Flat Stanley

When Kyra was in second grade, Flat Stanley came into our lives. Flat Stanley has become a popular teaching tool amongst elementary school teachers.  Stanley's story is read, the kids create a Stanley and then mail him off to relatives.  Children map out where Stanley has been and report on his adventures.

If you don't know Stanley's story, the short version is that one night when he was sleeping a bulletin board fell on him and flattened him.  This was an unfortunate event but had some advantages, one of which was cheap travel - just postage stamps.

Kyra's Flat Stanley first traveled to visit her Grandma and Grandpa Reeves in Arkansas.  Flat Stanley rode a horse while there.  He also played golf and ate pancakes.

Since then Flat Stanley has traveled to Panama, Mexico, Afghanistan and London.  As he is flat he is very easy to pack and whip out for a quick photo.  He can be accessorized like a paper doll.  You see in this photo he is wearing his camouflage pants - he got those when he went to Afghanistan.

He has not yet been on any outings in Belgium but we did remember to take him to Luxembourg.  The first photo is of Kyra and Stanley in the Bock casemates.

Here is another one of Stanley in front of a pretty house in Luxembourg.

Hopefully we'll remember to bring Stanley along on other European adventures and you can read about his travels here.  We don't have too many relatives still of elementary school age, but Stanley would welcome any visitors of the flat or three-dimensional variety.

Vianden Castle

As I was searching for an internet link to more information on Vianden Castle, I learned something.  I've been spelling it wrong.  I've been leaving out the first "n."  The town is Vianden and the castle is called Vianden.

Vianden castle was constructed between the 11th and 14th centuries.  Over the centuries it was neglected and poor construction gave way to gravity.  It was given to the state of Luxembourg in 1977 and reconstruction efforts were begun.  So what you see on the tour (or in photos) is new built on old.

For the price of admission, one gets to walk around the castle - there aren't any tours.  We have learned to invest a few more euros and buy a guide book in English as most of the placards are in German and French  with a smattering of English here and there.

Most of the rooms were large and unfurnished.  This allowed us to appreciate the construction style and just imagine how many people it would take to fill such a room.

The colorful photo is of the upper chapel.  There was a small altar and statue of the chapel's patron saint - I forgot who the patron saint is and my guidebook is hiding.  The middle of the chapel was open to the lower chapel below.  The lower chapel was very plain - no furniture and no finishing just the cut rock.

As we moved from the historically older parts of the castle to the newer parts, rooms became more finished and we began to see furnishings as well.

This is a family dining room with period tapestries and wood furnishings.

My favorite room was a large open room with trefoil shaped windows.  It was open to the outside, kind of like a very large porch.  The fresh air of the morning was lovely and the whole effect of light and the views from each window was wonderful.  I turned my camera this way and that, zoomed and unzoomed but really couldn't take a photo that I thought really captured the room.

This was my best attempt and I don't think it is very good.  Hopefully it hints at the size and scope of the room and the views out the windows.

I'd love to go for a return visit and just sit in one of these windows and read for a while.

Chair-lift

Viaden castle sits high on a steep hillside.  There are a few options for how to get to the castle.
1.  Drive up and park in a nearby parking lot
2.  Walk up a steep and winding road
3.  Take the chair-lift and then walk through the wooded hillside to the castle.

You can see from the photos which option we selected.  That is Kyle and Kyra at the bottom of the photo to the right.

The chair-lift was a pleasant way to enjoy the morning and views of Viaden and the castle.













The chair-lift took us to the hill top next to the castle.  This meant that we enjoyed a short hike down and back up to the castle hill top.

Along the way Allen complained that his legs and feet hurt from his cross-country training.  However, he was the one who ignored the gently sloping path in favor of the steeper paths that were more direct.

After our castle tour (tomorrow's blog will be the castle) we climbed back down and up to the chair-lift and rode it back down into the valley.  Overall I'd say it was far more enjoyable than driving or walking the entire distance.

American World War II Cemetery in Luxembourg

Before leaving the capital city area we stopped at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial .  Here lie 5,076 American soldiers, most of whom died in the Battle of the Bulge.  The grounds of this cemetery were beautiful and well-kept.  The graves are laid out in a gently curving pattern in a quiet and reverent setting.

Part of the memorial included displays of the D-Day invasion and the Battle of the Bulge.  This enabled Kyle to show Allen and Kyra the movement of armies in Europe, including areas where we have been.

General George Patton is buried in this cemetery.  His grave is set apart from the others but his grave stone is no bigger nor more grand than a private's grave marker.

Towards the entrance of the cemetery is a small but tall stone chapel.   On its side is an inscription which reads:

IN PROUD REMEMBRANCE OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS 

OF HER SONS AND IN HUMBLE TRIBUTE TO THEIR SACRIFICES 

THIS MEMORIAL HAS BEEN ERECTED BY 

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

Neither Allen nor Kyra has studied World War II in school yet, but they are already learning about what happened as they walk the ground were battles have been fought.  By the time they study it, either here or in the US, they will have a better feel for the places involved and the sacrifices made.

Bock Casemates - Luxembourg

On Saturday, Kyle, Allen, Kyra and I headed for Luxembourg to spend the weekend.  Luxembourg City is about two and a half hour drive from our house.

Our first stop was the Bock Casemates.  These are a series of tunnels and rooms throughout the rock promontory you see in this photo.  We crossed the bridge at the far right of the photo and spent a couple of hours exploring the casemates and looking out through the openings you can see in the rock.

At one point the network of the casemates was 23km long.  They sheltered soldiers, horses, workshops, kitchens, etc.  During the world wars, they provided space for 35,000 people during air raids and shelling.  All this is to say that this network is not small!

We enjoyed making our way through the tunnels and look out through various openings.   We had lovely views of the city.  When we got to the circular staircases, the experience was even more interesting.  These staircases were narrow and irregular.  Some steps were barely wider than my foot. Our "handrail" was a plastic tube.  And as you can see from Allen's photo, sometimes they just ended abruptly.

We often found ourselves climbing or descending into dead ends.  As these stairways were only one person wide, there were times when we had to wait to make our way back from whence we came.  The directional signs were quite minimal so we were frequently lost.  We did lose Allen for a while but eventually we all made our way to the exit.

a view from one of the openings

After the casemates it was time for lunch before exploring more of the city.  That's tomorrow's blog.