Happy Kids

Last week during Europeans we took the boys to Happy Kids to ward off "bleacher bottom". They needed some running around time and Daniel had been here with his friends. So, with Daniel directing us (yes, really), we looked for and found Happy Kids. He really did know just where he was going! Joseph and Daniel worked off some energy.




































































And here is a photo of Daniel and his buddies at a sleepover.

Fun times! Happy kids!

European championships

Last week Ellen played basketball in the European Championships. Their team ended up third in their conference but won four straight in the Championships to make it to the final game which they lost to Ramstein. Here are a few highlights of the week...

On Wednesday they beat Kaiserslautern and Lakenheath - both teams they lost to during the regular season.













































































On Thursday they beat ISB and Wiesbaden to go on to the final, championship game which was against undefeated Ramstein.

A second place finish was something to be proud of! And Ellen was thrilled to be selected as a member of the all-tournament team.

Karneval

Karneval is sort of a German version of Mardi Gras or perhaps Mardi Gras is an American version of Karneval. (Also called Fasching in other parts of Germany). It officially begins back in November but is really celebrated in the few weeks before Ash Wednesday. The wildest Karneval is in Koln (Cologne) but Heidelberg did have a parade down the Hauptstrasse on "Fat Tuesday". Jeff and I walked down to check it out. The boys were playing at a friend's house and Ellen had school (all just as well - it was wild). Here is a sample...

Did it resemble Tulip Festival - no, not really. They were throwing candy from "floats" but also handing out beer. People were popping champagne and yelling "Hi-O" or something like that. Bands were playing. The most fun were the outrageous costumes!

Luxembourg

After our day in Belgium we drove home through Luxembourg - stopping for the day in Luxembourg City. We were amazed by Luxembourg City! It was much more than we expected! The weather was very warm - we hardly needed coats but it was hazy to foggy all day so some of the pictures are not as clear as we would have liked.

Luxembourg is often called the Gibraltar of the north because of its extremely secure and complex fortifications. The city began when Count Siegfried built a fortress, surrounded by a rather simple fortification on the Bock promontory in 963. Over many years a second and then a third fortification were built on the west side. The deep valleys of Petrusse and Alzette provided natural protection on the other side. In spite of its well-chosen location and extensive fortifications, Luxembourg did not go undisturbed. It was taken by surprise in 1443 by the Burgundians and others including the Germans during WWII.

The Burgundians, the French, Spain, Austria and Germany all called Luxembourg City theirs at one time and contributed to its status as one of the mightiest emplacements in the world. The city is defended by three "layers" of battlements. The inner is fortified with bastions, the second included 15 forts and the third was composed of an outer wall containing 9 forts, all of which were built into the rock. It also has a network of 23 km of underground tunnels (the casements) and more than 40,000 sq meters of bombproof rooms cut into the rock on which the city is built! These rooms sheltered people, equipment, horses, workshops, kitchens, bakeries, etc. So a lot of what we saw were these walls, the valley, bridges over the valley, the tunnels in the rock, etc. It was all beautiful - and amazing feats of engineering!

We started at the Statue of William II erected in honor of the King and Grand Duke William II of Orange-Nassau who ruled from 1840-1849. The statue sits in a large city square (William Square) around which many government buildings can be found.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Luxembourg.

This is the Gella Fra Memorial. It was set up in 1923 to commemorate the Luxembourgers who died in the First World War. Its destruction by the Nazis in WWII and reconstruction after the Second World War has made it an important monument symbolizing freedom and resistance for the people of Luxembourg.

The memorial overlooks an amazing view of the Petrusse Valley.

The valley is a significant factor in the defensibility of Luxembourg. It is spanned by a number of amazing and beautiful bridges.

We walked down into the valley.

The Quirin Chapel is built right into the rock. On this site was a heathen shrine. As early at the 11th century it became a Christian place of worship.

The hike through "Old Town" was amazingly steep! We got quite a workout!

New construction is built right from the old fortress - using it as a foundation.

This is St. Michael's Church - the oldest in the city. The site originally held the castle chapel of the Counts of Luxembourg (built in 987). Several churches, including the castle chapel, on this site were destroyed over the years. St. Michael's Church dates to 1688 with restorations in the 1960's and 1980's.

This is St. John on the Stone dating from at least 1309 and the Neumunster Abbey.

This is the Bock Prometory. It served as the cradle of the city built here when Siegfried, Count of Ardenne, aquired this massive rocky ledge from the Saint Maximin Abbey in Trier. Again, this location was important in the defense of the city. The promontory is surrounded on three sides by the Alzette Valley so it was approachable only from the west.

Here we visited the archeological crypt where the origins of the city are being excavated. We also toured the casemates - complex and extensive series of tunnel and rooms carved out of the rock of the prometory. They were first built in the 1600's when the Spanish controlled Luxembourg. They were enlarged by other controlling powers through the years. They consist of 23 km of tunnels, reaching a depth of 40 meters.

Our last stop before setting the navigation system to "home" was two WWII cemeteries just outside of Luxembourg City. One is an American WWII memorial and cemetery and the other a German WWII cemetery and memorial. This is the gate to the American WWII memorial and cemetery. It is one of 14 WWII cemeteries on foreign soil. This site was liberated by the US 5th Armored Division on September 10, 1944 and soonafter, a temporary military burial ground was established here. The graves contain the remains of 5075 men and 1 woman who died in WWII. 101 headstones mark graves of those whose remains could not be positively identified. Two large pylons contain the names of 371 Missing in Action. All 50 states and Washington DC are represented by those buried here. Many of the graves hold soldiers who died in the Battle of the Bulge.

This cemetery also contains the grave of General Patton, buried here at his request.

Needless to say it is a sobering and humbling experience to walk these grounds.

Just a few kilometers away, in a poignant reminder of the futility of war, is a German WWII cemetery - Sandweiler. 10,914 German

soldiers of WWII are buried here - most 2 or 3 to a marker and 4829 in a mass grave. The remains of 810 soldiers were never identified.

What a great two days! But now it was time to head home. Set the navigation system for Heidelberg!