After spending a whole week in our cozy cabin in the middle of nowhere Netherlands, it was time to move on to the rest of our adventure. We were so close to Luxembourg and none of us had ever been there so wanted to check another country off our list. I was also craving a night in a fancy-ish hotel with a pool, so we found one in Luxembourg that was recently priced and headed there for a night.
But of course, we had some adventures along the way!
Steve had a very specific destination in mind where we could be at the highest point in The Netherlands, which admittedly isn’t very high at only 1,056 feet above sea level. He was very excited to be there!
This high point is also steps away from Germany and Belgium, and there is a specific spot you can stand to be in all three countries at once! A kind passerby took this picture of the three of us in that spot - I’m in Belgium, Steve is in the Netherlands, and Joel is in Germany.
And here is Steve attempting to literally be in all three at once (but I’m not sure any part of him is actually touching Germany!)
The place where these things were also had some other activities like a labyrinth, some places to eat, and a tower you could climb to get a view of all three countries. Once you’re up there you can’t really tell which country you are looking at, but the view is pretty cool!
From there we headed to Monchau, Germany for no other reason than it was on our way and Steve had seen some pictures of it that looked pretty. This turned out to be a good choice as it was an adorable little town nestled in the mountains, with streams of water running between buildings and cobblestone streets.
We wandered around until we found a little cafe with a patio in the sun where we stopped to have lunch.
We ordered the house special which was the most amazing bratwurst I have ever had. I’m usually not a big fan of sauerkraut but this stuff was delicious, and the creamy mashed potatoes were almost as good as the ones I make at home. It was one of my favorite meals the whole trip!
We also ordered the apple strudel for dessert which was absolutely heavenly.
When I went inside the cafe to use the loo, I spotted these on the doorway. This is an ancient Christian tradition that involves marking the doorway on Epiphany each year. The numbers indicate the year, the crosses indicate Jesus, and the letters CMB stand for two things: 1. The first is the traditional names of the wise men, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, 2. The second is that it can be an abbreviation of the Latin blessing Christus Mansionem Benedicat which means “May Christ Bless this House.” I have used this tradition in my own house and taught my churches about it, but it was neat to see it “in the wild” so to speak.
I can’t remember why, but we split up for a bit after that and as I wandered I found this beautiful church that was open. I went inside and had the place to myself for a while, so I sat and prayed and sang a few hymns to myself. The acoustics were amazing and it was a lovely experience.
Then I went back outside to find the boys. There was beauty and charm everywhere you looked!
After a couple of hours, we left town and finally headed to our hotel. We checked in and promptly headed to the pool! I didn’t take any pictures there as I was having too much fun enjoying myself in the water. There was a neat waterfall feature into the pool which was awesome, but the hot tub was a bit disappointing as it was more of a “lukewarm” tub instead. Luckily our room had an ensuite with an amazingly huge bathtub so I got to fulfill my submerge in hot water dreams that way.
After a good night’s sleep we were off to explore Luxembourg city in the morning!
XOXO, Bethany