Luxembourg City

July 3, 2024 to July 5, 2024

"Everyone has a plan: until they get punched in the face."
- Mike Tyson, professional boxer -

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We had an inauspicious start for this year's trip. Our Chicago-to-London flight was delayed two hours, which caused us to miss our connection at Heathrow, which led to a 10-hour layover instead of a 2-hour layover. Instead of arriving at 10:45 in the morning, we arrived at 11:00 at night. By the time we got to the hotel and fell asleep I had been awake (with the exception of a 1-hour nap in the lounge) for 48 hours. As a result, we lost our first day of visiting Luxembourg City.

Additionally, British Airways lost one of Heather's pannier bags. Her rear panniers were carefully held together with luggage straps, both vertical and horizontal ones. She had a tag on the outside of each with her name and phone number on it, as well as a piece of paper on the inside with her name, phone number, and each of the three legs of the flight... and they still lost it. We spent a couple of extra hours at the airport while the lone employee made excuses, but the bottom line is that is just wasn't there. Heather had put an Air Tag in the pannier that arrived, but not the one that was lost.

Apparently, there's now a place in airports where you can go to one of the agents and plead for help. It's nice that the signs show you how to get there. It would also be nice to have a second sign showing those same agents laughing at you.

the view from our hotel room the next morning

As we were unpacking the bikes we saw this in the bottom of the box: the bearings from Heather's headset, making her bike unrideable.

Undaunted (sort of), we decided to take it to a bike shop for repair. We were happy to see there's a Cannondale dealer in town so, since public transportation is free in Luxembourg (the country, not just the city), we rolled the bike to the nearest bus stop.

Upon arrival at the bike shop we saw this vending machine. Schwalbe makes tubes and tires (I use theirs), and this was near the front door. This was our first hint of the cycling infrastructure.

When our turn came to talk to the employee, he said if we made an appointment they'd get right on it. Unfortunately, the next available appointment was more than two weeks away. That was a bit unsettling, especially since this is a one-way bike ride. We wouldn't be able to rent one and return it (assuming they even have one to rent). And if this one is two weeks out, it's likely the other shops are as well.

After talking with the guy they did, however, have the part we needed (for 90 euros), so we bought it and started back to the hotel.

On the off chance that another bike shop could repair it with the part we had, we called another one. After explaining the situation he said that, for "legal and insurance reasons," he wouldn't be able to help. He also spent a couple of minutes railing about "all of the f#$%&ing e-bikes. No one rides a regular bike anymore. All we sell are e-bikes now."

Our hotel and workshop for two nights in Luxembourg.

With the part in hand, we replaced the bearings. We'd rather have been out exploring the city but at least it was now done, which took a load of our minds. Here's a flower. :-)

By the time we retrieved the part and repaired the headset the afternoon had completely floated away. When we were done, we took a walk around town.

This is the original castle wall. We'll be riding along the base tomorrow.

We found a Bib Gourmand restaurant in the city (Michelin's definition: "The Bib Gourmand is a Michelin Guide award given to restaurants that serve good food at reasonable prices."), but by the time we finished working on the bike (a definite priority), it was closed. So, instead, we went to Le Laboratoire. We were not disappointed.

Massimo, the sommelier from Italy, was the highlight of the evening. There was only one other customer so he spent a lot of time visiting with us.

One of the fun things we've done over the past couple of decades is make a list of all the different grapes (aka varietals) we've tried. Even if it's only 1% it still goes on our list, and over time it's become harder and harder to find new grapes. At this point, we're only able to add a handful every year, but even with Massimo's small collection we were able to add three new ones to our list of 313, partly because his wine cellar is so well curated.

He was very excited to help us out, and made several trips back and forth to the wine cellar. Note the plant in the background... it was dancing around my head all evening, tickling the back of my neck.

Apparently, here in Luxembourg City, you can only cross the street while standing on your bike.

Seen on the roof of a building as we headed back to the hotel

We're still jetlagged, but it's getting better. We determined that we'd like to come back to Luxembourg City and actually tour it someday, and were disappointed we mostly missed it this time around. Tomorrow is our first day of riding, so we went to bed at a reasonable hour.

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Steve Miller/GrampiesWhat a day! Congratulations on handling all the adversities with apparent grace.
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2 months ago

Mark M.Sorry you both had such a rotten start to the holiday. I'm sure if you continue with restaurants like that things will pick up a little. Cycle touring might be about to become a whole lot more expensive!! 😁
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2 months ago

Rich FrasierWith that kind of first day, I think I would have given up. Kudos to you for persevering!
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2 months ago

Kathleen ClassenWhat an unfortunate beginning. Kudos for coping with such grace.
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2 months ago

Jon AylingSerious kudos for dealing with broken headset bearings on the first day. I like to carry a few tools for common things that might go wrong, but this is another level!
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2 months ago