Friday, November 30, 2012

Miss Vicki got her groove back!

Miss Vicki back in the States
Why Jeni decided she's a Vicki is really anyone's guess. After seven years with the old girl - the Mini Cooper that is - the name just sort of materialized, and it stuck. Vicki's saga is an interesting tale, but it's all over for now...well nearly. This is Luxembourg. Nothing is ever completed on the first attempt :-)

All of our gear was / is being graciously (and gratis) shipped by US Army. This includes one automobile or POV. Everything in military parlance has a cool code name. I think this means 'Personally Owned Vehicle'. Anyway, Vicki was shipped over on a freight-liner and wound up at an airbase in Spangdahlem, Germany - about an 1 hour and 20 minute drive away from Luxembourg City. One of Jeni's co-worker's, a super nice guy named Jim, hauled us over to the airbase one Friday afternoon to retrieve our car. This is where the story gets rolling - pun intended.

Since the airbase is in Germany and we live in the Grande Duchy, temporary tags were not an option. We were told to strap on our old Virginia plates and head to the border. No one added, 'and hope for the best!' After an afternoon of ID creation, bank account opening and of course shopping it was dark before we were able to leave the base. Thankfully the Base Exchange sells GPS, or we may never have made it back. Spangdahlem is in the sticks!

The GPS valiantly guided us through narrow river valleys and through quaint medieval towns en route to the superhighway that leads back to Luxembourg. Under cover of night, with Jeni behind the wheel, we made it without detection. Only the poor locals behind us had to look at that silly little VA license plate...no doubt with one hand clamped to the steering-wheel with the other repeatedly slapping a forehead or a dashboard. Jeni did an excellent job driving. Cool as a cucumber.


Vicki in her new garage
Once safely garaged, the task of registering the vehicle in Luxembourg was next. Seeing the Virginia tags, a neighbor asked if we drove here. To which Jeni replied 'It would appear that way'. The car does need a good wash.

I'm pretty sure next to rocks the greatest domestic product in the Grande Duchy is paperwork. In order to register a car from a non European Union country (e.g Les Etats-Unis) there are no less than six steps (seven if you work for NATO). Fortunately Jeni's office supplied us with a checklist. Well, most of a checklist...they kind of left off one crucial step.

Briefly (tee-hee), these steps are to;
1.) Go to the Administration of Registration and Customs and prove we're living here legally. For €50 you get a stamp that says, 'OK you are now able to register the car'. This office is in Cessange.
2.) Locate the Customs office next to the train station, hope to choose the correct floor and get another stamp that allows goods to enter the country duty free (this is a NATO perk).
3.) Call Société Nationale de Contrôle Technique (Control Technique - more on these guys later) to get your plate number.
4.) Purchase insurance...yet another sticker for the file.
5.) Actually register the vehicle. This phase was omitted from the NATO checklist, so when I skipped ahead to step number six, things really picked up speed. The immatriculation (pronounced eh-mah-tric-yoo-lay-cee-ohn - I learned this pronunciation on the fly) or 'registration' takes place at the Control Technique headquarters in Sandweiler, a small town just north of the city.
6.) Have your plates made and mounted in Howalt. This seems like a simple step, but if you don't have the car registered, Control Technique won't schedule your inspection. No appointment for your inspection...no plates. So armed with a little white lie and a GPS, I headed to step number 7.
7.)  Contrôle Technique - If your keeping score, that's FIVE different locations. Without a car to drive this can take some doing.

We've heard a lot about this place, Control Technique. None of it good. Even our insurance agent was lamenting his pending visit to the parade of grease, gas, cigarettes and bureaucracy. Apparently every car, commercial vehicle, big-rig (trailer too), personal recreational vehicle and motorcycle IN THE COUNTRY must pass through this place at some point. Seems like you should have an appointment or somethin'.
Looks like the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, non?


Yep - an oil truck. Those geezers in the back just kept smoking!
Luck is my middle name.
I arrived at 10am and explained my situation, and to my surprise they were quite helpful. I took my number and went to wait. Remember that Luxembourg has three official languages. It seems that German is preferred in the garage. Fortunately I have enough recall from high-school German class to recognize numbers and general instructions. Even more fortunate is the fact that 4 in 10 Luxembourgers speak English - whew! By eleven I was in the system, and I was pushed through by 2:30pm...quite literally. The battery died while I was going through the tests inside the garage, and I had to shove poor Vicki through the various analyses. They not only check safety equipment, but they also jack the vehicle up shake and shimmy the struts, run it on a treadmill and check the color of the headlights. All in all it was rather anti-climactic, but we passed! Well sort of...
Vicki going through the paces
Mostly legal and ready to roll!

