10 November - Wet, wet, wet in Luxembourg

We were up early and off to Gare de L'Est railway station via the metro for our train to Luxembourg. We didn't get lucky this time and Astrid woke up with our alarms so she was also up early.  This was a slightly later train so the bakeries in our street were open and we managed to grab some brioche and croissant for the train journey.

Our train was on time and as we had booked this trip on our Eurail pass we were in first class, which meant big seats and lots of room to spread out. We had made a last minute decision to take an extra bag to leave at the train station so we could bring the tablet and some toys for Astrid. It turned out to be a good decision and she happily watched playschool for the entire train ride while eating chocolate brioche and croissant.  Walking up and down the train pretty much everyone was watching tv on laptops or i-pads so we weren't the only ones.

The train was particularly efficient and spend most of the trip on 300km/h between stations and we reached Luxembourg in a little over 2 hours.  It was looking like a nice day when we left Paris, and the forecast for Luxembourg was acceptable but when we got there it was grey and cold.  Unfortunately the forecasts seem to be unreliable and we don't have many options with which days we pick to go places, so we get stuck with whatever weather we happen to get. It's a real pain when you only have one day in a city and it's awful weather.

The entire country of Luxembourg is only about 5% slightly bigger than the whole of the A.C.T and it's population about 20% bigger than Canberra. It's a little weird that it's a whole other country, but we thought it would be interesting to explore. Luxembourg city area is fairly small (about the size of Civic at home) and we were just planning to walk around it for the day.  The railway station is about 2km from the main city area and in the newer part of town.  Once out of the station we discovered our GPS and maps weren't working on our phones so we had to go old school and follow signs and find a tourist office!

Luxembourg city is split by the Alzette river and has a huge valley running through it. The 'Grund' is the area located at the base of the valley. The newer part of town is near the railway station and seems to be mostly office buildings and departtment stores. Being a Saturday other than chain stores, not much was open. We walked over the bridge towards the old town and the valley and river did look quite picturesque despite it being a very grey and misty morning.  The trees were displaying all their Autumn colours and if the sun had of come out it would have been spectacular. We did note that we haven't had much luck with getting anything other than grey days in many of the cities we have visited.

The old town was full of lovely buildings and cobbled streets. We did immediately notice that the streets are full of *very* expensive looking shops, equipped with security guards and that Luxembourg is much closer in feel to the Swiss cities than the French ones.  It seemed very proper and people quite polite.  It did feel a little odd though.  They are officially tri-lingual with French, German and Luxembourgish (yes that is a language, apparently!) all spoken. Plus, pretty much everyone spoke English (and also Italian and Portugese are also widely spoken). The signs were all a mix of French, German and Luxembourgish and it was kind of hard to make much out because Luxembourgish is a mix of French and German words with some other stuff thrown in we couldn't make out at all. Most people asked what language we wanted when we spoke to them and it was hard to know what to use when ordering things, so we mostly just went with English.  Apparently in schools they teach all three official languages plus English and you are supposed to be proficient in all to graduate.

We noted that within 5 minutes of leaving the railway station we had the first Ferrari drive past us at high speed and we frequently spotted very expensive looking cars all day long.  They also LOVE their dogs. Dogs were everywhere. Big ones, small ones, and many dogs dressed up in arrays of sparkly outfits. We also saw a dog come into the lunch cafe in it's own 'wheely carrier' dressed up in a sparkly top.

We wandered around the old town and despite having read reviews of how expensive the food was  in Luxembourg we were impressed to see the variety was huge, with lovely restaurants, impressive patisseries and chocolatiers. It was very similar to Paris, with slightly more German influence and bigger, cleaner more polite streets.

Astrid had fallen asleep in the carrier so we wandered around having a look in expensive shop windows (we were unlikely to buy much here we decided) and found some markets with delicious looking Italian food and Viennese nuts. We found the tourist office and picked up some maps. At this point Astrid was awake so we decided to grab some lunch. In the town square and streets surrounding it there was a ton of cafes, mostly French and Italian influenced. We were keen on some of the more German influenced food but it seemed very meat heavy and nothing vegetarian for me. Same with most of the French influenced cafes. It was hard to tell though as most menus didn't have English and the language mix was random so we had minimal idea what most dishes were other than picking out the odd French or German word we knew.

