Category: Strasbourg 2025

So we left Tournai (still undiscovered – that will have to be for next time…) and did the last hour and a half to the DFDS Ferry Terminal in Calais.

We were booked on the 2pm ferry and we arrived in enough time for me to knock up our last lunch – whilst in the (non-scenic) queue…

Yummy fresh ravioli, pasta sauce & fresh bread & butter… 😋

AND I caught the “England” sign 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 !!!

So, this is my last entry for this trip. And I’m actually completing these last few posts THREE WEEKS after our return (life – with me working full-time, Fascinating Rhythm (my female barbershop choir), our 4-day trip back to the Isle of Wight for the Scooter Festival last weekend plus PANTO starting again – has just taken over…)

But – yet again – we’ve had a fabulous time 🥳

Me and My Dave LUV being in The Van together ❤️ not quite knowing what each day will bring…

We would have like to have gone a bit further south – to Lake Annecy or even Monte Carlo again – but (again with the constraints of working full-time and having a fixed amount of leave) – we decided to be sensible and not go too far…

And even though I think both of us thought that this trip might not come up to scratch – on reflection – it has not disappointed…

Running the guesthouse in Shanklin on the Isle of Wight for four years – we did have some cracking winter trips – but I always thought that I was missing out on “a summer holiday”…

Returning “home” – I feel like we have squeezed in four years of summer activities (mainly festivals – both local and further afield – plus a FABULOUS 80’s weekend in Butlins with the girls for me) – and somehow – this trip has just been a continuation / reflection of our summer…

Everywhere we went on this trip – we seemed to “happen upon” live music and mini-festivals – all for free (plus discovering my new favourite place – COLMAR) – and it’s just been wonderful…

So… until the next time… au revoir, mes amies ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

• Location: 51° 1′ 15.2″ N 2° 11′ 37.31″ E

You know how kids say “Are we there yet ?” on a long journey in the car ? WELL – every single time I have EVER been getting ready for a night out (for the last 30 years) – My Dave shouts up the stairs “ARE YOU READY YET ?” – and it stresses me out !!!

I’m a “mimium-30-minute-girl” if I’ve showered earlier in the day and it’s an hour (miminum) if I’m showering (and longer if I’m curling my hair…) BUT…

Once I heard that music, I said “OK Dave – you clear the table – I’ll be ready in 5” – and I WAS !!!

And we weren’t going to get caught out again, so Dave put SIX lagers in my pullstring bag and I emptied my wine into a 500ml thermos cup and put the rest in a plastic bottle then we wandered next door – and not only came upon the music an idyllic lakeside setting…

However, it was a much smaller (lovely, intimate) event than the evening before (where the majority of people seemed to be drinking their own alcohol). Here, there was a small mobile kiosk at the side and everyone had a plastic cup with red writing on so I wandered up to the bar…

Who wouldn’t want their wife about to pour them a litre of beer by the side of an idyllic lake ??? !!!

And she was my kind of girl – a crowd-pleaser – she’d do a French song, then a (well known) English song – and I loved it !!!

🎵 Lakeside view – with alcohol tonight 😅 – listening to the music 🎵

… and me – a little the worse for wear – but just trying to capture the moment – come on – indulge me !!! 😊 ❤️

• Location: 50° 36′ 2.93″ N 3° 24′ 53.21″ E

So – un-hungover (!!!) we left Luxembourg and I Googled then rang to book Camping De L’Orient in Tournai, for the final night – which was in Belgium…

For once I was quick enough to capture the country sign as we entered…

We popped to a Lidl’s for final supplies before we arrived at the campsite – and O M G – it was SO expensive (as was Luxembourg actually) – compared to both France and the UK !!!

And when we arrived at the campsite, we also had the joy of being further ripped off… The site was advertised online as €20 per night including electricity for 2 adults with a motorhome and when we arrived, the guy on reception presented me with a form – which I duly completed & gave back to him.

He scanned it and said “NON” !!! and entered a “1” against the item line detailed “Trailer” and another “1” against the line that said “Extra Vehicle” (as we had the scooter on the EasyLifter attached to the back of the motorhome).

