That being said, I was completely excited to actually visit a country that I had never thought would be visited ... for example, who says, "oh, I'm going to fly over to Luxembourg...."?
Whether simply overshadowed be the great neighbors of Germany, Belgium, and France, or too tiny to remember when holiday planning, I never expected to go.
But when planning road trips, funny things happen.
"Oh, let's drive over to Germany - it's literally only five hours to the Black Forest!"
"Hrmmmm....did you know that Luxembourg is right there? We could pop north first and then head east."
*five day castle and beer foray is cut into slightly for a Luxembourgh detour*
"And look! Our favourite white wine regions are literally sitting next two each other!"
*reality of the time and research it takes to experience true wine touring is primarly ignored*
"Also, we're already hitting the Boden and Alsace regions for wine (two long strips parallel across the French/German border), so we could slip into Basel, Switzerland for a night..."
*any length of time anywhere is straight out the window as we decide to keep moving at a leisurely pace instead of roosting in one spot*
"Wow, Belgium is the western border of Luxembourg, we could start a little more easterly and just chug right across Luxembourg."
"Well, I don't know, we should try and stick to the plan."
Right.
I'm not sure how adding Luxembourg, two wine regions, and Switzerland was all right with the non-existent plan and Belgium was simply crazy, but it was amusing to fully realise that leaving Paris and arriving in Luxembourg City was exactly the same navigational shape and road time as the trip between Indianapolis IN (when we lived there) and Mansfield OH (where we'd visit Eric's parents).
Albeit, I felt like a little fanfare was in order as we crossed into another country ... perhaps a "Welcome to Luxembourg" sign, or even a "Thank you for visiting France" sign, but clearly the EU has not picked up on the little welcomes and goodbyes that the States give us.However, and this is very very important ... they have excellent chocolate and cake shoppes!
My absolutely favourite insight into the Lux culture is that their perception of fair food was frites with mayo and a flute (glass, not plastic) of champagne. Yeah, I'd go to fairs if THIS is what is served!
