Remich, Luxembourg 27 April 2019

27.04.19 - Our excitement for last evening was helping the Frenchman in the moho next to us. He’d gone out for a fag (always knew smoking was bad for you!) and locked himself out. Much Gallic shrugging of shoulders! He’d spied us through the window, so we went out to help. He asked if we had any screwdrivers. He’d tried the door, no joy, so broke one of the latches on a window. Tintin then assisted and broke the other one. Really scary to see how easy it is to break into a moho with minimal tools. He’d had the blind closed too, so that probably broke. We used a big plastic box and our stool on top for him to stand on and climb through. He seemed delighted with the assistance, but probably very cross with himself, with the added hassle of now having to get it all repaired. Lesson here - make sure you never leave your Moho without checking first you have keys! We have extra locks on our windows, so wouldn’t be able to break in like that...

So, chicken and leek dish made with cream and white wine to eat last night.  Downside was that we had a nice bottle of Riesling open, so whilst watching more Cuckoo, slowly drank the rest.

Suffice to say, Tintin not feeling his best today - two plink plink fizz down!

A bit unfair that technology hasn’t been our friend today! Tintin got so fed up with Vodafone (in short, had problems with making and receiving calls for months) that he changed to his EE SIM a few days ago. We need to send a message every time we move Dave as there is a tracking device on him to alert us in case he’s ever stolen. Well the SIM didn’t work, no help available on Saturdays. Swapped the SIM to my phone but it still didn’t work.  We think maybe there was a network error - but eventually we drove off - and the disarm message was sent. Later on my Google maps wasn’t showing where we are, but Tintin’s works - and we have the same settings - and mine worked yesterday!

I drove for about 7 minutes! From France, into Germany briefly, then back in Luxembourg - and we went to the free Schengen museum. The famous Schengen Agreement was signed on the 14 June 1985 aboard the ship MS Princesse Marie-Astrid. Schengen is at the intersection of five countries (Benelux counting as three). The whole idea was to abolish internal border controls. Europeans make over 1.25 billion journeys within the Schengen area every year. No internal borders brings huge benefits to the economy. Removing borders, ensuring safety and building trust took many years after two devastating world wars. The creation of the Schengen area comprises of 26 European countries who have abolished all passport control and other types of border control at their mutual borders, and is one of the greatest achievements of the EU, and it is irreversible. The United Kingdom does not apply the Schengen rules, hence our need for our passports when visiting Europe.

Some of the information was interesting - like the fact that the UK and France have roughly the same population, but France has double the area - no wonder we feel like we’re in ‘rural’ France a lot of the time!  Luxembourg has the highest percentage of foreigners (45% in comparison with only 8% for the UK and 6% for France).

It was a grey day!  I then drove for only about 20 minutes. We are now parked up on the Luxembourg side of the Moselle near Remich. It hasn’t really been April showers today, more of torrential downpours! We managed to time it right, and went for a walk into Remich. Quite a few big boats that look like they take people for cruises up and down the river whilst having lunch! There are so many vines in the rolling fields.

Saw a little group of people and their dogs undertaking dog training outside!

The picture doesn’t do it justice, but the alcohol bottles in the window were mainly three litre bottles. Inside, we bought a litre of Captain Morgan’s for only €12.75 - would have waited had we known!

Also went into a cake shop (that sort of weather!) and bought an apricot danish to share. It’s the first time I’ve ever had to put my money into a machine to pay. Maybe for hygiene reasons, the assistant can’t handle cakes and money?

Spent the afternoon just reading and being happy to be inside when the heavens opened.

Chicken curry to eat tonight - well it’s Saturday! Not M&S quality - but ok!

I keep on looking at hairdressers. It’s only been three weeks since I had my hair cut - and to say I’m disappointed is an understatement! If I don’t use the hairdryer, then it just pokes out. The idea was to grow it a little, as short hair needs trimming every 5-6 weeks, which would mean I’d always have the trauma of finding hairdressers abroad! My Portuguese haircut last year has only just been evened out last cut! We do have an inverter, so I can dry my hair, but we have to turn the engine on, then the inverter - and if I use normal speed, causes some alarms to go off. Seems selfish to dry my hair! Problems, problems - so much easier being a man!

Think we’re due for another iffy day of weather tomorrow, then the forecast is looking better. Fingers crossed!

Already 8.30 at night - and still a lovely serene view to look out over 🙂