2 Months, Bye-Bye Car, and Finally a Castle

July 23rd marks 2 months in Luxembourg and our first day without a car.  We returned the rental car last night.

If we tell people we're forgoing a car for now, almost without fail, we are immediately informed why they need their car or what they use it for.  Can I just make a general statement that we are fully aware of the many uses of cars and why it's very inconvenient not to have one?

Thanks.  Moving on...

Yes, it's starting to feel more like home here, although it's difficult to miss out on what's going on back in the states.  Pete's doing fine at his job - he seems to be enjoying it, but of course it is intense as he continues climbing the learning curve.  This past week he was in Munich, and the kids and I enjoyed the first week of summer break here while all our windows were being replaced with a more energy-efficient set.  We love the new onesl and especially that they can open on the top, like this:

The old ones could only open straight out into the room, which can be quite awkward with no screens (they don't do screens here)

On our last day with the car we decided to take our first real trip outside the city (besides to IKEA just across the boarder in Belgium).  We went for a drive through the northern part of the country (not too dissimilar to parts of Oregon) and stopped briefly at the castle in Vianden near the German boarder.

We walked up but didn't go inside - decided to spend the money on ice cream a the bottom of the hill instead.

Daphne took this one

Month three - here we go!!