From Traben-Trarbach

Morris Horowitz Grave

Luxembourg Church

Whimsical Sculpture

Mosel Valley

June 5, 2011- Cemeteries

Forests and mountains lined the shore today. We docked in Traben-Trarbach this morning. It's supposed to be rainy on and off but the sun is shining. The view from the boat is just like our puzzle with the houses, trees, & sky reflected in the still water of the river. This is wine country again and lots of unemployed people from Spain and Portugal come to pick grapes. Some find their way to Luxembourg, our destination today, and seek work there in menial jobs and in the steel industry. The 8,000 Muslim immigrants who live in Luxembourg have become a major issue. They take government funds offered to all religious institutions but are pushing for sharia law to prevail for them over the local legal system.

We left the boat at 8:30 AM and made the ninety minute trek through an industrial zone, up forested hills and into one of the smallest countries in the world. We traveled the autobahn once again and Dewi told us that if you get too many DUI points on your license you have to see a "shrink." A woman in our group who is a therapist thought that was a dandy idea.

Luxembourg (I'll call it Lux for the sake of my fingers) is 100 square miles and has 500,000 people. Over half are immigrants. Their economy is based on tourism, farming, & like Switzerland, hiding money. Lux is the only grand duchy in the world & is led by Duke Henry, a relative of The Netherlands' royal family. Their spoken language is Luxembourgish, a mixture of German and French, which they rarely use for the written word. In grammar school they're taught in German. Later schooling is done in French. English is also required.

Our local guide, Jean-Pierre, wasn’t up to the usual standards we've come to expect. His English was hard to understand and he read a great deal of what he was telling us. His reading of English was a bit worse than his spoken words. He rambled back and forth in history and mixed up dates so I found it a real challenge to take notes. After a while I stopped. I was serious when I told people in our group that I might have to resort to Wikipedia for background info and history. Unfortunately we don't have access to Wi-Fi where we're docked so this is mostly from memory.

Our first stop was at the American cemetery. America got to liberate Lux twice. They declared victory but then Germany saw fit to re-invade. When asked to surrender by the Germans, Brig.Gen. McAuliffe rejected the demands by famously responding, "Nuts!" Thus began the Battle of the Bulge. It lasted from Dec. 16, 1944-March 21, 1945. The number of Americans killed was 5,076.

The chapel is divided between Christian and Jewish faiths and plots are marked with crosses or Stars of David. We searched to no avail for stones to put on the stars until one of our group pointed out the rocks in the flowerbeds. Freshly supplied, we made our way through the markers seeking out the Jewish fallen. I worked my way to a far corner of the cemetery and stopped in my tracks. I waved frantically to David who hastily joined me. We were standing in front of the grave of Morris M. Horowitz of New York buried in 1945. We were surprised as our emotions overwhelmed us and we broke down as David recited the El Molay, a Hebrew prayer said at graveside. When I told Dewi what we'd found she took me to the office to speak to the manager. He had no more information than was on the grave but when I mentioned the possibility of one of David's relatives researching it (he does genealogy) the man encouraged me to email him if I learned anything at all.

It was at the grave of Morris Horowitz that we both made the decision not to visit the cemetery at our next stop. It was too much for us to commemorate the 1,000 fallen German soldiers buried there. We did get off the bus and walked down the tree-sheltered path that had lots of rocks. We stopped outside the entrance and waited for the group to return. 

Lux

Our bus shuttled us next to the city center where we got our first view of the hills, bridges, valleys, and rivers of which Luxembourg City is comprised. Our guide attempted to fill us in on the history of Lux. Oy! The Romans came in 963; it was made a duchy in 1354; it was then absorbed by the duke of Burgundy following which it spent time under the Dutch and French (Napoleon). In 1815 it was made a Grand Duchy and lost some territory to newly created Belgium. Hitler invaded in 1940. Aren't you impressed? But now I must disillusion you. I looked up the history in a pamphlet on the boat.

Lux is now a constitutional monarchy with a parliament. The town is a mix of old and new with the more modern prevailing. I wouldn't say that the old buildings even held a candle to some of the cities we've seen thus far. We avoided a huge bike race taking place and maneuvered into and around a lovely church, past the parliament and palace and into the main square.

After lunch we sat in the shade and watched the crowds. It had turned hot and stayed sunny. It was Sunday and most stores were closed this being a Catholic country, but I found an open bookstore. I was able to conduct my entire transaction in French phrases and procured most of what I needed.

Those who know me well are of course waiting to hear about how I slept on the bus. I managed ten minutes going and forty-five minutes coming back. Not too shabby. After dinner we were fighting to stay awake. We went up to the sun deck to watch the captain take the boat through yet another lock. A storm was moving in and he was eager to get to the other side. He has to be outdoors at the side controls to guide the boat and he ended up getting very wet. Lightning and thunder eventually drove us downstairs but he was still at his post albeit with a crew member holding an umbrella over his head.

We sail on the Mosel all night until we meet the Rhine. Tomorrow we dock at Boppart.

Toby