Christmas Celebrations

Christmas is around the corner and the whole city of Luxembourg is enthusiastic about that. It is well-known that the western countries celebrate Christmas with great splendor and joy. Now since I am staying here in Luxembourg, I am happy to be a part of this grand celebration. 

The preparations for this grand event had started about fifteen days ago. Each day I happened to see a new addition to the city. One day they were painting and renovating the roads. The next day, they had these lighting on the trees. They were setting up some wooden stalls in the major centers. There was a huge Christmas tree in the city center. Then, a variety of goods were on discount. And another day, there was a giant wheel.  It was a nice feeling to see things happening in a well-planned and well-organized pattern. The progression was step by step and now the whole city is shining bright with colorful decoration and lights!

Literally, every place, street, store, cafe, restaurant were decked up with a Christmas theme. A basic sale is put up on most of the apparel outlets, but the major promotion is seen on gift items like toys, cosmetics, books, bake ware, etc. It is certainly not a commercial celebration where all the brands are trying to push their products in the name of Christmas. The shopping mania here is not as big as it is in the United States. No Black Friday or Thanksgiving deals. Rather it is more of a cultural celebration. 

The most special thing here is the Christmas market, a truly traditional event. It is more like a fair with food stalls and craft shops. Typically, these stalls start functioning from one month before the Christmas day. Glühwein, a mulled wine is the most popular and favorite drink here in the Christmas market. Other delicacies like the French fries, coffees, pastas, noodles, waffles, churros, soups, sugar candies, burgers, würst, chicken nuggets and biers. The hot wine and coffee are served in attractive and colorful cups molded into impressive shapes. The shoe cup is my favorite. The shops mostly sell woolen wear, handicrafts, fancy jewelry, cheeses, chocolates, candles and small gift articles. The Christmas Market also offers a variety of fun rides for kids as well as for adults.

The Christmas markets are a great place for social gatherings. And the Luxembourg Christmas market is really amazing. The hot beverages, the steaming food, the fire places, the whole Christmas Market in the cold winter; the whole set up is just perfect. I still wish to visit the most popular Christmas Markets in Germany.

First Snow

Coming from a tropical country like India, I had not experienced snow. Especially, the part of India I come from is one of the hottest places even within the country. Last week, when snow was forecasted I was excited and had been looking forward to this first experience of the snow.

And finally, yesterday I had my first experience of snow. As soon as I got an alert on my phone about the snow fall in Luxembourg City, I rushed to the window to confirm the news. What I saw that moment was unbelievable!! Yes, snow has arrived in Luxembourg City.

The first glimpse of the snow fall through the huge glass window was just more than amazing. It looked like a fairy tale. My mind had captured the frame like an unforgettable picture. I stood still at the window admiring the beauty and the grace of the snow shower.

A little later, I wanted to go down and touch the show. So, I quickly decided to go out of the building to actually feel and experience the snow. With all my winter gear on, I walked across the street for a while, clicked a few random pictures on my phone. It was such a thrill to walk in that gentle snow drizzle. On a whole it was a delightful experience.

I wish I could take a print out of the image from my memory for a better visual. J

This morning...                                                                                                     pic courtesy Yesh

Corda Bamba

I watched this movie Corda Bamba (in Portuguese with English subtitles), directed by Eduardo Goldenstein, in the Brazilian Film Festival 2013 in Luxembourg. I really loved the movie. The plot of the movie is pretty simple. But the making of the movie and the imagery is amazing. The story revolves around the struggle and unhappiness of a little girl to overcome a memory lapse from her past.

Corda Bamba is a story of a little girl, Maria who was born and bought up in a small circus. Under forced circumstances, she comes to live with her grandmother in a city. But, all her life and memories were woven around the circus. Maria gently rejects the luxurious lifestyle arranged by her grandmother and prefers to live the way she lived back at the circus. She sets up a camping tent inside the bedroom and continues to sleep inside it. A few scenes between her and the little boy with whom she shares the room were cute. During the day, mostly she spends her time looking out of the window. And that is her only solace.

Every night, she walks on an imaginary tightrope tied from her window (reality) to the other facing window (fantasy). On the other side, she perceives her subconscious or the lapsed memories. This theme has been extraordinarily portrayed as a dark corridor with colorful doors. Behind each colored door is a past memory. The memories are about her parents, how her rich grandma didn’t want her mother to marry a man, her father from circus. But they got married and Maria was born. Maria was raised in the circus and she too learns to walk the tightrope like her parents. One instance, when her parents walked the tightrope without safety nets is the tragic moment of her life where she lost her parents. This is her lapsed memory she finds behind the last door.

