My Cr-48

My Cr-48 arrived in December

When it came in the mail and I saw this box, I thought someone had shipped a Christmas present for one of the grandkids.  My son was there when I opened it and said you suck  "How did you get that?"  Well, you have to be hanging out on the internet instead of playing WoW all the time and jump on this kind of thing.  It's like getting a G+ invite.

So this notebook is not a computer - you need an internet connection.  It is easy as pie to startup.  All you have to do is open it.  Shut down? Close it. The new tab has apps you can use and a link to the web store.  As far as I can tell apps=links and an extension runs on the operating system.  But don't take my word for it - I am not a geek, I'm a grandma.  Perusing the message boards for interesting conversations about the Cr-48 I quickly find that the geeks are installing Ubuntu and I don't even know what Ubuntu is.  Developers were talking their techie talk and I am at the side of the road.  

So I download some apps that show up as icons on the new tab and some extensions that hide under the wrench icon in the upper right corner under tools.  Google urges you to use their products in place of Microsoft products.  Docs instead of Word for example.  I use my Cr-48 more than my Windows laptop because it is simple and fast and usually I'm just surfing the web.  But for things I already know how to do in Windows and to use programs like Skype, Slingbox and Second Life I need to use my laptop.  

When the Chromebook was released for sale to the public, it was a flop because people don't need something to surf the web if they already have another device that does.  If I were going to pay for a device that only allows downloading apps, I would get something smaller and more portable.  

Top 10 Things I Love about our house in Luxembourg

10.   I have a gas stove. 
 9. There is a garbage disposal in the sink, apparently rare in Luxembourg.
 8. The cricket and rugby fields across the street where games are played often and when they're not, I've gotten some nice views of wildlife.
 7.  Rose bushes.  Lots of them.  Roses grow like weeds here.
 6. My fridge has water and ice in the door - score!
 5. The spa/fitness center is a 3 minute walk.
 4. Two bathrooms  
 3. Heat on the 1st floor is the floor.
 2. There is a nice, big oval bathtub in the upstairs bathroom.


And the #1 thing I love about our house in Luxembourg is....


    that it is in Luxembourg!

Cucumber Salad- Gürken Salat | German Blog

This salad sounds good for our first dinner in our new house. Still have to come up with an entree and dessert.

First you will need two firm medium sized cucumbers and slice them very thin almost like paper, ( Papier) you will need some fresh curly parsley a lemon, salt, ( Salz) sugar and pepper.
Once you sliced the cucumbers, do leave the skin on, just make sure to wash it. Into a bowl, add half a teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of sugar and half a lemon ( Zitrone) squeezed. With pepper, you will need to use your hands (Please wash them first) to mix the ingredients- do not overdo this, ones this is done you add the chopped parsley a hand full and mix again. Refrigerate this in a glass bowl and make sure you cover this for one-hour before serving and enjoy!

Soon to be an Expatriate

expatriate 

1768, from Fr. expatrier  "banish," from ex-  "out of" + patrie "native land," from L. patria  "one's native country," from pater (gen. patris ) "father." Related: Expatriated ; expatriating ;expatriation . The noun is from 1818, "one who has been banished;" main modern sense of "one who chooses to live abroad"is 1902. 

(from Dictionary.com)

Yes, that's right - I am going to be an expat "choosing to live abroad." The preparations are being made; it will be a month or so before we are actually in Luxembourg.  In the meantime - Berlitz language training!!  

I Love my Coffee!

Have I found a deal! Did you know that Amazon sells food and all kinds of other stuff? Every Friday they have a Friday sale? That you can subscribe to receive shipments of stuff on a regular basis? No? Well then let me tell you about the deal I found!

Since going to Europe, American coffee is like brown water to me. My step-son bought us a Tassimo coffee maker for Christmas one year. This thing has lasted for a long time and we use it to make numerous cups every morning. Even though it makes espresso, cappuccino, tea, hot chocolate and you can even get Starbucks coffee pods, we use regular old Maxwell House pods because they are the cheapest. Not all stores carry the pods and a pack of 16 is $5.99 at Giant Eagle and Target.

