It was cold this morning. 45°F to be precise. I wasn’t fully prepared for that kind of weather. I thought I was being clever when I decided to buy winter wear here. I thought I would have at least a month before I would need much more than a long sleeved shirt and a thermal undershirt. Now it looks like I should have bought a warmed jacket yesterday.

After spending several hours working on one of my classes, I went to Gelateria La Gondola to have a cappuccino. This is what I see when I first step out of the château:

To get to La Gondola, I have to walk down this road, which borders the château:

Perhaps because I could pronounce “cappuccino” but not the French name of the pastry I wanted (it was what I would’ve called strudel aux pommes but they had jazzed up the name), the waitress asked if I was Italian. I must have been temporarily flattered to be taken as something other than an American, because I answered affirmatively. I thought this was a safe answer as I had heard nothing but French since I arrived in Luxembourg. Well, it wasn’t. Turns out that all of the employees speak Italian. As if to drive that point home, a nonna came in, speaking Italian with the staff, who obviously were very fond of her. Given the restaurant’s name, maybe I should have known better. Anyway, now that I’ve had coffee, it’s back to reading Montaigne’s Essays for class.