Maria was so much attached to the circus and the past. But when she remembered the lapsed tragic moment, she finally gathers the courage and strength to be able to move forward.

Corda Bamba is an excellent film and for those who are interested in psychological insights. The grief and happiness among the human minds is allegorically depicted through the image of a sensitive child. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHsWaY3hw1Q

Tatonka Challenge!

Yesterday, I got to be at this Tatonka Event organized by the amazon.EU team for their employees at Trombar. And my husband, Yesh was one of the participants.

A week ago, I remember he had mentioned about this Tatonka and had explained me that this will be a competition where each registered member will have to eat 16 chicken wings and the winner will get an icon on some tool they use internally within amazon. Being a chicken lover, I liked the concept but Yesh is not a big foodie like me. So, I was really skeptical if he would do it!

Then yesterday, he asked me if I would like to join them at Trombar for their event just to encourage them.  But, seriously, why would they need some cheering to eat??!! Whatever, he said that it would be fun and would be a good opportunity to meet people. Since the day I have moved to Luxembourg I hardly got a chance to attend any social gathering. For this reason, I thought I shall go!

At the event entrance was a registration desk, where each contestant pays a certain amount and enters the Tatonka Challenge. Each participant has an identification wristband in colors yellow, green, purple and red to represent the type of challenge. Yellow is for the basic 16 chicken wings, green for vegetarian to complete 100 celery sticks, purple for 40 chicken wings and red, the atomic challenge for 16 chicken wings cooked in spicy sauce. The place was completely filled up with fun and enthusiasm. Once they were served, they jumped in and their dedication was just awesome. Each one had their own style and technique of attacking the bone. They have pre-shown examples of the rightly and wrongly eaten chicken wings, of course based on the remains. It was not a time bound event. Each person can take their own time; the only thing that mattered was how clean the remains looked.

To my surprise, Yesh actually completed the challenge and was eligible for the icon. By then my stomach started growling in hunger and my palate started craving for chicken wings ;) I wished the contest should have been open for me too. Whatsoever, I ordered for a portion and finally enjoyed a whole bowl! J

Thanks Amazon for the enjoyable experience!! 

A Day Trip to Vianden!

Château de Vianden or The Vianden Castle is one of the must-go tourist destinations in the country of Luxembourg. So we planned a leisure day trip to Vianden. Luxembourg has an excellent and well-connected public transportation; hence we decided to take a train as it would be easy and comfortable to reach there. We checked online for the train timings the previous day but didn’t have a solid plan.

The next morning, we went to the mobiliteit counter in the Gare de Luxembourg (railway station) to buy tickets to Vianden. It was there we got a proper plan for the trip. The service employee was very kind and helpful in explaining us the best way to reach there. He told us to get down at Ettlebruck and then take bus 570 to Vianden. The ticket for a whole day travel within the country costs 4 euros per person, including any bus or train. We precisely followed his suggestion.

It just took around 50 minutes to Ettlebruck and there was a connecting bus 570 standing rather waiting in front of the station. As soon as we got down, it started drizzling. We were taken aback for it may spoil the whole experience of the trip. With this confusion, we boarded the bus to Vianden. I felt, the route to Vianden was a bit hilly. It dropped us at the Vianden-center after 30 minutes, right next to the ‘river Our’. And from there we can see the castle faraway on the top of a hill.

We hiked through the several restaurants, cafes, hotels and some souvenir shops lined up on either side of the path to the castle. When we were half way, it again started to rain slightly. However, the shower was so gentle that we didn’t really need an umbrella. The drizzle had completely turned the weather perfect for the trip. Hiking on the stone-road in the drizzle through a quiet path was awesome.  

Finally, we reached the castle. The castle was an ancient piece of magnificence. There is a small kiosk that sells tourist information guides and entry tickets into the castle. Inside the castle was a museum exhibiting the antiques, art, architecture, and archeology of the 11th century. Also, we have some picturesque views from the castle. People with historic interest would really love this place. I really enjoyed the whole experience of being in the castle. The complete structure of the castle, the built, the stone walls, and the views greatly contribute to the grandeur. And just after we exit the castle, is a sign board leading to the ‘Indian Forest’. A walk through the Indian Forest is worth a try. We really loved it.

Then we head back the same way, walked along the river, while we waited for the same bus 570, to drop us back at Ettlebruck. But we got down at Diekirch, walked in the city center for some time and then from there took a train back to Luxembourg City.

