Anno Domini 1408

I'm way behind in things I want to share, but I'll catch up in my own time. ;-) I'll start with the trip to Luxemburg (from Thursday July 24th until Monday 28th).

Ron and I met the other four in Nieuwegein. We drove with two cars and left around 2pm. After a few hours we stopped at Slavante on top of the St. Pietersberg in Maastricht, a Grand Café and marl caves. We decided to go for a walk there first. IJs had been there before and could tell things about the surrounding area. Marl winning, tower ruin of Lichtenberg, caves, Our Lady of Lourdes chapel, hills and so much more. After that we drank something at the Grand Café and continued the journey. We stopped at Baraque de Fraiture in Belgium where we ate chips. It was too fat and later on I had to throw up; not nice, but a relief to get rid of it!
We arrived at 10 pm in the Youth Hostel in Luxembourg City, only to discover our room had been given away! When he made the reservation Marco had passed the message that we would be there late in the evening. Somehow the Youth Hostel messed up. Marco showed the manager the confirmation e-mail (luckily he had it on Gmail). At first the manager wasn't that friendly, but now we got excuses and something to drink. Then finally things were rearranged and we got our six-bedded room with its own shower and toilet. Everyone was irritated, angry and very tired. What a way to start the vacation... We put our stuff in the room and went to bed.

Friday we had a whole day to spend for ourselves. We decided to visit the Casemates. There are two series of casemates open to the public, the Bock and the Pétrusse. We did the Bock first. Those were individually accessible. Very interesting with amazing views. The weather outside was very warm, but the casemates were cool. The lower we came, the colder it got.
We walked to another side of the city to go to the Pétrusse casemates. This was a guided tour and we had to wait some time for the next tour. These casemates were different, but very interesting too. I liked having a tour guide, because that way we learned a lot more of it. There were a lot of steps. At the end I was knackered, but it was worth it.
After rest and a lot of drinks we decided to walk back through the gardens below. Soon I had the idea we were going a wrong way. I didn't pay attention to that, because my (non-)sense of directions is well-known. I started to worry though when Ron got the same feeling! To cut a long story short: we walked a looooong time, up and down and up and down. I was completely exhausted and dizzy when we finally reached the youth hostel.
We had dinner in the hostel: enough choice, cheap and amazingly delicious! Ron took the entrecote and I had a yummy lasagna bolognese. After dinner we went into the garden to do some archery. Afterwards the others went up to the city again, but I decided to go to bed to recuperate after a very tiring day.

Saturday was the first day of the medieval festival Anno Domini 1408. Ron wore his black shirt and I my blue medieval dress. A bit of a confrontation, because it fitted me only just. :( Again the weather was very hot, so I had to rest frequently and drink a lot. The market was smaller than last year, but still very nice to roam about. Artists like Melania, Die Streuner and Die Irrlichter brightened up the streetscape. Ron assisted strong man Georges Christen again. On the podium were performances by Poeta Magica (great music, as long as the female singer kept her mouth shut) and of course Omnia. They were performing twice. Ron and I bought their new DVD "Pagan Folk Lore". At their first performance I had to stay in the shaow, because it was too hot. For their second I had a seat under a parasol. During that show the weather got darker. Suddenly a flash of lightning and the thunder rolled. Within seconds it poured down, first rain than hail! Omnia continued to play, but all of a sudden the thunder and lightning hit somewhere and everything on the podium got dark. My back wasn't under the parasol, so it got wet and cold. After a while I started to shiver, I wanted to go home. The thunderstorm and rain hadn't stopped yet. IJs offered to get his car and pick Ron and me up, so I didn't have to walk down cold and wet. In the youth hostel I took a warm shower and felt somewhat better. We had dinner in the youth hostel again. We sat outside for a while. I decided to go to bed early this night too, the others watched the Omnia DVD.

Sundaymorning we sat on the terrace of the hostel, when we witnessed a van overriding a little pole. It got stuck under the van. Ron and IJs went over to help them and in the end the van got free.
It was the second day of the medieval festival. A lot of the stalls had damage from the thunderstorm, but they all stayed. A lot of us didn't wear medieval clothes, I didn't feel like it. Luna had asked us to buy a lambs skin. They were cheaper because some had become wet the night before. We bought one for ourselves too and a set of little lambs skin slippers for Dominique (to thank Monique for caring after the dogs and cats at home).
Omnia' performed like nothing happened the first day. Afterwards I asked them to sign our DVD and of course they did. Ron's knee ached and I was very tired, so we decided to leave the market somewhat earlier and go down to the youth hostel. Marco joined us. In the lobby I watched the final of the Tour De France and saw Sastre winning the yellow jersey. The Dutch rabobank team had the green jersey. I followed the Tour as usual, but missed the last stages. At least I could see the final.
When the others came down we went to the dining room. This time I took the entrecote (done) and it was very good. I needed some red meat. After dinner the others wanted to do archery again. Ron took a nap and I played some games on the laptop. I went to bed early.

Monday we had to check out before 10am, so we had breakfast early. Ron and I wanted to make a stop on the way home in Lier to visit our friends in the cottage where we stayed a few weeks ago. the others wanted to go abseiling first, but decided to go with us. We were all welcomed with drinks and cake. We had a great time, but Ron and I wanted to be in The Netherlands before the traffic jams would start. We were home around 6pm.

You can see all of our pictures in this album.

Some YouTube video's:
Melania with music
Omnia - Etrezomp ni Kelted
Omnia - Saltatio
Omnia - Fídhe Ra Hurí
Poeta Magica
artists together on podium