We must now go to the US Embassy and request a letter that states at some point Jeni's last name was actually the name showing on the car title. I can count at least four different last names for her...serial divorcee?! Evidently women in the EU don't take their husband's name. I like our social security system where you're just a 9 digit number. It's less personal, but I won't have to carry an affidavit around with me if I choose to change my name to Metta World Luxem.


Road Trip This Weekend!!!


Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Brief Interlude - Part II


Yet another interlude while we wait for our furniture to arrive. I could go on about the insurance requirements or the condo association (which is actually called The Syndicate – not joking) or the climb up and out of the Rollingergrund, but I won’t.

This post is all about FOOD! Glorious food!
I know you've seen this sandwich before, but it's so ubiquitous I couldn't resist

After eating in restaurants for two to three meals a day, we were so very ready to get into our place and start cooking. It’s amazing what will inspire you after eating out constantly for well over a month! It’s always the simple things you miss. Our very first meal in the apartment was…Tacos! Man we miss good ol’ Mexican food. I rounded the ‘international aisle’ of the local supermarché at least four times before I spotted the Euro-style taco kit. I knew these existed because I saw the 'Old El Paso' kit in the grocery over by the hotel. These 'NEW!' beauties were hidden between the Felafel and the Fish Sauce...We’re still getting used to all the new brands here.

Frittata w/ Salad
Grilled Veggie Sandwich - Avec Merlot!
We’re very pleased they sell textured soy protein (fake ground beef) and all types of Quorn products. So far we’ve also created an ad-hoc Pizza Genovese, Frittata with Garden Salad and a warm Veggie Sandwich with fries! Even though its rapidly becoming winter, I am still quite excited at the prospects down at the farm market. Held on Wednesdays in Place Guillaume (great photo, I can't take credit, though), the market offers all types of fresh produce as well as dairy (plus game and homemade sausages – if your into that kind of thing) and even flowers and nursery plants!
Look at the crazy colors of Heather! - more on this later ;)
I certainly don’t want to give the impression that Luxembourg’s restaurants are terrible. Far from it…even as vegetarians, we’ve been able to track down a wide variety of food. The scene is actually quite diverse. We’ve enjoyed some really good Thai – although you have to order the vegetarian curry off the menu. The Nepalese restaurant down by the Gare is amazing – can’t wait to go back now that we have a fridge…the portions are huge! Then there are the more traditional Brasseries and Cafes. These are great lunch places for soups and sandwiches, etc. 
Luxembourg's only pure Vegetarian restaurant - Mesa Verde. Looks like a dog's breakfast, but tasty nonetheless.
Pizza - C'mon!!
Baked Gnocci alla Pesto!
One interesting note is the abundance of Italian restaurants. By far these outnumber all other cuisines in the Ville. Pizza is the food version of that little black dress…it just goes with everything! Most Italian restaurants have excellent house-made pasta as well. 

Probably our best find to date is actually a Luxembourgish restaurant in The Grund – at least I think its Luxembourgish…could be German. With a name like Bosso’s, it’s anyone’s guess. Anyway, they have an extensive vegetarian menu full of Flammekuechen (a type of flatbread pizza with a ‘crème fraiche’ sauce), Zwei Kartoffeln (literally two whole potatoes stuffed with all kinds of yummy stuff), Spaetlze  (cheese or mushroom) and of course Eieromelets! I did mention that the Luxembourgers are culinary geniuses, didn’t I? An omelet with French fried potatoes for dinner…wow!

Zwei Kartoffeln...
...rather sorry salad, though. I think my arteries grew three sizes that day!
Paris Mushroom Spaetzle!!
Now I’ve made myself hungry. Please pray that our belongings arrive soon…it’s like a McGuiver episode around here at dinner. We have two frying pans, one spatula, a butcher knife and paper or plastic options for plates, cups and flatware. We’re nothing if not resourceful :-)
Check out the cutlery drawer - We've since been to the US Air Base, and I am happy to announce we now have pots and pans!
Cocktails Anyone!?


Monday, November 19, 2012

The Beast

Imagine, if you will, a creature with two heads. One head is on the end of a long extended tendril and the other hovers above. The monster drools and slobbers all over its cave-like floor, and with the precision of an Olympic archer can shoot a blast of liquid heat straight into your face! This is the loathsome brute we encountered on our first night in our new home!

It really doesn't have a scary face...I added this for effect.
Now imagine two Rubes from Virginia trying to figure out how to use their new European fixtures…probably not the best showing by the Yanks since the battle of the Ardennes.

As I was tucking in nicely with our the two dogs and a good book on our air mattress (borrowed air mattress I might add - along with the two barstools left by the landlord – our only sticks of furniture at the current time), I heard a series of water gushing followed by a litany of expletives (we shall not repeat) emanating from the bathroom.

After several clicks and a few rushes of water – plus the curse words – I deduced there might be a problem. As a problem solver, I ambled into lavatory to see what I could do to help. Help I did not! Upon tweaking and turning the various knobs, I was actually able to land a direct hit into Jeni’s unsuspecting left eyeball! The stupid jets were at a perfect level to hit her squarely in the face!