We eventually found what looked like a nice cafe place spread over 3 levels. It had a lots of crepes, salads, pizzas and focaccias and waffles. It was well priced and we got a whole pizza, a ciabatta and salad and a croque monsieur and 2 hot drinks for under 25 Euro. We didn't even made a dent in all the food, which was a shame since the crepes and waffles looked yum. The drinks menu was amusing. It was literally about 30 pages long and most of the drinks came with various assortments of alcohol in them. You could also get cocktails for around 6 Euro and it seemed common to drink cocktails or coffees with alcohol at lunch.  We have since learnt that Luxembourg sells the most alcohol in Europe per capita. A fact reinforced when we visited supermarkets that were 30% chocolate and biscuits, 50% alcohol and 20% everything else.

After our lunch we headed out to do some sight seeing to discover it was raining. Undeterred we headed back towards the river and down the many many stairs into the valley. The steep stone walls and cobblestone paths are lovely to walk down but it was quite wet and slippery, especially as most were moss covered. We couldn't get many photos as it was raining quite heavily and we forgotten our umbrella.  We wandered for about an hour and a half, along the river and back up over the bridge. Rocky cliffs surround the river on three sides


The cliffs contain the casemates which are tunnels, passages and galleries originally used for defending the Castle and moving armory. The total 23km in length but are only open until October so we missed going in them (not that I minded since I don't like small, dark spaces). You could see the barred windows from the outside in places though. We also walked through some of the UNESCO listed heritage sites and the old fortifications. If it wasn't pouring with rain and we weren't totally sogged through it would have been more pleasant.

Astrid was being good despite being wet and we thought we all needed to warm up. We found a cafe and got some hot chocolate (which was rich and delicious) and some afternoon tea pastries. We weren't the only ones huddled in a cafe trying to dry out. It enjoyed our snack and watching them bake baguettes. It was pretty similar to being in Paris except the food was cheaper and the languages weirder.

Totally sodden but wanting to do a bit more sight seeing we went out to find an umbrella. We found the ugliest Luxembourg umbrella imaginable but it was cheap. It was a complicated transaction though involving many bits of paper and waiting around for an 8 Euro umbrella.  We decided that it wasn't worth seeing the Palace that the Duke lives in as the photo in the tourist brochure makes it look like most of the other buildings around. So we headed back through the valley for another walk through the cliffs and the Grund. It was raining less and we took a different path and got a few photos, although it was still grey and misty.

27 October - A very cold and snowy day in Zurich

We had a reasonably good nights sleep in our Zurich hotel. A bed that was big, in one piece and a room that was the correct temperature! The constant wail of police sirens was interesting but we were tired so it didn't bother us too much.

Astrid woke up fairly early so we decided to have breakfast and head out for some early sightseeing. Breakfast was in the next building (part of the same hotel). We went downstairs and immediately realised it was pouring with rain, dark and very cold.  At any rate breakfast was great, the best Swiss offering yet! Lots of lovely croissants and almond pastries, heaps of yummy breads, cheeses and meats and more yogurt and  jams and good coffee.  We ate plenty and decided to go back to our room and re-evaluate our plan for the day.

The weather forecast was not inspiring. It was currently 6 degrees, with heavy rain, and it was predicted to hit zero by lunch time, with sleet. Progressing to minus 1 and heavy snow by mid-afternoon.  The prospect of snow was exciting but it was pretty average weather for our only day in a city we really wanted to see.

Given it was only going to get colder we decided to rug up and put Astrid in the carrier with  the weather hood on and go for a walk around the old town and Bahnhoff Strasse.  We had to find a supermarket for an umbrella and started wandering the streets. It was too wet for many photos but it was still nice wandering around the river and looking at the lovely old buildings, cafes and restaurants.

We noted that the swans looked less than impressed with the weather and had their heads well and truly tucked up as the floated around.  At this point Astrid had fallen asleep in the carrier so we thought we'd keep walking and give her a rest. There were plenty of shops along Bahnhoff Strasse to look at. We saw lots of the posh stores had their Christmas displays up and we could see the lights twinkling through the grey and cold morning.

We sought out the toy store Franz Carl Weber, as it was meant to be awesome. Awesome it was. Four levels of toy heaven, anything a young baby or big boy could want.  We found heaps of things we loved. They have amazing wooden toys we just can't get at home and we have seen them all over Switzerland. Most are Swiss or German and we really wanted to get Astrid some.  They also had spectacular model railways with replicas of all the trains we had been on. The were very impressive but not really the right age range for an Astrid. Anto enjoyed looking at them though. He was even more impressed with the model cable car/ski lift that we saw. We thought it was pretty cool, maybe when Astrid is a few years older we'll need to come back. At any rate the store was huge, and had so many interesting things. One floor had a kiddy hairdresser, another a kids cafe and there were also areas where you could get dressed up and I think they had entertainers come in. In the end we did purchase some things for Astrid's Christmas present, despite the dilemma of how to get them back to Paris as we hadn't bought our spare bags on this part of the trip.  Astrid has woken up while we were in the store and was in wonderland. We didn't let her out of the carrier though or it would have been more expensive.

