Rainy days are meant for museums

Last weekend was projected to be stormy and rainy, and it did not disappoint. R and I spent Saturday and Sunday doing what people do when it rains: we went to a mall and to a museum.

The malls in Luxembourg are large and nice, offering exceptional food court choices (I might have indulged in a waffle with caramel and bananas on a recent trip), and a variety of clothing stores. The most striking difference between malls here and malls in the US is that "anchor" stores here are grocery stores. Auchan, Cactus, and Cora are the equivalent of Safeway, Smithʻs, and Harris Teeter in the U.S., and in the way of consumables, they offer nearly everything a girl could want. And a lot of what a girl wants (chocolate, croissants, baguettes) that a girl should limit her consumption of.

Weʻve been to Auchan - a large mall near European Union buildings that has a supermarket by the same name; Belle Etoile (Beautiful Star) - where the Cactus supermarket boasts an amazing wine selection (French wine! Ten bucks!); City Concorde - where the Cora supermarket offers all manner of delectable fruits and where we had a nice Italian dinner; and our newest mall experience, Cloche dʻOr (Golden Bell) - where I searched in vain for a dress to wear to my daughterʻs upcoming wedding, but was able to enjoy the aforementioned waffle (which pretty much guarantees I wonʻt fit into anything I want to wear anyway), so all is good.

Yes, there is no shortage of shopping in my newly-adopted country.

On Sunday we dodged the raindrops and walked about a mile to the Musée National dʻHistoire et dʻArt Luxembourg (The Luxembourg National Museum of History and Art). It was a perfect day to spend admiring the artifacts of Luxembourgʻs rich past. The logical place to start a visit is the fourth floor underground, which houses the oldest items, and then work your way up, floor by floor. Thatʻs what we did, finishing our first visit on the ground floor - promising ourselves that we would return another day to see the rest. The museum is free, but also offers traveling exhibits at a small charge. Like most, we find ourselves tiring after a couple of hours of walking through museums, and often return multiple times to places to see the entire collection. This is what weʻll do for the MNHA.

Meanwhile, a few shots of our inaugural visit (mainly of items from the Roman era):

Toga clips!

I do so love mosaic tile.