally went into the railway station across the road asking for directions, only to be told that the place didn’t exist. So what now?! And then we had an inspiration, we broadened the search on GPS Jenny, only to find there was another place by the same name in a small village 10 kms away. And ‘Voila’, there we were. Right name, wrong town.
We were greeted by our ‘hostess with the mostess’, giving us the welcome that the German people are renown for. Blunt, direct, to the point of being rude. I quote “Here’s your key, breakfast is from 8:30 to 10:00, can you pay me.” As it transpired we found that breakfast was indeed served at 8:30, and if you turn up at 9:15, as we did, you will find that (a) there is not much food left as it doesn’t get replenished (b) what is left is cold, including the coffee. The other guests had obviously already experienced this as there was almost a stampede downstairs on the dot of 8:30. We then proceeded to upset our hostess even further by sitting at the wrong table. They all looked the same to us. It’s always interesting traveling around the various accommodations, you never know quite what you are going to get.
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