Bernard-Massard sparkling wine in Luxembourg

When you think about great Mosel valley wines, you think of Germany, of course.  Having these world famous wines almost at our doorstep is a rare treat for the wine drinkers among us.  But did you know that Luxembourg also has a wine culture along the Moselle?  For years these wines have been sold locally or used by other winemakes in Germany or France for bulk wine.  But in the last century, the Luxmbourg wines have begun to make a name for themselves. 

Many of the wines here are Reislings, which you would expect, given how well these grapes do a bit further down the river in Germany, but the wines of Bernard-Massard more closely mirror the sparkling wines of Champagne.  

Bernard-Massard in Grevenmacher has been making sparkling wines here since 1921, and is now the largest producer of these wines in Luxembourg.  Their winery offers tours, which I didn't have an opportunity to try, as well as tastings of their range of wines in a very pleasant setting.  It's a great place to enjoy a sunny afternoon. 

Nice terrace overlooking the Mosel.

Each wine can be tasted individually, but I opted for the sample of the complete range of the bubblies, with a small glass of each of their five sparkling wines.  It makes it that much easier to pick your favorite!  If I remember correctly this was about 9 Euros. 

The range of sparkling wines

My favorite was the Cuvée de l'Ecusson Brut, which is a bit fuller and richer than the standard Brut.  The Ecusson Brut is made from Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Riesling, and Pinot Noir and aged for two years before release.  This wine is very similar to my favorite Champagne, but less than half the price and one quarter as far away to get it.  What's not to like about that ?! 

The company's web site (in English) is here.  Information on the range of wines, hours of operation, and tour details are easily found.  Another option is to check out the company's cellar in Trier, at Jakobstr 8 just off the main square. Their opening hours are a bit limited at this location, but the possibility of using a VAT form is something to check out.  I'll let you know... 

Another interesting option is a visit to the butterfly garden at the site in Grevenmacher, complete with a glass of wine (optional) for the adults.  It's open from 1 April to 15 October.  Check the website for details.  

The winery address is 8 Rue du Pont, 6773 Grevenmacher, Luxemburg.  Google maps says 46 minutes from Spang. 

Great Hidden Playground in Bitburg!

This playground was submitted by Sam, who says his kids (4&6) just love it.  And it's so close to their daily routes, it's easy to stop by for a quick energy blow-off.

The playground is just off Schleifmuehle at Peter-Wallenborn-Strasse, in a field behind a relatively new row of houses.  When you get to the curve in the road on Schleifmuehle, follow the farm path (marked landwirtschaft & bicycles only) for about 100 meters, just as this car is doing:

There is a small parking area on the right with room for 5 or 6 cars.

This playground was built in August 2009, so it's pretty new and everything appears to be in top condition.  The castle buildings are all tilted and jilted, giving the place a bit of jaunty fun-filled attitude.  The guys guarding the place add to this:

This playground is only 5 minutes from the front gate of Bitburg, but is surrounded by newer houses, so there are no bathrooms or places to buy food and drink that I could see.  So keep that in mind. 

There are even signs showing types of wildlife you might see there. In German and Latin! 

All in all a GREAT find.  Thanks for the tip, Sam. 

P.S.  This playground has been so popular that area residents have complained about the noise from all the kids playing.  It seems some of them want the playground moved away from their homes, and a court in Trier has agreed with them.  This is currently under appeal by the city of Bitburg. 

Auchan Kirchberg Luxembourg

If you love to cook and / or eat and haven't been to Auchan in Luxembourg, get over there!  I think the best  way to describe it as a French Super Wal-Mart, with both food and non-food sections.  As I'm mostly interested in the food part of it, that's what this post will focus on.  Food is downstairs, other things are upstairs. 

There are large sections of wine, seafood, bakery, produce, cheese, and butcher goods, with many items that are impossible to find closer to home.  I've most often been on Saturdays, when they seem to have some sort of wine-tasting going on, but I've not tried to figure it out yet. The variety of foods from around the globe is impressive, and they have a bio-section for those wanting more organic choices.  Duck breast filets? Yep.  Semi-hard goat cheese rolled in black pepper? Check.  Belgian beer?  A few. 

This kind of super-store is called a hyper-marche in French.  The store is very large, particularly by Europeean standards.  It's 12,000 square meters, larger than two football fields.  The Auchan store is inside a 3 story shopping mall called the Galarie Auchan.  Typical clothes stores and other common mall type stores occupy most of the space, but there are a few restaurants, as well.  There's a good shot of the mall area at this site.