Beyond our Laurel-and-Hardy-esque caper, we can’t seem to figure out how to seal the glass doors. So this thing leaks all over the floor, and we just mop it up every morning – yeah, Rubes! It’s also impossible to keep clean. Oh well…the adventure continues. We’ll figure it out.

We're back online - Yea!! - but only with an analog DSL line. The dream of the nineties is alive in Luxembourg! Fiber Optic cable should be installed in a few more weeks. 

Friday, November 9, 2012

Purgatory

We are rapidly getting our affairs in order. Of the litany of 'to-do' items on our list, telephone and internet acquisition are obviously at the top. By law all households in Luxembourg must have a land-line. There are several providers for internet and cell connection, but the Standard Bearer here in the Grand Duchy is Enterprise des Postes  et Télécommunications or P&T for short.
The Hotel des Postes - It's hard to gauge the scale of this edifice, but that's a city bus in the lower left corner.
Since all the major carriers are pretty much the same, we thought it a good idea to stick to with Old Lady Luxembourg's tried and true supplier. Originally the Post and Telegraph, P&T now offers everything from fiber optic networks to banking to television broadcasting.  One funny thing about life here is that most businesses don't really worry to much about their web-presence. Check out P&T's own webpage for the Postal Museum (yeah, just keep scrolling down).

I spent an afternoon at the main branch downtown in order to hook up our land-line, internet and cell phone service. This experience is amazingly similar to the trip to the DMV back in the states. You take a number in the lobby and wait your turn. 

That dude's not real, and I think I risked deportation snapping this picture inside the post office!
The board was on number 947 when I arrived...and the number I pulled out of the machine was...
YEEESH!!!
Fortunately most folks gave up once they saw their ticket number, but not me. It was still about a two-and-a-half hour ordeal, though. There are only four desks in the main Teleboutique, and it takes at least 30 minutes to get all of your paperwork in order. I'm glad I did stick it out because I was informed by the super-helpful attendant that in order to do all of this online, you must print off the application and mail it in. They will then contact you by mail to set up the installation date...makes absolutely no sense!? The soonest we can have our lines installed (even though the apartment is wired, it is not wired for P&T) is ten days from 'activation'. Oh yeah, the high speed internet line will be come about four weeks after that! I really think they believe that they still have a monopoly.  Oh well, at least I got a new toy out of the deal.
...my new life-line.
In other news, the car arrived on the 8th of November. I'm certain we'll have lots to report on that topic...let me just say 'snow tires'. Keep checking in. With limited internet access, posts may be even more sporadic than they currently are.



Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Bienvenue Chez Nous!

Gonna miss this view.
Well it's official...we're finally on our way out of the hotel Le Grand Ducal! One week in a hotel is a holiday. Two weeks can be considered an extended vacation, but after a month it just plain sucks. What I would give just to microwave a bean burrito or boil some Ramen noodles! The folks here couldn't be any nicer - especially considering we've been shuttling dogs (wet dogs mostly) in and out of the lobby three to four times a day! We're ready to get into our own digs and get stepping with the Luxembourg lifestyle. Apparently the Sofitel Le Grand Ducal has it's own theme song as well. I am not exaggerating, the song linked below plays in heavy rotation...perhaps every three or four songs - day and night! I find myself whistling the melody out of reflex now. I wish I could find the full length version because the lyrics are C'est magnifique!


Living in Luxembourg is still quite surreal. I realize it's still early days, but I don't know if I'll ever get used to - or want to get used to - the amazing diversity here. On any street  at all times of day one hears French, German, Portuguese and of course Luxembourgish. Plus there's an abundance English, Dutch, Italian...as a crossroads of northern Europe and vacation destination there appears to be no limit on who you can meet here.


This is the front of the building - ours faces the cliffs out back.
We've begun to settle into the Luxembourg's daily rhythm, and that's why we decided to move into Rollingegrund. The duplex is so nice and the neighborhood is really sweet. We hope as many of our friends and family can make it over and experience this unique place. Rollingergrund (RO) is a quiet 'village' nestled between two larger neighborhoods. We'll have our own shops and cafes plus all of the conveniences of living close to the Belair and Limpertsberg Quartiers. RO isn't a popular area with tourists or with the 'Late-Night' set, so we think it will be a great way to experience the European Lifestyle...off to study more French!


This is the one with the amazing kitchen...
...the huge patio...
...and a pool hall right across the street :-\

Ah, Rollingergrund!
...And a late 'Happy Howl-O-Ween' from Toby the Ghostie! This is what crazy people do when cooped up in a room for weeks!! Still waiting for all of our household goods...always an adventure.

I think he looks like Zero from A Nightmare Before Christmas