Somehow, I really enjoyed the trip and this getaway filled in a lot of fresh energy and enthusiasm. The memories of the place and experience lingered with me for a while.

For historical information on Vinaden Castle...

view of the castle on hill top from the bus stop

view from the castle

Indian forest

Indian forest

River Our

Walking through the ‘Grund’…

I have been mentioning a lot about Grund since I started posting about Luxembourg. The reason being, I was secretly fascinated with the term, the description and the appearance of the place. It kind of created a mystical perspective to the whole imagination. In fact, it instantly reminded me of ‘Moor’ from The Hound of Baskervilles, one of Sherlock Holmes curious detective novels.

When I expressed my imagination of Grund as a mysterious and desolate place like the Moor, Yesh immediately dismissed my idea. He rather said that Grund is actually a nice and calm place where a lot of people go for a regular walk. The next day, when he took me out for a walk in the Grund, we came across joggers, cyclers, women walking with kids/babies, tourists and an elderly couple picking up some berries from the trees. It was really a scene of beauty and I was almost proved wrong!

Until…I walked all alone in the Grund.

After a week of cloudy, rainy and cold weather, that evening the sky was clear and the sun was shining bright. So, I was enthusiastic to go for a walk through the cheerful Grund. I called up Yesh asked him for the direction to the Grund. The route from my house was actually pretty simple; I just had to cross a couple of streets. Hurray! I was there.

With loads of excitement, I was hopping down the stairs with a musical rhythm. In addition to my rhythm, I could hear the sound of the dry leaves crumbling under my feet adding an unwanted creepy effect to the scene. I paused to look around. The tall and dense trees were hardly allowing any light onto the stairs. So it was a bit dark, damp and cold. And the absolute silence swallowed my enthusiasm.  I was panicky. To climb the stairs back is equally frightening.  At once, my thoughts were filled up with those many possibilities from several horror stories.  I stood clueless. But I could see bright light out there. At that moment a joyful little girl passed my sight followed by her parents. This gave me hope and I proceeded further.

After I was on the Grund, I was once again mesmerized by its magnificence. I was slowly recovering from the scary thoughts and started enjoying the place. The biggest relief was that there were a couple of random people a little far but within my sight. The sun rays and light contributed a lot to enhance the beauty of the place. Like always, I was lost clicking pictures on my phone. After a few snaps, I turned back to go ahead. Again I was alone and those people I saw earlier vanished away from my sight. Then, and then came a fierce dog running towards me. I was frozen with terror and my mind went blank. The huge dog was almost near and I didn’t know what to do just in case it jumped at me. ‘Marx’ called out someone and it immediately stopped and turned back and joined its master. I saw that person coming but I didn’t know that the person was its master. Whatever, I was rescued. And that moment I decided not to go for walk alone in the Grund.

The fact is that Grund is extraordinarily beautiful. However, going alone or going in the dark can be horrifying and may turn out to be a memorable adventure, especially for those who are new to the place.

    

Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

After a month stay in the Luxembourg City, I am in love with the place. Unlike most cities, Luxembourg managed to retain most of the nature’s beauty. On the other side, this is one of the most advanced countries in terms of amenities, commerce, infrastructure, technology, and wealth. It feels like this is one place on earth that has a perfect blend of green and grey!

The architecture of the city is very unique and interesting. Probably, the Luxembourgian have decided to build the city without actually disturbing the natural setting. So, they have built an incredibly beautiful and modern city over the natural landscape. The city is layered in such a way that it gives enough scope for some picturesque highlights of the greenery. Now, the greenery or the nature part (the ground floor) of the city is called ‘the Grund’.

Whether it is a nature’s contribution or a well planned construction, it all tremendously adds up to the aesthetics essentials of the place. And I am so fortunate to have been residing here.

Apart from the visual appeal, the Luxembourg City has much more exciting and fascinating things to offer. And living in this city is truly an EXPERIENCE!

#Luxembourg city

Elephant Parade

The first thing that caught my attention after I first landed here in Luxembourg was those bright colorful baby elephants spread across the city. Later, I learnt that they were part of the 'Elephant Parade' organized by 'The Asian Elephant Foundation'.

The life size art pieces of the baby elephants are exhibited here in Luxembourg and Trier will be auctioned off later in October 2013. And that fund will be used to support the cause, elephant conservation.

Personally, I am very fascinated with the concept, and the baby elephants certainly added an interesting and striking effect to the Luxembourg City. But soon I will miss those amazing elephants after the auction.