Now for the deal:  A pack of 5 packages on Amazon is $26.13 which is $5.22/pack.  The subscription price is $22.21 which is $4.42/pack for a savings of $1.57 per pack.  I ordered 2 of the 5-packs to be delivered once/month.  No shipping, no sales tax and I've saved $15.70 AND they are delivered to my house!  So for $44.20 I get 10 packages that would have cost me $59.90 plus tax. 

Another Suicidal Message

A few Facebook posts today got my attention: a video on YouTube of the Vega Choir from Sweden doing Radiohead's Creep and a video posted by Ellen DeGeneres.  I've written about suicide before here, here, here, also here and here.  If you're interested, take a look.  Any discussion or questions are welcome.

The 'radical' fringe that disapproves of Obama seems to have gotten a lot bigger

You get used to hearing it in the not-so-mainstream press. Those nasty tea-partiers, the birthers, the stooges for the drug companies - you know, all those that don't like what Obama is doing. We are characterized as the 'radical right', full of 'hate', too dumb to know what is good for us. Always described as a 'small' fringe group.

Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the Politburo.

Seems that the American people are not enthralled with President Impostor anymore. Not that anyone in the press cares. They are convinced that we are gullible and getting fooled by the banks, insurance companies, and lobbyists.

Folks, November cannot get here soon enough

American Military Cemetery

Unbeknownst to many Americans, there are 22 military cemeteries in foreign countries.  General George Patton is buried in the American military cemetery in Luxembourg.  The Battle of the Bulge was fought in Luxembourg as well as Belgium.  All over Europe there are memorials and monuments to the soldiers of our country for their service in both World Wars. 

At the American Military Cemetery in Luxembourg, remains of 5,076 soldiers are buried, 101 of which are unknown.  My favorite inscription surrounds the mosaic on the ceiling of the chapel and reads:

IN PROUD AND GRATEFUL MEMORY OF THOSE MEN OF THE ARMED SERVICES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WHO IN THIS REGION AND IN THE SKIES ABOVE IT ENDURED ALL AND GAVE ALL THAT JUSTICE AMONG NATIONS MIGHT PREVAIL AND THAT MANKIND MIGHT ENJOY FREEDOM AND INHERIT PEACE.

Also an inscription set in the granite paving at the center of the memorial terrace from Eisenhower’s dedication speech:

ALL WHO SHALL HEREAFTER LIVE IN FREEDOM WILL BE HERE REMINDED THAT TO THESE MEN AND THEIR COMRADES WE OWE A DEBT TO BE PAID WITH GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THEIR SACRIFICE AND WITH THE HIGH RESOLVE THAT THE CAUSE FOR WHICH THEY DIED SHALL LIVE ETERNALLY.

So on Memorial Day this year, please gratefully remember their sacrifice and resolve that the cause for which they died shall live eternally.

Luxembourg City market

Saturday morning was the Luxembourg City market.  In the old part of town at Place Guillaume, we bought flowers for our hostess that evening, olives, fruit, sausages and a baguette.  There were also cheeses, homemade jams and honey, fish, and lots of beautiful vegetables.

Versailles

Versailles at one time was as big as present day Paris.  It is still really really big.  The palace is big.  The garden is big.  The park is big.  Some day I will see more of it, but one day is not enough.  The hall of mirrors was undergoing rennovation last time we were here and so we made a beeline for it.

Travails

Ahhh Travels - some of our most memorable times have been the mishaps of getting to where we're going.  Usually I turn the wrong way from the start and spend a LOT of time trying to get either where I'm going or at least where I've come from.  This past weekend in Paris, I didn't bring the hotel address or map or directions, so we wandered in the direction I thought it was, asked a few times and finally made it.

Also, when planning the return trip every leg of the journey should be thought through.  Make no assumptions.  Here the bus and train schedules are reduced on Sunday, so on the way home from Paris we missed the last bus home in addition to missing one of our stops because the train made an extremely quick stop and the exit door in our car was out of order.  Even so, we still would have missed the last bus home.  Luckily, an innocent driver pulled into the gas station and was cornered and persuaded to drive us home.  People here are very accomodating.  Think about it - would the first stranger you saw at night be willing to drive out of his way to take a couple foreigners home?

