Belgium - Two interesting exhibitions at Le Palais in Arlon

 I had to look long and hard what is this Palace in Arlon and why it is a palace? Le Palais is the Palace. It seems that the info is missing in English, or they are not interested in sharing a history of the place. It is called the Old Palace of Justice and I've found that it was acquired by the city of Arlon in 2009 and restored, so from here I deduce that it was sort of a courthouse until they transformed it into an exhibition centre where they occasionally organise events and which can be rented if someone wants it. 

So, Le Palais in Arlon is a three floor exhibition place where I was pleasantly surprised to visit very good exhibitions such as the ones dedicated to Toulouse Lautrec, Marc Chagall, Claude Monet, Pop culture with Andy Warhol and others I can't remember right now. 

These days there are two exhibitions at Le Palais and they both are free entry, so no reason as to not make the trip to Arlon to check them out. One of the exhibitions is dedicated to Belgian cartoonist Pierre Kroll and the other is an exhibition centred on Upcycling which is reusing materials in a creative form. 

The Pierre Kroll exhibition I advise you to take your time to visit and read all the jokes and understand all the fine punchlines. With themes such as pollution or climate change, as well as lockdown and pandemic, the artists makes it as joke out of very important and contemporary themes and makes you reflect. Born in Congo in 1958, Kroll is known for his daily drawings in Le Soir and weekly in Cine-Tele-Revue as well as for his annually published collection of drawings. I also think you can purchase last year's collection at Le Palais. As I understand he is known for some penguins which made it into an app and which guide you through the exhibition. May 30 is the last day you could visit this exhibition.

The Upcycling exhibits the artworks of several artists, all members of Art in Mov Gallery in Arlon a mix between an online art gallery and an e-shop selling African art. I personally liked the atypical musical instruments made of anything one can think off and the embroidery art made of recycled or upcycled clothes. This exhibition can be visited until 16th of May.

Some corona related measures: please know that you can book your visiting slot online, the exhibitions have a well marked way of visiting and that you are required to wear a mask at all times. 

Of course we went to visit the exhibitions with Ilinca. She is such a good child, although not very impressed by the exhibited items, she is happy when we are happy. 

Kroll explains here the penguin theme. It seems that his parents got him a penguin when he was little, which he named Alfred and it was different for all the other toys children would have on that time. Don't know if that is Alfred exactly or some other toy penguin.

A cartoon I could relate to. I don't like the Belgian seaside because of the big buildings build practically on the beach and the lack of an architectural style. Of course Kroll's drawing had a different theme, the pollution, but he very well surprised this other aspect of the transforming seaside.

A sculpture made of bike chains and bike parts

A painting made of aluminium cans placed in the shape of Luxembourg, there were as well Belgium and France

The paintings of embroidery and upcycled jeans.

I'm so sorry I couldn't remember the names of the artists, but I found on the exhibition info that they are: Nathalie Houlmont, Shirley Dewilde, Catherine Boons, Maxime Doffagne, Laurent Clinquart, Jean-Marie Boons, Benoît Doensen. Also in the Upcycling exhibitions all items were for sale so if you fancy some interesting contemporary art, do visit the exhibition at Le Palais in Arlon.

As usual you can find me on Instagram @mademoiselle.ralu

Luxembourg - Corona Times - Biodiversum Remich

 I know I'm probably the only paranoid person in my area, but I still prefer to walk away from large crowds such as the ones in the city centre until we receive a vaccine against Covid-19. I now fear that we will catch covid in the last stretch if we are not careful and with my recent health scare (I'm not going to dwell so much on it, but I had a gallbladder removal surgery in January and another surgery a few weeks back) I am even more cautious than I normally am. BUT let's hope it will pass, we will receive a vaccine soon and be back to normal by Summer. 

