Amy: We left Trier and rode a long 75K to Vianden in Luxembourgh. It seems as soon as we entered into Luxembourgh the terrain changed dramatically. The old style German villages are gone and towns seem alot further apart. Not to mention the hills. The last 20 K of our ride had some fairly steep hills and several long pushes up long hills. Did I mention the hills were long and steep ? On the German bike trails were were rarely alone but here in Luxembourgh we have had the trails mostly to ourselves. We treated ourselves to a nice dinner at the restaurant at the campground and settled in our our 15th night in a row of camping. In the morning we ventured up (yes up another steep hill) to tour a castle that overlooks the town. It had once been in ruin but the Luxembourgh government took over ownership and has restored it. The restoration is quite amazing and unlike Burg Eltz they allow you to wander through on your own. Some kind folks from Belgium who where staying in the same campground as us invited us to eat lunch at their table ( as opposed to eating on the ground). They spoke English so we were able to have a nice visit. After lunch we packed up and prepared to leave for Luxembourgh city when we discovered that Patti was missing an important piece off her bike and we could not attach the trailer without it. (the bump)(big bump) After retracing our route from our morning ride and scouring the grass we came to the conclusion that we needed a Plan B. Our nice Belgium neighbours gave Patti a ride into a neighbouring city to see if there was a bike shop that could help. ( I kept looking) The bike shop was closed but they did find a hardware store and Patti was able to put together a make shift solution. But it was already 4pm and the rain clouds were rolling in. We decided to stay the night at the hostel in town so we wouldn't have to pack up wet in the morning. Our first night in a bed since we left home. It was still cloudy and cool this morning so we decided to stay another night at the hostel and do some site seeing around the area. We took a bus to a neighbouring town and found this internet cafe. Patti is doing some research on where to get the part she needs in luxembourgh. There have been many kind people who have offered us space at their table, room on their clothes lines, directions when we needed it and most recently help solving Patti's missing bike part problem. We have been thankful of all their kindness.
With regards to the wine, the actual places to go sample the wine always seems to be at the top of extremely steep hills. Apparently the grapes need direct sunlight to be really good so the vineyards are all on hillsides. Also, i wouldn't be in very good riding shape if I drank a bottle myself and the alternative is to carry it as Patti was unable to develop a taste for wine. I have decided that Germany and Luxembourgh are going to be beer places and France and Italy will be wine places.