It's Positively Medieval!

In the US, we have Rennaisance Fairs.  Well, that's just too modern for Europe.  They need to get Medieval! We went to the Medieval Market in Trier over the weekend and saw an owl, lots of soldiers, artisans, musicians and of course had some lager/beer/ale.

Burning the Cross

Last Sunday on the way home from Bruges, we got to see a burning of the cross.  It seems to have worked; it is warmer this week.
From wikipedia:
The Burning Castle (Luxembourgish Buergbrennen) is a tradition in Luxembourg and the adjoining German borderlands, where the first Sunday (after Carnival the first Sunday of Lent) to make a big fire. It symbolically represents the burning of the winter away.

Bruges

In Bruges, we saw:
Church of Our Lady – Michelangelo's Madonna and Child – absolutely stunning.  It is such a great honor to see such a sculpture.
Basilica of the Holy Blood – Christian relics are everywhere in Europe
Groeninge Museum which contains many works by the Flemish masters.  One I found most interesting was Bosch’s Last Judgment:
Apocalyptic themes were popular, but the freaky symbolism fascinated me – and we think modern art can be weird.
We stayed at the B & B Marieke.  A few pics from our room:
  Lace toilet paper holder – Lace is big in Bruges. A tiny robe hanging on a peg.
At the Bistro De Schaar I had a dom blanche (chocolate sundae) which was beautiful.  The waiter said “you can take a picture.”  But I didn’t – it was delicious, though.
We will be returning in March to see many more museums, monuments and churches.  We already have our reservations at the Marieke.

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

Here are the sheep on the farm:

Ice cream

Checking out the aftermath of the parade in Diekirch, I discovered an ice cream shop.  So I stopped and had an ice cream creation.  Took me a while to decide what I thought I wanted from the Luxembourgish menu with pictures.  Then I ordered something, but they were thankfully out of the coconut ice cream – didn’t see that one coming.  So I opted for chocolate chip ice cream with chocolate syrup & whipped cream.  And creme de menthe.  And 3 wafer thin candies – like peppermint patties but very thin – sticking out of the whipped cream.  All in a sundae bowl that looked like a fancy martini glass – only five times bigger.  It was really to die for.  Really.

Diekirch carnival parade

A parade should have floats, bands, baton twirling, candy and beer.  Huge double decker floats being pulled by giant tractors.  Bands of friends – not high school bands.  One baton twirling group.  Candy throwing…and passing out cups of beer from the floats.  Yes – every parade should have that.  And everyone in costume, mostly cow costumes.  And the floats should have huge speakers mounted on them playing the latest hugely popular pop songs and big cannons that shoot out confetti and a theme and be able to be rocked back and forth without overturning crushing the crowd below.
 

Tips for Packing

Having gone a few places for various amounts of time I have a short list of things to pack:

Sunglasses – because you will have to buy them if you really need them if you don’t bring them.

Sunscreen – no matter what the weather, a sunburn hurts and will ruin your trip.

Tylenol – or whatever you take for soreness, headache, toothache, cramps, etc.

Binoculars – I always forget these and am always sorry.  Even a small cheap pair would do.

Very good walking shoes.

Comfy clothing – do not pack items that are fancy, that you’ve never worn or are not practical.  If you think you’ll need something nice, bring a dress or slacks and nice top.  The problem I always have with this is shoes – now I have to pack dress shoes – and in the end, don’t wear any of it.  Think of items like coats and computers on the bus, plane and anywhere you will have to carry them around for any period of time.  Lugging crap around sucks.  I wish I would have brought stuff I wear at home all the time – the sleep shirt or jammy pants, the worn jeans, warm slippers and old sweatshirt.