That being said, we look for remote places, less known places, and as we enjoy an unusual warm weather we planned on the spot on Saturday to go to the supermarket not for our weekly grocery shopping, but for some sandwiches and water and head to a lake. We chose the Biodiversum Nature Reserve in Haff Réimech, near Remich and we were right. As Remish was more crowded than usual we feared that our plan might go wrong, but the paths around the lake were almost empty. 

We started with a little picnic by the lake and Ilinca took a short nap and then we walked around the lake and it was beautiful. At some point we came across a bird watching hut and from the first floor the view was a pure bliss, we waited for the first bird to appear on the lake and then left the hut for other bird enthusiasts. By the way there were a lot of people with professional cameras and lenses photographing the birds, I presume, so please excuse my phone photos illustrating this article :)

There were also little docks/piers for fisherman, some of them were private, but there were quite a lot left for the public and there were a lot of people enjoying the sun on those piers. We found one for our picnic, but be advised there are birds who come to beg for food. If you are scared of birds, like me, maybe that is not a good idea.

There is also a building sort of a museum sort of an information point about the nature and the birds one could spot on the lake, but we visited it a few years back. If you are interested you can find more informations here. 

That's it folks. I hope you liked my little article and I hope you will take my advise to visit the Biodiversum, the lake. You can find me more on Instagram, but you know that already @mademoiselle.ralu

Luxembourg - Corona Times - Émaischen

 After what it feels like an year of lockdown, Easter is again here and it will be another lonely one as we are not allowed to travel, well not without a PCR test and a lot, but a lot of trouble, and we were not smart enough to make an effort to have our parents over (vaccinated and all, because at this Romania is doing very well and most if not all the people I still know there are vaccinated already). Granted, as we are Orthodox it does not feel like it is Easter, but we have the holiday. Weird, but do move on.

So a tradition very dear to my heart is Émaischen which happens on Easter Monday in a town called Nospelt and in later years on the streets surrounding the Marche-aux-Poissons area in Luxembourg city. It is a market selling clay whistles in the shape of birds called Péckvillcher. It is said that those little whistles were made by the potters in the Nospelt area after a day's work with the remaining clay from making pots or whatever the potters were making. More about this tradition and in well formulated ideas you can read here. 

For us, as I've told you we do not celebrate the Catholic Easter, Émaischen was a reason to move out of the house, meet our friends and enjoy a market. Well, in Corona Times this is not possible anymore, but the potters in Nospelt thought of ingenious ways to still sell their clay whistles. I've read you can order one online and drive in Nospelt to pick it up on Easter Monday, but also there is a Pop-up Store in the centre of Luxembourg, on Grand Rue nr. 40 where for two days, yesterday and today, you can go and pick up your Péckvillcher.

Why would I buy a dust collecting figurine I will never use, you ask? Because it is tradition and because we need to keep sane and because those potters need to make a living and because we need normal human interactions, we need the stories and if you have kids, because they will love to blow your brains out once they figured out how to use them.

Last year, Ilinca's first Easter, we were all over the place with a small child and a pandemic and the Péckvillcher were on our last brain cell, but this year that Ilinca is a bit bigger and we can communicate better it was great that in this pandemic way we still could have our Émaischen. We went to Grand Rue 40 and she picked her own clay whistle and I've picked one and we made it fun and the sellers were delighted to tell us more about the tradition and about the birds and about their craft. 

So if you read this on April 3rd, please go to Grand Rue 40 and buy a clay whistle. I think it brings good luck to hear it sing on Easter Monday.

As usual I am more active on Instagram @mademoiselle.ralu and Happy Easter, friends! 

Luxembourg - The Daffodil Forest in 2021

Two years ago when we first went to see Via Botanica, which starts in Lellingen, Luxembourg, I was certain we will revisit it after many more years as we have forests closer to us, equally as beautiful, maybe not with daffodils, but forests.

Two years on and a global pandemic (is this a pleonasm I wonder?) and we are revisiting anything we find in Luxembourg and around, because what else is there to do, where else to go? 

