Spangdahlem

Lynnae here – We arrived at the Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany around 4pm Tuesday. We went through customs and were “randomly” selected for a baggage search. Fortunately we were not smuggling in any restricted items so there were no issues. We gathered our belongings and began to walk to the on-base lodging we had booked the previous evening. It was an absolutely beautiful day, warm but not hot and nice and sunny.

Our first view of Germany and the town of Spangdahlem

We had walked about a mile or so when an airman stopped and picked us up. He was full of information about the base accomadations, the town of Spangdahlem and travel time to the nearest countries. He dropped us off at the hotel and we checked in. Needless we say we were tired and hungry. We walked around the base and decided on Pizza Hut for supper. The express service was slower than we would have liked and it’s possible I fell asleep while we were waiting. After supper we went back to our room and I fell asleep immediately. Ralph stayed up a while to take care of some schoolwork, etc.

Wednesday we took care of business pertaining to our recent move and Ralph’s classes. That evening we walked into the town of Spangdahlem – or we attempted to. We walked about a mile to the gate nearest to the town only to find it was closed and we couldn’t walk through. We walked back to the gate by the hotel and retraced our steps just outside the perimeter of the base. We’d walked maybe another mile outside the gate when we were picked up and given a ride into town. Our new friend was doubtful we’d find anywhere to eat in Spangdalem and offered to drive us to Bitburg instead (15km away) but as we would have to walk back we declined.

We walked around and through the town. It’s definitely a rural town. The farms began right outside the ring of houses. Several people had barns within the town itself.

Town of Spangdahlem

There were several places to eat and we settled on Mom’s Place. It had been recommended by the airman. The food was delicious. We both had schnitzel. It came with two kinds of delicious bread, french fries and a four part salad with lettuce and dressing, corn and beans (unexpectedly my favorite part of the meal), shredded pickeled carrots (kind of strange) and coleslaw with creamy dressing. We’d seen the town so we walked back to the base as the sun set.

Thursday we began to feel a little frustrated with Spangdahlem. We were not exactly close to a train station – which had been our hope and when we went to rent a car on base there were none available; it would be an even longer wait before we could rent a car that we could return somewhere other than Spangdahlem. We ended up using this day to plan.

Friday we finally wrapped up all our loose ends, took a taxi to Bitburg where we rented a car and took off. In our travels so far, we’ve appreciated the fact that we both can drive a car with manual transmission. In Europe, cars with automatic transmission are not widely available and the prices are much higher. Our car is an Audi A1 and it handles well. It has 6 gears instead of 5 and it’s awfully low to the ground (I feel like I’m sitting in a hole at the wheel) but otherwise it’s great.

We drove southwest to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. I love driving in Germany. The roads are well maintained, the signage is good, and the drivers are mostly polite. We weren’t in Germany long before we crossed into Luxembourg. [Ralph: There was zero border control between Germany and Luxembourg because they are both in the European Union. The border is just denoted by a sign saying you are in the next country, like if you’re traveling from Indiana to Ohio. There used to be what looks like a toll plaza going from Germany to Luxembourg, which I assume was a border checkpoint. But it is closed, and we just drove straight through.] The country is beautiful.

Speed limits were posted but it seemed they were completely ignored. The only difference while on the roads in Luxembourg is there are bridges for wildlife to cross the freeway. I wish we’d gotten a photo of the cartoony signs that accompianed them. I wonder if it’s effective in cutting down roadkill. We didn’t see any.

Animal Bridge spanning the freeway

We arrived in Luxembourg City, walked around and got sandwiches at a bakery. The city has many pedestrian only streets and squares. There was some sort of street festival going on in many of the squares.

One square of many occupied by the street fair

[Ralph: We stopped in a computer repair shop on a corner and I tried some pidgin French asking “Do you speak English?” The guy did, so we got directions to a tourist center from him.] We went to the tourist center and got a city map. We wandered around a while and saw the sights and some monuments.

Luxembourg city

A memorial for the volunteer who fought in WWI. It was pulled down by Nazis in 1940 and became a symbol of Luxembourg resistance. After it was rebuilt in the 50’s it also memorialized those who fought and died in WWII and the Korean War.

We found our way over to the Museum of Luxembourg City History. We weren’t sure we were in the right place as the museum is below an art museum that occupies the street level. The museum began with the legend of the origin of the city continuing on through current day. It was interesting and deserted. Apart from the two guards that followed us around we were the only people there.

After we left the museum we walked down the very steep streets towards the river and the walked along the old town. It was very peaceful by the river. Portions of it felt like we weren’t in a city at all.