Most times we try to travel light – meaning carry-on only so we never have to go to the baggage claim or lug crap around (see above).  This means one each: walking shoes, jeans, pants (eg. dress or khakis), sweater or sweatshirt.  Two short sleeve t-shirts.  Three pair undies and socks.  Medicine, deodorant, toothbrush and paste, contacts/glasses.  Hotels and the like usually have soap, shampoo and lotion.  Optional: long sleeve t-shirt, a couple coffee or tea bags, camera, small collapsible umbrella, pen or pencil .

Now – pack and then take out 1/2 the stuff you packed.   Remember some of the clothes you are taking, you are wearing.  Things that seem like a good idea sometimes aren’t.  Ask yourself if you could do without it in a pinch.

Disclaimer:  these tips may not be complete or fit your situation.  They are not for specialty trips such as business, backpacking or long-term travel.  Try to think about things that may wriggle open and spill on your clothes.

Have fun!

The market debacle

So the bus ride was timed for a leisurely coffee until the Tourist Office opened.  They directed me to the post office practically across the street from where I had my coffee.  In my defense, no big post office sign was visible.  Postcard stamps to the US are .90 Euros (over a dollar each)  Now to the market with my list!  A clerk spoke enough English to answer my question: “Do you take American Express?”  and weigh a few pieces of fruit.  Into the basket went spaghetti & sauce, applesauce, yoghurt, lemon tea, orange juice, a few other things and of course, a baguette!  Checking out, I whip out my ecologically correct bag just as she asks if I have one.  Ah – hah!  Aren’t I clever – less than a week and I’m almost in the groove.  But wait!  The market DOES NOT take American Express and I am shamed into spending all my Euros on only the fruit and baguette.  Certain that I was a few Euros short, I am thankful the clerk took what I had.  Hey – wait a minute!  Wasn’t she the one that said they took American Express?? 

Of course, the bus that stops is not the right one, but I hop on then off at the next stop so I can hop on the correct bus.  The driver & another driver buddy were making fun of me (I think). 

Living and learning in Luxembourg.

The wallet incident

This morning I wash some clothes and hang them around the radiators to dry (no dryer) then head into Vianden to get a few groceries.  Vianden is 3 K from Bettel and takes 5 minutes on the bus, so I will be going there often.  I spied a market there yesterday and want to stop and the butcher shop.  Of course, the store is closed from 12-2 like all the businesses except for the restaurants.  And of course I am there at 12:05 so I go to have lunch at the Pizzeria.  The Hawaiian pizza sounds good since this is the kind Rob got earlier this week at lunchtime.  And a coffee, of course (which comes with a little cookie wafer thing).  For good measure, I order a dame blanche (hot fudge sundae).  I haven’t had ice cream since we left “the states.” 

Since I still have at least an hour before the market opens, I write out postcards and then get my wallet out for ….. omg! Where the hell is my wallet!!  I had it to get on the bus with my bus pass showing through the handy clear pocket in the front.  The waitress said they took American Express – the first thing I asked so as to make sure.  Sooo…I look in my coat pockets, my bag, my seat – my coat pockets again, empty my bag, go to the door to look out to the street.  It is gone and now I have to tell the waitress.  The embarrassment!  What do they do to people here who can’t pay their bill?  How am I going to get back without a bus pass?  It takes me an hour to: explain to the waitress, call Rob’s cell from the owner’s cell to get his Amex card # hoping I can pay with that – oops wrong code have to call back for the other code.  In the meantime, Rob is calling me the same time I’m calling him.  He is able to call the bus station and see if my wallet is on bus 570 – and it is!!  I call my landlady here on the farm and she can come get me!  Still no credit card resolution and they take my word that I will be back later to pay.  Chantel (landlady) speaks fluently to them and I feel better even if they could be making fun of me and I wouldn’t know it. 

Pointing out that I’m having a bad day so early in the trip, Chantel drops me off at the apartment and goes back to her son’s school where they are having a Halloween type costume/candy parade since it is the beginning of Carnival (Lent).  Rob comes home with my wallet that they went to the bus station to get and a box of chocolates for Chantel.  We now have no food for dinner and go out to a convenient store after going to pay at the resteraunt.  We have a bit of food now – and beer.  One beer down…