Preserver l'environnement, c'est dans ma nature!

A couple of exciting things happened yesterday (Sunday) and today!

1. I went grocery shopping :). Probably doesn't sound that

exciting, but it seems to be at least a small accomplishment. One of my co-workers from Akron, who's been here for a year or so now, asked me today "where have you been eating... have you been eating??". Haha. Yesterday I found a place that was open (pretty much everything is closed on Sundays) and got some staples, and today a co-worker told me about a bigger store that I went to this evening. It's not really that much different outside of a few things:

• You have to pay for the normal plastic shopping bags--I guess pretty recently the government mandated that stores charge for them to encourage the use of reusable bags... to save the earth :)! Go Lux! The title of this post is on the side of the new re-usable shopping bag I bought (google translate it... I did :) ).
• The big one I went to tonight had the biggest wine section I've ever seen ... by a lot!
• They don't have banana peppers, jalapenos, or italian dressing!!?!??!?!?!? :( :( ... I did, however, find something called "American Sauce". No, I did no buy it.

2. Same co-worker showed me a sweet interactive map online that shows you where the buses go, so I will now be able to go downtown without walking 4 miles through the deserted banking district in the evenings or on the weekend. However, he said he never uses this fancy online map because he has an iPhone app that just tells him what bus to get on no matter where he is. One point for smart phone users... :).

3. I went on an awesome run on a foot / bike path that starts less than 1km from my apartment, and runs between the horse pasture, and mega-mall / movie theater. hahaha.

4. I went to see a castle!! Sunday, after visiting the grocer, I drove about an hour north east to Vianden where there's a fully renovated castle turned museum. I suppose it was a little touristy, but it was absolutely beautiful!!! And if you're in Luxembourg you have to see a castle, no matter how much of tourist that makes you. The drive there was beautiful too, with hills reminiscent of the Appalachian mountains, but with forests in some places that just seem to feel old, and in other places the iconic sheep grazing in pastures and wind turbines in corn fields! It also seemed like there are places to pull over and have a picnic or just enjoy the scenery everywhere (I think I stopped at almost all of them :) ).

Here's some more from my trip to Vianden:

bonsoir!