We then kept wandering around Bahnhoff Strasse and the old town but we were getting quite cold and very wet. We decided it was time for  a break and found a little cafe tucked in an alley that was quaint and very warm and cosy. The had the best hot chocolate, the first really good one we had while in Switzerland. They also had a delicious berry torte thing that we all devoured.


 Feeling warmer we headed back to the hotel to change out of our wet clothes and stash the goodies from the toy store Anto was lugging. One of my boots is leaking and it's not fun walking around in icy water. Astrid was also getting damp even in the carrier, so we put her in a snowsuit to keep her drier.  We then thought we  should grab some of the Swiss chocolate we wanted to take back with us. We had eyed off several things in Geneva but only bought small amounts as we didn't want to lug it all through Switzerland. Of course the brands in Zurich seemed to differ and we couldn't get exactly what we wanted but still managed to find a stash. We were not the only people at the store buying huge quantities of chocolate, other tourists appeared to be doing the same thing.

At this point it was about 2 degrees and sleeting and we were cold and rushing to get back to our hotel for check-out. We managed to repack the bags, stow our luggage at the hotel and although sitting in a warm cafe all afternoon seemed like the better plan we thought we should try and get some more sightseeing done.

Wandering around and taking photos was pretty much impossible but the zoo had great reviews and apparently had several indoor exhibits. So what do you do when it's zero degrees and snowing, why you take your 16 month old to the zoo! It sounded like a mad plan but apparently it's not unusual to go to the zoo in those conditions. The tram was full of people heading that way and when we got there there were a ton of young children and babies so we weren't the only crazy ones.

On the way up the hill in the tram we noticed the sleet was now definitely snow and was starting to settle on the ground in big clumps. It was very pretty but rather cold.  The zoo was covered in snow and it was going to be an interesting visit!  We decided to have lunch first up. Expecting pretty average food from their buffet restaurant we were surprised at the array of hot and cold options (including scrumptious desserts) for a very reasonable price. Astrid and Anto mostly shared more bratwurst and chips but I got a salad bar plate, which incidentally was an awesome salad bar with so many options I couldn't fit them all on (and they were all yummy) and Astrid and Anto both had some salads too.

Ready for zoo going we headed out and noted that there was a thick covering of snow everywhere. Many of the animals are moved into heated areas over winter so not all the displays were running. The animals that didn't get moved inside all had shelters and most were using them.  We loved the flock of pink flamingos standing in the snow and the tigers standing on their rocks with snow drifting on them. We should also point out that our alpacas are very soft and get coats when it rains or is a bit cold. The zoo alpacas were out in the snow, being hard-core. Take note Inti and Chimu, harden up Zurich style!

It was very cold and we skipped a lot of exhibits and decided to head for some indoor ones. The monkey/ape/gorillas were fantastic and there were throngs of children in the exhibit being entertained by all the cheeky primates. Astrid thought they were hilarious as they rolled around and garnered for attention. They also had massive gorillas who were telling off the younger gorillas.

We headed to the African exhibit to see some of the toucans, ant eaters and lemurs.  They had animals I'd never seen before and we were enjoying seeing some of them but Astrid was getting a bit over it. We distracted her with the penguins for a bit  But we decided to skip the rainforest exhibit as she wasn't keeping her mittens on and was getting cold and tired. The zoo was really good and on another day when it was less cold and/or Astrid was less tired we would have spent longer there.

We headed back on the tram with a cranky bub and found a cafe to have a coffee in to warm up. We had been planning on riding the funicular but it closed early on a Saturday so we gave it a miss and just hung outside inside in the warm for a bit. steeling ourselves for hauling our luggage down to the train station. Astrid was pretty dry in her suit but wasn't keen on leaving her mittens on so was getting cold hands and face and we were getting wet through our coats, gloves, hat and boots and it was pretty miserable. We got back to the hotel, loaded up and walked to the train station in the snow.

