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DeLuxembourg

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June 6: Moved on to Luxembourg today. The only thing noteworthy about the drive was the noticeable shift from a relatively economic doldrums part of France to a perceptively wealthy Luxembourg.  Our campground is about 10 kms south of the city, but there is a frequent and free bus service direct to downtown. Indeed, all transit services in the country are free! So we hopped on and we’re in the centrum by about 2:30.  Luxembourg city is an interesting melange, with most of the city built above a large gully. Looking down into the gully one sees formal gardens and wooded park, and a bit further on, some renaissance era dwellings and an old stone bridge across the little river. Such a contrast to the mix of 19th 20th and 21st C transit traffic, pedestrian buzz and shops and restaurants of the town. I, Bill, have been struggling a bit with typical foot and ankle problems. Biking is the good alternative we have been using, but we couldn’t take bikes in on the bus. So we decided to take a si

Good “Marne”ing to Luxembourg

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 June 4:  Continuing eastward and a minor and major serendipity. We are still sticking to small roads which today was some fairly monotonous wheat fields, broken up with delightful little villages every 10 to 20 kms. The first was a rest stop in Sezanne, where we came upon the Saturday market in the square. These markets are a bit more expensive than the supermarkets, but much more fun observing and interacting with the locals.  Shortly after Sezanne we pulled over in a wheat field to brew up some coffee. As we were relaxing, a little white van pulled up behind us, and an older fellow got out and approached us. We thought maybe he was going to chastize us for parking in his little wheatfield road, but it turned out he lives nearby and was checking to see if we were lost.  We ended up chatting for almost half an hour with him quite enjoying the challenge of communicating with us. He spoke no English, so I was rather pleased to manage a 30 minute conversation with him, even if it was onl