Each of these lines were charged at €4 – so – even though I protested – in French – that we were taking no more room up on the pitch – and that it was advertised at €20 in total on the website – he kept saying the word “insurance”…

And when Dave (finally 😐) selected a pitch he was happy with – the electricity box was locked so we couldn’t even hook up. I stormed back to Reception to demand a key – but it was all locked up with nobody around… The temperature was in the high 20’s – so with our fabulous solar panels, we didn’t actually need electricity but it was the principle !!!

As Nan from Catherine Tate would say – “What a load of old sh!t” !!! 😡

I’d Googled (as I always do) the “Top 10 Things To Do In Tournai” – and it’s a really historic place. Had it been about cooler we would have bibbed in with the scooter and explored but it soooooo hot 🥵 that we just had a lazy afternoon on-site then I made my famous Spanish Omelette with all the leftover bits and we settled in for our final evening thinking it would be a quiet one…

… however, we’d just finished eating when suddenly we heard live music VERY close by…

• Location: 49° 38′ 13.6″ N 5° 55′ 7.95″ E

… a bit of audience participation to “Voulez Vous”…

… and who doesn’t enjoy a bit of “Waterloo” !!!

… and back at the bus stop (sober for once 😂) where we began the journey in reverse… However, as as there was no courtesy bus at that time of time, we took a taxi from the railway station back to camp for €12 thus returning uneventfully & safely 😅

… then had a little nightcap !!!

• Location: 49° 34′ 17.11″ N 6° 9′ 35.8″ E

The train ended at Bettembourg and we found the bus to the park – which again was modern, comfortable, clean & free !!!  We managed to disembark at the correct stop, crossed the road and there we were !!!

The giant chicken vol-au-vent from earlier hadn’t agreed with My Dave so we made a stop to powder his nose… He was gone a while 😐 and I was propositioned by an elderly French gentleman as I waited… 😂  Seriously, he walked over to me quite purposefully, smiled and started talking to me in French – I think he thought I was his blind date !!!  Anyway, I told him My Dave was (still) in the loo, he apologised and made a hasty retreat…

So, people had brought picnics plus there was a bar and food stall around the edge.  I’d not known what to expect and had popped 3 cans of Thatchers Gold in the pullstring bag so we sat down on the grass – right at the front – and popped one open !!!

They came on just gone 8pm and did their stuff…

There was a 15 minute break halfway through, the Thatchers was gone so I volunteered to go to the bar.  And WOW had the crowds increased – it was absolutely PACKED !!!  I was on my way to what I thought was the bar when I bumped into my blind date guy – and he said he was on the way to the bar, so I went with him !!!  We chatted (in French-ish 🇫🇷 – he had no English) in the queue and then I noticed he – and other peeps – had this little leaflet with stamps on (like a loyalty card at Costa)  – and it turned out to be a cashless bar 😔

He said he’d keep my place in the queue, and I bibbed off to the little kiosk but it was CASH 💰ONLY to buy the little drinks leaflet so we had to do without… 😔

Anyway, I did manage to get a pic of my blind date 😂…

… on the final leg to the concert via bus…

… crossed the road and found a place right at the front – when there weren’t too many peeps there…

At half-time when it had filled up somewhat… 😳 !!!

… Meanwhile I had bumped into and was chatting with My Blind Date ❤️ … 😂

• Location: 49° 30′ 59.82″ N 6° 6′ 7.17″ E

WELL – as one of the main reasons we’d come to Luxembourg was to experience the free Abba 99 concert – that was the focus of Friday.

We hadn’t managed to get on the campsite where the concert was happening, and it was half an hour on the scooter.  Dave was happy to drive but I was nervous that it would dark on the return journey so insisted on public transport.

Google Maps said it would take us an hour including walking🚶‍♀️, a train 🚆and a bus 🚌

It was a boiling hot day 🥵 (29 degrees) so we stayed on-site and chilled, had afternoon showers, got ready and went for an early dinner at the campsite restaurant (Dave wanted to try the giant chicken vol-au-vent !!!).  There was a courtesy bus to the railway station, so we hitched a ride on that and rocked up at the ticket machine.

I’d come across something online earlier in the day saying that since 2020, public transport in Luxembourg was FREE and couldn’t believe it was true, but it is !!!  You only pay for 1st Class !!!

