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.  

Luxembourg

A very small country sharing boundaries with large countries like Germany, France and Belgium is one among the modern countries that retained quite a plenty of nature's beauty and greenery. This is just a quick introduction to the place I have currently moved to. 

From whatever stories Yesh shared from his previous visits and his recent stay, I imagined Luxembourg to be a heritage destination where there would be a few people with hardly any activity. He spoke about rock walls, green valleys, stone bridges, walking through the ‘Grund’, parks, cycling and snowy winters. So, my impressions were woven around this and I was imagining something like a Mani Ratnam’s film, where location is the best and solitude is a bliss.

Of course, he mentioned about Ferraris, coffee shops, schools, universities, shopping, cinemas, theatre, pubs, bars and more which I conveniently ignored. And finally after I landed, I was shocked to see the number of people on the roads. According to the facts and Yesh, Luxembourg is a less populated country. And the cars were just more than the people. But for what I have imagined, this crowd and the movement were just too much!

A foreign land is a foreign land! This was what I felt during my first week of stay here. It was definitely not what I imagined…but Yesh keeps insisting that this is Luxembourg ‘City’ and blames me for ignoring the most exciting things. Now since I started moved around the Luxembourg city, I discovered more interesting things. Will share them in the coming posts…

#Luxembourg