Luxemburg

On Monday we decided to take a day trip to Luxembourg.   It is only about an hour and a half away.  Interesting fact about Luxembourg City: 66% Of the inhabitants are foreigners without a Luxembourgish passport.  We stopped first at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial.  There are 5,076 soldiers from World War II that rest here, including General Patton.  Most died fighting north of the city and eastward to the Rhine during the winter of 1944 and spring of 1945.  It also told us that there are over 61,970 American soldiers buried on foreign land and over 45,467 missing or couldn't find the remains.  It is a humbling thing to hear and see, all these men and women that have fought for our freedom and died in foreign countries.  These numbers are only from WWI and WWII, it doesn't include any of the other wars.

 

The boys at the gate heading into the cemetery.

 

This is the memorial chapel that was built for all those who lost their lives.

 

In addition to the 5,706 soldiers buried there are 371 Americans whose remains were never recovered or not identified are inscribed on this wall and one across the way.

 

 

The entrance to it, on the doors there are gold plaques for eight different soldier virtues: physical fitness, proficiency, valor, fortitude, fidelity, sacrifice, family ties and faith.  They are very touching.

 

Inside the chapel they have a place where you can sit down and pray if you would like, very quiet and so bright inside.

 

This is the beautiful mosaic on the ceiling inside the chapel.

 

Michael walking among the crosses.

 

General Patton is buried at this cemetery

 

David thinking - I am not sure what it is like to come to a memorial like this being a service member and see all those that have died fighting for the same thing you are fighting for.

 

They had four of these fountains throughout the 50.5 acres

 

 

I thought this picture was amazing.  It shows four men who survived WWII when they came and visited their fellow soldiers at this cemetery and you can see the ones that were killed on the right.  Very touching.

 

Also, as you can see here, the soldiers that the series "Band of Brothers" is about are buried here.  There is also one woman buried here that was a nurse.

 

After that, people told me we needed to go see the German cemetery that was just 1 km away from the American one.  This is the entry way - you can see the difference already in just the entry.  This one is dark and dismal.  The American one was full of light and awe inspiring, almost celebrating the men and women who gave their lives.

 

As you can see it is dark and the head stones are dark stone crosses instead of the white ones.  There are over 10,000 German soldiers buried here.  Of that, over 5,000 are unknown and were just dumped into one big grave.

 

After all the somber activity of the cemeteries it was time for some fun for the kids and us.  I heard about this pirate ship park that sounded awesome!!  And it was!

 

 

And this was only part of the park.  A really cool part, but there is more!

 

 

Here is a two story slide that is really, really quick.  The boys zoomed down it.

 

There was also water there.  Here is one where you twist it to get the water to go up.

 

Then they could pump water out of pumps at the top and then open the "dam" to let it go down.

 

These were cool tire swings and as you can see Michael is LOVING them!!  He kept trying to hit me with the tire. 

 

Michael climbing across the bridge towards the big slide.

 

AJ coming down the slide - like I said it was fast!!!

 

The boys just being silly!!!

 

This was cool - they could climb up to the crow's nest!

 

The boys at the top!

 

Michael on the swing again with Daddy pushing this time.

 

They both went up in the crow's next again and I had a better view of them this time  :-) 

 

Lucky Michael has grown so he can reach this.  I really can't believe how much he has grown.

 

The boys decided it was wrestle time with Dad!!!

 

Peek-a-boo I see you!!!

 

He was being so silly - I just love all of his different expressions!!

 

AJ was playing on that rock and what you can't see is that it squirts up water!

 

AJ and his muscle arms and muscle face!

 

So a lot of cities in Europe have an animal that they have statues all through the city, here in Kaiserslautern is the fish, Berlin is the bear and Luxembourg City is the elephant.  There are fifty of them throughout the city.  I think we saw about twelve this day.

 

The boys liked the tentacles on this one - check out the nose and feet. 

 

This bronze statue was set up on William Square to pay tribute to the King and Grand Duke William II of Nassau-Orange. He ruled from 1840 to 1849 and, one year before his death, granted the Grand Duchy its first parliamentary constitution, one of the most liberal in Europe at the time.

 

This was in their big square and I want one.  It was so cool and sooooo many bubbles.  The boys were chasing them all around the square!!

 

The Golden Lady on Constitution Square was set up in 1923 to commemorate the Luxembourgers who perished in the First World War. The memorial represents a gold-plated female figure on a stone obelisk.

  

 

On the 20th of October, 1940 the Nazis pulled the monument down; only in 1984 did extensive restoration give it back its original appearance. Today it symbolizes freedom and resistance for the Luxembourg people.

 

This was the beautiful site right after the Golden Lady.  They have these throughout the city.  There was much more that we wanted to see, but we simply ran out of time because we were having too much fun at the pirate ship park!!  That is okay, since it is close we will definitely come again.