I love Luxembourg. It's a tiny little country and is somewhere between French and German culture and language. There are several castles you can explore, some in ruins and some either already restored or in the process of being restored within a several hour round trip drive (castle exploration time not included).
Today, however, we headed to Luxembourg in search of chocolate. After our last trip to Belgium, my Aunt emailed me and was asking about the chocolate prices. She loves chocolate and asked us to pick some up for her the next time we went. Since the nearest chocolate shop in Belgium that I know of (even if I haven't actually made it there yet) is a pretty good drive, (and we always, always get lost) I decided to do some research online. I found a place in Luxembourg that sells Galler chocolates. The website is http://www.galler.com/ in case you are interested in seeing products they offer. They do ship to the US, and they are SO worth the money.
So, we set off to check out this place. We got to the street and didn't see a Galler store. And then it clicks - the address was listed as CORA Foetz, Lux. CORA was the name of a store - kind of a cross between Walmart and Target. So the Galler counter was located in the bakery section. Here's where the language barrier comes in. After trying for some time to figure out in my head how to ask questions about the different kinds of chocolate in French, I notice a huge selection of chocolate bars. Turns out they are much more affordable than the truffles are, they will (obviously) ship better, and you get much more chocolate for your money. So we buy a couple 85% chocolate bars for my aunt and decide to wander around the store. The selection at the commissary and BX is pretty limited, so I love to wander around foreign stores and see what products they offer. As we are walking up and down the aisles, R points out a section of Galler chocolate bars. Huh! So we are looking at all the bars and they've got a pretty wide selection, so we end up buying a large 70% dark chocolate bar, and two small three packs. For whatever reason, it reminded me of Willy Wonka. I think it was the wrappers on the bars. The small bars either have nuts or filling in them. We got a vanilla filled and hazelnut pack. Oh. My. Goodness. We cracked open the vanilla bar in the car - and it was literally heaven. I'm a Hershey bar and M&M girl and really wasn't expecting to be impressed in any way.
Man oh man. Pardon my gushing for the next paragraph, but the vanilla filling has the consistency of a nougat, but it's smoother and creamier. It sort of fills your mouth up with it's vanilla goodness and glides easily down your throat making both your esophagus and your tummy very, very happy for the duration of the journey. The vanilla is wrapped in a dark chocolate and it melts so smoothly, mixing with the vanilla. I'm used to dark chocolate being almost bitter, but this one isn't. It's creamy without being sweet, if that makes sense. Sooooooooo good. T didn't care for it, which was just fine with R and I. We tried the hazelnut one too, R preferred it, but I thought the vanilla trumped it no question. They were both very good. Later on that night R and I opened the 70% dark chocolate bar. Like I said, I'm not really a dark chocolate fan, so I wasn't really expecting much. And if you take a bite, chew it up and swallow it, it's good but not really impressive. However, if you let it slowly melt in your mouth - WOW!!! Had I read what I'm writing even a month ago, I would have rolled my eyes and thought that I'd rather have a Hershey bar any day. But compared to Galler, Hershey bars are grainy and too sweet (I do realize I'm totally contradicting myself, but I speak the truth). So - YUM. And now I'm going to be willing to drive an hour for chocolate. Each way. Bad exchange rate notwithstanding.
So that was our first trip. We went again today. Only we didn't realize that CORA was having a massive sale. We ended up parking in the back of the shopping area next door because there were no spaces available in the CORA lot. Let me say, there were LOTS of spaces in the parking lot, so we should have been clued in that something was up. But, no. There is a small hill between where we parked and the CORA lot. And when I first saw it, I thought that there were steps leading up to CORA. We walk over and realize that the 'steps' are really pallets that someone has thrown down. Oh well, it will offer more traction than the mud and sparse grass on the hill, because of course it's raining. Then we step on it and the pallet starts to slide down the hill. I've got S, R is helping T. They make it up just fine. I get halfway and lose traction. Yeah... just what I need to do is fall in the mud with a baby in my arms. In public. Without a change of clothes. Hmmmm. Luckily, I found a safer place to climb and S and I make it up just fine. Sad, really, because in dry conditions it would have been an easily manageable hill I could have climbed in three or four steps. Phhbbttttt on the yucky weather here. It's depressing to look like you haven't even bothered to take a shower after 2 minutes outside.
Of course we didn't bring the diaper bag out of the car with us because we were just planning on dashing in, and of course S poops the second we get up the hill....so we end up having to go back to the car to change her diaper and re navigate the hill. In the rain.
