Bastogne, Belgium and Luxembourg

At the end of the summer, before school started, we took a week long trip to Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands. It was one of the best trips we've taken so far since being over here.

Our trip began in Seville, Spain where we flew to a small airport about an hour outside of Belgium. We flew Ryanair, the discount airliner that usually doesn't take you to the main airport. This was okay with us because we were renting a car and staying at the airport hotel for the night before driving to Luxembourg the next day. We didn't arrive until 11:00 p.m. so we all needed to go to bed before driving a few hours!

Mardasson Memorial

Finally after a good night sleep and yummy breakfast we were on the road to Luxembourg City, the capital of Luxembourg. We had done some research before and had to decided to stop in Bastogne, Belgium on the way to see the Mardasson Memorial and have lunch. The memorial honors the memory of 76,890 American soldiers who were wounded or killed during the Battle of the Bulge. Located right next to the memorial is the Bastogne War Museum which we did not visit. The views from the memorial were beautiful and the memorial itself was amazing. Both Eric and I were in awe of this amazing place in Belgium that honors American fallen soldiers. It is unreal to think that 76,890 people were wounded or killed here during WWII…there really are no words.

Next stop…lunch! We had also done some research (thanks Trip Advisor) about where to eat and decided we were going to to eat lunch at Wagon Leo. It's located in downtown Bastogne and is an old tram carriage that was converted into a restaurant over sixty years ago. When we first arrived we weren't sure if we should stay because it looked fancier than we expected and let's be real we had a 3 and 5 year old with us who had just behaved impeccably at a war memorial…would this behavior keep up over lunch? But…we stayed and the food was great, the kids were great and the waiter even thanked us for all The United States had done for his country in war time. Really? Did that just happen? 

Being silly after the train ride

Caverns

After lunch we loaded back up in the car and continued on to Luxembourg City. Once there we checked in then left to explore. After a near death experience on a busy road and Eric asking a blind french speaking woman for directions (yes…it really happened and I bring it up whenever I can) we finally found the city center, which turns out is only a 10 minute walk from our hotel. It was already late in the day so we opted on a train ride to see the city and then dinner at an Italian restaurant before heading back to the hotel. 


The next morning we checked out and got ready to head back to Belgium, this time to Brussels. Before leaving Luxembourg we visited Petrusse Casemates, which are underground ruins of an ancient castle in the city center. We also stopped at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial about 2 miles away from where we were. The cemetery contains the remains of 5,076 American service members, most of whom died during the Battle of the Bulge. General George S. Patton Jr. is also buried here.

Stay tuned for more…next up Brussels, Bruges and Amsterdam.