Day 9: Yutz, France to Grevenmacher, Luxembourg

May 8, 2014

Roland and Brigitte got up at 6 this morning, leaving us to sleep in to 8.30. The reason for their early rising was that they had not gone shopping the day before, and they wanted to get some stuff for us for breakfast. The reason for not going shopping is that today is a national holiday, the anniversary of the end of WW II. So all the stores are closed in France. But here on the border, that is the signal for everyone to flood into Germany to scoop up the bargains there.

We had first learned of this cross border shopping phenomenon (familiar to us as Canadians near the US border) when we noticed that the fruit juice we were offered yesterday was not "jus" but "saft", according to the container.

Roland and Brigitte and Marie not only set us up with fresh bread and homemade jam, coffee, and hot chocolate, but carefully saw to it that our containers were filled with water, coffee, and hot chocolate. They put a large chocolate bar in our hands, and some more fresh bread for the road, and wished us on our way, with directions to the radweg, which was just down the street.

What wonderful, sweet people! We dearly hope that we can welcome Marie in Canada sometime soon, when she comes for a work.study session as part of her schooling.

Although the radweg had been a little dicey from Metz to here, just as Tricia had promised in the guestbook, it no became lovely. In fact, after Shengen, it was more than lovely.

Shengen, though, was our planned big thing for the day. Shengen is a village in Luxembourg, across the river from Perl, which is in Germany. In fact Shengen is at a "tri point", where the three countries of France, Germany, and Luxembourg meet. This is no doubt the reason why the town became the place where the signing of the "Shengen Agreement" took place in 1985 (and subsequently, as more countries joined). The Shengen agreement substantially abolished border controls between the three countries, as well as Belgium and Netherlands. Perhaps other parts of the construction of the European Union can be pointed to as well, but surely this symbolised well the tearing down of barriers between the formerly warring neighbours.

The Shengen Agreement in one sense is a bug for us, because the tourist stay without a visa is limited to 90 days, in all the 26 countries that are currently participating. On the other hand, having to arrange separate visas for each individual country visited would also be a bug.

We crossed the river deliberately to get to Shengen, ignoring radweg signs that really wanted us to go to Perl. The town looks more German than French, but it seems to have a unique Luxembourg flavour as well. Our main target was the European Museum, which is mainly devoted to the Agreement. Perhaps indicative of what Europe is about, the museum entrance was not totally obvious, being comprised mostly of a cafe.

Once into the museum (no charge) the first thing is a gift shop which is actually mostly like a information centre. We picked up a tonne of printed material, which we will have to mail home asap, at great expense no doubt. I also got a fridge magnet that says Shengen, and a sticker that says I (heart) Europa!

The actual museum display was cleverly done, with rows of display stations, some containing documents or artifacts, and others computer assisted - telling stories or serving up information. We spent a long, happy time in there, soaking up knowledge.

We had parked our bikes out beyond the cafe, and felt very confident of their safety in this clean, quiet, green environment. We returned to find them totally undisturbed. It no doubt helped that we were pretty much the only things stirring here, outside of the museum staff and the cafe staff. OK, an oriental couple with a super cute two year old did show up towards the end.

Now we continued along the radweg, on the left bank, which continues in Luxembourg. Increasingly the river and its banks took on the classic appearance that we had expected- steep banks covered in vines, villages on the slopes or down by the bank, the river curving this way and that. As we understand it, all this will become even more pronounced for us tomorrow.

With all the time we had used at the museum, we again looked at the choice of stopping pretty soon and having gotten not so far, or pressing on. Of course we pressed on, targeting camping at Grevenmacher. The only thing it started to rain, and then it poured. We had been passing tons of super quaint hotels along the river, but now at Grevenmacher they all disappeared. We spent some time crawling up slopes trying to chase down the youth hostel, and also got told of one hotel, but that one was four star, so no deal.

Finally we reported to the camping in the pouring rain, hoping that they might have a cabin. No such luck. But, they did have a large beer tent, filled with tables. The people graciously cleared the tables to one side, leaving us with a furnished tent heaven! The price - 14 euros. Now we are talking.

So here are, enjoying what we came for - a beautiful bike path, history, available camping at a reasonable price, and I guess, lots of grapes to look at though we do not drink. Hooray!

Five fruit juice bought economically in Germany

Marie makes sure will are set for the day

A detour on the radweg sent us through a 1 km long flea market. Where do people people get so much junk from? No Walmart here!

The new keyboard set up at tables in the flea market where we ate some good bratwurst and frites

These lands are close to three countries, but of course no borders are visible

Our first example of the vines that will become so much a part of our landscape along the river

Near the French border a sign welcoming pilgrims

The European Museum in Shengen looks more like a cafe, because it is.

Here is a view of what Luxembourg is all about. There is not too much to it. However we did pick up a nice map of cycle routes all around it.

I collected this manhole cover in Shengen. Its ok, but I would have liked it to say Shengen!

This quiet and interesting herb garden is where we parked the bikes

Lots of maps at the museum, that we would naturally like to get.

The 26 current Shengen countries cover most of Europe

If you can read this, its an interesting account of what happened at Shengen during WWII

There are several bike rental depots along the way, all from the same company. One of the bike in this group is electric.

Here we have the long river cruise boats that we also see on the Rhine. The Shengen agreement was signed on one, in the middle of the river, so the location was really as neutral as possible.

The radweg at points shared the road, but it is well separated and very safe. A times, though, construction around the path forced us to duke it out with the cars.

These grapes have a good situation by the rock wall

Last year we amused ourselves with election posters, developing favourite candidates. These guys look ok, but we have no idea of what they really stand for.

Looking up slope, some interesting houses

Our wonderful shelter promises a dry way to set up the tent and to cook our boeuf bourginon

Today's ride: 64 km (40 miles)
Total: 535 km (332 miles)

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