The shopping carts in Germany and Luxembourg are housed outside in what looks like the carport kit you can purchase and install yourself from places like Home Depot or, I'd imagine, www.buildyourowncarport.com. (I have no idea if that's really a webpage, so if you click it and it doesn't work - I warned ya!) They remind me of luggage carts at the airport. You have to put either a .50, 1 or 2 Euro coin in to free it, but you get your coin back when you return the cart where it belongs and hook it back up - just like you got it. I totally think Walmart and other places should do this too. I'd have a lot less dings on my car, that's for sure!
Unfortunately, these carts apparently require a special skill to navigate that I, not a true resident of the European continent, do not posses. The best way I can begin to describe it is that the cart naturally goes diagonally. Undeterred by this navigational challenge, we head into the store. This store is packed! Apparently, this is the sale of the year. The aisles are packed with people and carts, folks are trying on clothes without the benefit of a dressing room, huge bins of pocketbooks, shoes, sheets, pillows and toys are in the middle of the aisles as well. Navigating this cart through the store is what I'd imagine driving in India to be. T, of course, wants to walk not ride. He's not the best listener and there is no way I'm going to let him loose in this madhouse. So T gets mad. M!A!D! mad. He's screaming the "I'm going to humiliate Mom into getting my way" scream which I kid you not -- given the right conditions could probably shatter crystal by decibel alone. S, of course, thinks this is hilarious and starts to giggle and chuckle, which makes T madder. R and I are stuck in the middle of this throng with a shrieking banshee and a hysterical infant and want to just crawl under the cart and die. Apparently, children in Luxembourg don't throw temper tantrums because we quickly became THE focal point of interest. Then again, it did sound like we had strapped him to a torture device so people were probably checking for knives or a corkscrew to be sticking out of his hand or something. Excusez-moi just didn't seem to be the thing to say. R and I are non verbally on the same page - let's find a less crowded, less acoustic spot to try and handle this.
The only problem with that is that we are stuck with our directionally dysfunctional cart in the middle of an aisle that has no true flow - so it's a complete mess with carts trying to go up and down the aisle on both sides which has resulted in a horrific shopping cart jam, and apparently due to the fabulous low prices on the majority of merchandise in the store, no one is willing to budge. R's face is an alarming shade of red/purple, T is still screaming, S is having the time of her life, and I'm thinking that if we manage to pass the hardware aisle, you might want to keep me away from the duct tape, the staplers and the superglue, because I'm not at all sure I could resist temptation at this point.
R, now embarrassed and angry and frustrated, starts pushing his way through the crowd shouting MOVE! MOVE OUT OF THE WAY! Only problem with that is my cart is much wider than his tushie, so the progress he's made is for him alone and the crowd immediately swallows him up. And we wonder why other countries think Americans are crass and rude?!
All's well that ends well, and we finally make our way to the same less crowded part of the store. But by this time, T has pretty much calmed down. I'll be honest, I'm willing to brave the madness for the chocolate, but I have no idea where it is compared to where we are, and R's face is giving off a "Let's go NOW" vibe, so I wisely realize when to call it a day and we leave. Empty handed except for a purse I snagged out the bargain bin as we passed it and a Lightening McQueen car that was cheap, cheap, cheap. We tromp through the rain to return the cart to it's rightful place, then we tromp down the muddy hill to the car where we head home - wet and bedraggled and let's face it - sadly without chocolate.
10 minutes into the drive home and I realize I really, really have to go to the bathroom. Only I'm not about to ask R to turn around and go back to CORA and I have no idea how close the nearest restroom is. I'm a big girl, I can hold it, right? Well, uhh... 30 minutes later and I tell R - we are going to have to pull over. I've really got to go. We pull off on a exit, no sign of commercial life, so I decide that I can go in the woods. We find a spot with good cover, so as not to expose myself to passing traffic, and I - she-who-hates-to-camp - find myself squatting in the rain, in the mud, in the woods to go potty as something thorny keeps being smacked against my bare parts as the wind howls and gusts. As I finish and head back to the car, I notice I'm surrounded by plants with three leaves. Now, I realize that I should know what poison ivy, oak, sumac looks like but I don't. All I know is that it's better to stay away from anything with leaves in clusters of threes, which is what I'm standing in the middle of. Great!!!!!!!!! Fortunately for me, either it wasn't poison anything or I am not allergic to it, cause I never broke out in a rash. But I also made good use of the baby wipes before I got back in the car and showered immediately once we got home. Just another lovely day in paradise...
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