My students wanted to thank the staff and faculty at the Château for all they did this semester. We decided to make Mexican food for Cinco de Mayo for them. It turned out very nicely.
Thanks to the generosity of Carlo Krieger, the former Luxembourg Ambassador to China, I was able to attend an organ concert by Marina Tchebourkina in Dudelange. The concert was co-sponsored by the Ambassadors of France and of Russia. The concert was held in the beautiful Église Saint-Martin.
After a truly wonderful lunch at Le Roc du Boeuf, we headed back to Luxembourg via Paris. It was dark by then and a Sunday night, but Paris was still full of life. Most of the pictures I took look like what you’d expect to see when you use a cell phone camera at night, but this one wasn’t too bad:
We went to Saint Junien, primarily to go to the market. I didn’t take many pictures because it was raining for much of the day. Here’s a photo of the outside of the marché couvert de Saint Junien on a nicer day, and here’s one of the inside. The town is incredibly picturesque. Here’s a photograph of the main pedestrian street, again on a sunnier day.
We started the day by walking around Rochechouart. Since it was a holiday, nearly everything—save on café—was closed. This is the Château de Rochechouart, or at least part of it:
I introduced myself to some of the neighbors who were out in the rain:
The donkeys were very friendly. Here you can see part of one forcing his way into the picture.
Went to Rochechouart with friends. Rochechouart is located in the Limousin region in west-central France. It’s also an impact crater. The drive took most of the day, and we got there at dusk—so not a lot to report for today.
Not only is this a Monday, but it’s a Monday after driving through France for nearly 12 hours. So, here are some photos that my students took. They’re much better photographers than I am.
Easter Monday is a holiday in Luxembourg, as well as a day of a special tradition known as Eemaischen. The most notable aspect of this tradition is the selling of clay bird whistles or Pëckvillercher. Even though 95% of the shops were closed, downtown Luxembourg Ville was as crowded as I’ve ever seen it. It was difficult to even get a good look at the whistles. I had expected them to be small enough that they could fit in a closed hand. In fact, they are the size of a normal potato, if not bigger. More information here and here.
On the way back to the train station, I walked a different way than I normally do to avoid the crowds. One of the paths from the bridge to the area far below had this warning:
My favorite baked goods in Differdange. I suspect that I’m about to lose any credibility I may have with anyone who has been to Paris, but these are the pastries I like in Differdange (in no particular order):
Croissant du Braga at Lusitania, €1.20.
Croissant avec marzipan at Lidl, €0.49.
Croissant avec fraises at Proxy, €0.99.
Baguette (several kinds) at Fischer, €1.47.
Lidl once had the croissants on sale, 2 + 1 gratuit. That was a bad week for my self-control.
Today was the last day of classes for the “sprint courses” (i.e., courses running at double speed). To celebrate, and to begin grading avoidance at the earliest possible moment, we went to Ristorante Favaro in Esch for dinner. It was Resto-days in Luxembourg, so we had a wonderful seven course dinner.
Had a wonderful lunch with the Dean at Le Presbytere, which is on the Luxembourg-French border. Before and after lunch was spent working with students on their term papers, which are due Friday.