So, we thought we’d slum it and mix with the unwashed in cattle-class 😂

But it was all a bit stressful TBH as Google Maps said we needed to get off the train at a place called Howald but we couldn’t find that on any of the screens.  When I asked the cleaning man (women ask OK ?– men won’t ask, it’s a pride-thing 😐) he couldn’t really understand me (well there are 120 nationalities living side by side in Luxembourg, apparently so he could have been from anywhere !!!) and he kept talking about “Bettembourg” so we headed for that platform but on the screen, it said something about a replacement bus service 😣

Anyway, it all turned out OK and when the train turned up, it was modern, clean and even had an upstairs !!!

On the shuttle bus to the railway station…

At the (very confusing !!!) railway station…

Lovely train with an upstairs !!!

And finally – on the (very comfortable) bus from the railway station to the concert…

• Location: 49° 29′ 4.51″ N 5° 59′ 10.61″ E

So – for probably one of the last times this holibobs – we popped on the music, the lights, grabbed a drink, had a little snack & put the world to rights…

Then My Dave went to bed and updated the blog – with music, pretty lights and a little glass of something – just to finish the evening off…

• Location: 49° 29′ 6.21″ N 5° 59′ 6.46″ E

When we returned from Luxembourg to the campsite, we saw a fair few plastic chairs set out in rows next to the cafe as we bibbed past on the scooter, assuming the seats would be for the audience and that there might be a singer or a band later…

We were sitting outside The Van chilling and I was doing a bit of blogging when all of a sudden we heard this full-on brass band start up !!!

We wandered over to listen close-up and the band were the ones sitting on the plastic chairs !!! They were brilliant – have a listen…

This one’s quite special for me – I love Simon & Garfunkel anyway but at the tender age of 11 – in top juniors – I was in the school choir and we performed this at Scunthorpe’s Plowright Theatre, we won, there was a photo & piece in the local paper and (as I was Head Girl !!!) I held the trophy 🏆

… and the song was…

❤️ The Sound of Silence ❤️

P.S. Apologies that I turned the phone around so the visual’s a bit rubbish 😔

We got off the train feeling hot & sweaty 🥵 (and that’s another thing – the carriages were tiny – I could just about face forward with my knees against the front of the carriage but poor Dave most definitely had to sit diagonally), picked up some food and went to sit on the seats under the trees in a nearby square – to re-fuel & cool off…

Then we wandered back to Place De La Constitution (where the Golden Lady statue was). The reason why I liked it there is that it is filled with deck chairs, picnic benches & even comfy seats (made from pallets & futon cushions) – where you can just chill…

There is a ride with swing seats on chains in the middle & little kiosks to buy drinks, ice-creams, etc. And there even was – for the month of August – a library !!!

We bought a couple of coffees to wash down our chocolate brownies (which were included with the salads that we’d bought !!!) and took shade on the futons for a while before heading back…

• Location: 49° 36′ 38.97″ N 6° 7′ 50.56″ E

It was REALLY hot 🥵 and we didn’t fancy a 3 hour walking tour again so we went for the easy option of a 40 minute audio-guide land-train tour…

But it was the worst tour that we’ve ever experienced 😔

The audio was some random Irish guy with an American child asking questions about the city – and to say that it just didn’t work – is an understatement…

As Dave said when he got off – he couldn’t remember one thing that had been discussed – other than that there had been a lot of fighting…

Plus the audio was out of sync in places – with the surroundings – so you’d look around for a particular bridge or monument and it just wasn’t there… At one point, we were instructed to collect all of our belongings and get off the train to “take photos of the view and to have a cup of coffee” and that we could catch the next land train in 30 minutes – but the train never even stopped !!!

Shoddy.

Anyway here’s a few (not brilliant pics) that I managed to snap on the way round…

And as Dave quite rightly said – there DID seem to be loads of fighting – and they were forever being occupied by the French, Spanish & Austrians (is what I remember).

The only other two things that I remember is that the Luxembourg was founded in 963AD.

And that there are 23km of underground tunnels (called “Casemates”) beneath Luxembourg which really should have helped them defend the city a bit better than they actually did, if you ask me !!!

… should have stayed in Molsheim and gone to visit Colmar again for a gondola ride !!!

• Location: 49° 36′ 42.44″ N 6° 8′ 13.35″ E