The train station was bitterly cold but we quickly found our platform, which thankfully wasn't too far away. Anto grabbed us some dinner for the train and Astrid's milk while we tried to stay warm waiting for the train. It was snowing on the platform which would have been cool if it wasn't so damn cold and miserable.  This train leg was the only one that we weren't able to book with our Eurail pass and it meant we couldn't get first class cheaply so we were relegated to second, which would have been OK but it was a four hour trip and we ended up in a small section of cabin at the front of the train that was pretty full. Most of the passengers looked pretty unimpressed about a baby being in the same cabin but they were all good about it except one woman. She spent the whole time glaring at Astrid and giving us looks when she was playing up. She ended up storming off to first class, which was next door. We felt like dobbing her in to the ticket inspectors but restrained ourselves.

Astrid had dinner on the train and we got her changed and settled for sleep. She mucked around for about 40 mins, not wanting to settle and being a bit naughty but she wasn't too bad. She eventually fell asleep on me and I managed to keep her snoozing for 2.5 hours until she was woken up by the above cranky lady who came back into our cabin 10 mins before we arrived into Paris, slammed the carriage door and then was filthy about Astrid waking up and screaming hysterically.  I had every intention of keeping her asleep til the last minute so it was her own fault.We gave her dirty looks but to her credit Astrid still waved 'bye bye' to her.

The best bit of the train ride was, as we were leaving Zurich, the sun was setting and the train was hurtling through the snow drifts and you could see the fields and houses covered by snow, glittering in the twilight. Even the locals aboard the train were taking photos, as it looked very cool.
The train was very efficient and we reached speeds of 317km/h which would have been more fun if not holding a small sleeping child.

After 4 hours we arrived into Paris, grabbed our gear and trudged through 2 metro rides and a bit of a walk back to our apartment. It only took us 30ish minutes to get back and we were weary and cold (Paris was chilly too) but it was an efficient trip back. We collapsed into our beds and got Astrid resettled pretty quickly and had a fairly good nights sleep, all tired from a long and very cold day!

14 October - a wet and cold Sunday in Paris

We managed to get the munchkin to sleep in to 8.30am (with only 2 hours up in the middle of the night). Yay for sleep! It still felt like the middle of the night though when we got up. The sun is coming up well after 8am and the apartment is quite dark until the sun is fully out.

Of course when we did get up we realised it was cold and wet. Undeterred, we got organised to out and planned to walk through Le Marais. Once we got outside we realised that it was very, very wet and very, very cold.  At this point we decided to head back to our street and snuggle up in a cafe. There are plenty to choose from, and we picked a lovely organic produce cafe directly across the road from our apartment.

It was full of people having brunch and lots of small children, toddling about. Astrid had a ball chatting to some of the other bubs and even got a hug from a cute little French baby about her size.  The menu was full of yummy treats but I decided on the Belgian waffles with fruit and Anto got a breakfast special with a basket of different breads, pain au chocolat, espresso and juice.  We had to try some of the yummy Belgian spreads on our food, including a really nice white chocolate one. Astrid was quite happy to eat both waffle and croissant and stole most of the froth off my cappuccino. She got quite a lot of giggles from other cafe patrons as she ran around with chocolate all over her face and hands.


Once we were full of yummy food and coffee, we wandered a couple of doors down and found that there was a Belgian chocolatier that needed investigating. He had an impressive range and was very chatty, so we decided to get a small selection of chocolate to try.  We let him choose for us, and so far we haven't been disappointed! We are going to get very fat on this trip :)  To go with our chocolate we purchased some of the lovely (and huge raspberries) from the nearby fruit shop.  Nightly coffee, chocolate and raspberries are going down well!

Back to the apartment in time for an epic meltdown from a small baby with 2 molars coming through. Luckily we got her off to sleep and she was in somewhat of a better mood upon waking several hours later.

We were itching to get out of the apartment and decided to rug her up and put her in the carrier and go for a walk. Back to our original plan of walking through Le Marais, this time with extra clothes, umbrellas and a waterproofed Astrid.  It was quite busy out. Le Marais is pretty much the only shopping district open on a Sunday. We enjoyed walking past the interesting boutiques, cafes, patisseries and chocolate shops. We didn't end up going into many shops. It was quite wet out and we were happy just to window shop.

After a bit of walking around we decided to head back as we were getting wet and cold. We were starting to find our way around without as much reliance on our GPS and were commenting to each other that we were getting so much better and wouldn't need it soon....... only to get hopelessly lost and walk around for about an hour in the wet and cold.  Luckily Astrid has fallen asleep in the carrier and was none the wiser.  It seems that all the criss-crossing and angled streets mean that if you miss a turn or go down the wrong side street you can easily end up several blocks from where you want to be, very quickly!

In the end we got back to our street and dashed back up to our apartment to get warm and dry and have some dinner.  We did manage a few photos of our street, so you can all see what a tough existence we are living!