After a short (~one hour) plane ride we landed at the Luxembourg City airport and after collecting our luggage were shuttled into the city to the luxurious Royal Luxembourg Hotel. After setttling in, I explored the old city, walking down to the Place de la Constitution. I got a ticket for the Pétrusse Express, a mini-train that goes into and around the valley, giving a view ofsome of the old fortifications. After returning I also did the hop-on, hop-off bus tour that went around the city, out to the Kirchberg Plateau, and south to the train station. After a brief lunch, I returned to the hotel, and met up with some of the Munich group to go to wonderful dinner at Brasserie Guillaume. The Oregonians were initially intimidated by the French menu and the cuisine, but with some help from me and a lot from the restaurant staff culinary fears were soon overcome and we had a delciious meal. It didn't hurt that the restaurant spoiled us with some with extras!
The next day we met up with those VBTers who hadn't gone to Munich and had our guided walking tour of the old city. There were decorated elephants scattered around the old city as a fund-raising gimmick for elephant conservation. After our tour a stop at Oberweis to pick up lunch and admire the pastries. Explored some of the city and fortifications in the afternoon, had supper at La Lorraine Restaurant on the Place d'Armes, did some more walking, and had a good night's sleep.
The next morning we got on a bus to Metz, but first had a stop at the Luxembourg American Cemetery just outside Luxembourg City where Inter alia Gen. Patton was buried.