I'll try to add some photos next time I'm over there.

The address for the galerie is  5 rue Alphonse Weicker, L-2721 Luxembourg.  Parking is in the garage under the shopping mall, and is free for the first three hours.   It's next to the nice theater Utopolis, which will be in another post. 


Hours:
Mon-Thurs : 8h00-20h00     Fri : 8h00-21h00     Sat : 8h00-20h00  Sun: closed


Google Maps says 1 hour 4 minutes from Spangdahlem Air Base. 


The store's web site is here, in French, but works pretty well through Google translate. 

Reichsburg castle, Cochem

One of the most interesting castles along the Mosel in Reichsburg, sitting on an imposing hill over the town of Cochem.

If you haven't been to a castle close by (or just haven't been to enough) this is a great place to visit.  Guided tours are available, primarily in German but they have good translation sheets in English and many other languages.  Lots of good pictures and tour information at the website here.

It's quite a walk up to the top, but the view is certainly worth the trip

Cochem itself is filled with charming half-timbered buildings, many of which are used for tourism related businesses like restaurants, weinstubes, and other shopping places. You could spend as little or as much time as you like here.  

This is a popular destination in the summer, so expect to pay to park and have crowds to deal with.  In the off-season it's not very busy, though.  Excellent bike paths along the Mosel make a day of outdoor adventure very popular here, too.  Or you could ride one of the Mosel river boats up or down river to your next destination. 

Google maps says 1 hour from Spangdahlem Air Base. 

Pirate Ship Playground in Luxembourg

Luxembourg quickly became a favorite day-trip destination for us.  It somehow synthesizes the best of Germany, France, and the Low Countries in a very pleasant way.  Fresh croissants and bratwurst, what could be better?  And the standard of living is one of the highest in Europe.  This has some nice side benefits for those of us living nearby.

On a recent drive through the city, we spotted a fabulous playground, complete with a pirate ship!  The kids (4 and 6 years old) absolutely loved it.  Climbing, sliding, steering the ship, up and down and all over the place.  And what's even better?  Close parking, close bathrooms, and close-by cafes!  

Map showing location of the playground

Set your GPS to 44 Blvd du Prince Henri, Luxembourg.  This should get you to the entrance to the Monterey parking garage, which is under the park.  

Entrance to parking garage off Blvd du Prince Henri

Parking for 3 hours is 1,50 Euro according to the website.  We were there on a Sunday afternoon and spotted a free parking place on the street.  There are bathrooms in the parking garage as well, so you don't have to go far to take care of those issues.

The playground is on the NW corner of Blvd du Prince Henri and Ave Monterey, but if you're there on a sunny day you can just follow the sound of happy kids playing.  This playground is very popular!  The main attraction is the sailing ship (I don't know that it is really supposed to be a pirate ship, but the kids  thought it was, so it must be... )

There also some pretty big slides, and lots of nautical-themed structures to climb on. 

There also appeared to be some sort of water feature, but it wasn't operating in early March when I was there.  This playground is a quick 5 minute walk from the center of the old city, with many choices for food.  Everything from the Cafe France to McDonalds.

Google Maps says it is one hour eleven minutes from Spangdahlem Air Base to the playground.

What's near Spangdahlem?

The opportunity to travel around Europe is certainly one of the benefits of a tour in Germany.  Long weekends in Paris, a few days in Tuscany, a road trip over the Alps, and countless other opportunities will create wonderful times and memories for you and your family.  And fill up your photo albums or scrapbooks!  But sometimes you don't have a long weekend, or even the whole day.  Sometimes you only have a couple of hours, but you don't want to waste a sunny day.  But where to go?  What to do?

On a recent trip I was struck by the wide variety of things that are close by to Spangdahlem Air Base.  Things we would never get to see back in the States.  So I'm creating this space as a place to let people know what they can find within about an hour's drive of Spangdahlem.  I'm not going to set 60 minutes as an exact limit, because what's 60 minutes from one person's house may be 90 minutes from another person's.  But the idea of 'within an hour' is sort of the guiding principle here.  There are lots of sites that will tell you about the landmarks of Heidelburg, but where are you going to go to find out about the pirate ship playground in Luxembourg?  Right here!  So stay tuned and see what's nearby.  And if you have a favorite place, please consider sharing it with others.  Submit your ideas to nearspang@gmail.com, along with a description of the place and a few pictures if you have them.