Turns out that everyone in Luxembourg had the same idea, on the same weekend, which was not a sunny one and the trail Via Botanica was more crowded than a shopping-mall. Two years ago we maybe met five people on the 8 long km trail, this year they were in the hundreds :( That is what you get when you cancel all the traditions and all the fairs and events in the city. People will still congregate and even in plain air, it will still become a crowd.

I am one of the people who followed the rules and, more importantly, agreed with them, but come one Luxyland get going with vaccinations, stop being so paranoiac and trust your people, organise well your events and get people the chance to get to a normal life.

Pandemic parenthesis closed, it did me a lot of good to go to that forest and enjoy the scenery and be with friends. Luna loved it more than us, I think, and Ilinca looked at everything and was curious, she fell asleep at some point, but stood awake at the daffodils part of the trail.

I will leave you with some pictures and so you know you maybe have two more weekends of daffodils in bloom in 2021.

OMG look at my face!!! and it wasn't because Luna is heavy :D 

That is what a couch potato looks like when it decides to walk for 8 km :D

Bonus: this was the sunset on that day. The picture is taken from the moving car, but you can see the beauty, can you?

That is it folks. As usual you can find me more on Instagram @mademoiselle.ralu

Luxembourg - Places to see this Spring

Ok boys and girls I am down. My social life is non existent, my routine is working and bringing then taking back my daughter from creche, the weather is a bit horrible after a week or so of hope for Spring, so my moral is so low that all I feel doing is sit in my pyjama and dream of better times. I say that has to end before I go cuckoo. As usual what helps me is looking back at all the adventures we did in Luxembourg and if it helped me to go take a shower, for sure it will help you too. So here it goes:

Via Botanica - The Daffodil Forest

I feel you can "visit" Via Botanica right about now as I've seen all the daffodils already in bloom in the city, just please behave and leave some flowers for others to see and enjoy.

Pottery Museum in Nospelt

I am so sick and tired of all the cool traditions being cancelled this year just because they cannot serve food or drinks, as if I personally would go to Nospelt or to the Ceramic Market in Luxembourg for the food. But it is what it is, Emaichen is cancelled this year too, so on the Easter Monday all there is left to do, is go and search for the peckvillecher you bought in 2019 and blow it. 

Go Sculpture hunting in Kirchberg 

I've been meaning to do that since September, but I don't know what I'm waiting for. So basically, Kirchberg area is almost deserted on the weekend. There is some activity around Mudam, by the way if it is open go visit it, and the Philharmonie, but the rest I imagine it is empty, so you can social distance all you want there. Also in Kirchberg there are a lot of nice sculptures made by famous or not so famous contemporary artists. I particularly liked the Knotted Gun. Just click on the link and you will see why.  

Take a walk at Gringlay 

Gringlay is a new addition to my liked areas of Luxembourg, in the sense I've discovered it in Autumn, but it is a nice walk with a beautiful finish. Of course you can continue the trail and report back to me where it leads to :) but even if you walk just up to the viewpoint, it is still something.  

Search for the Kallektuffquell, the second waterfall of Luxembourg

Weather allowing as the trail was a bit muddy even when we went on it. But the whole Mullerthal Region is nice and worth a visit. It is nature, there are rock formation, a spring and a waterfall or two...what more do you want?

Visit the Moselle area and stop at Schengen to see why this small town is so important

I see now that the common feature of all I'm suggesting is nature and walking outside, so on a day like today please search if the Cloche d'Or is open, but on any other day with a bit of sun and no rain, visit the Moselle Area. It is one of my favourite during Summer, but Spring will do just fine. Drive if you don't feel like biking and stop for picturesque pictures along the river in all the nice wine producing towns. No one will know if you leave with your boot filled with bottles :)

Hunt Spring blooms in Luxembourg following my suggestions

That is a bit later, but you can save the link and return to it all Spring. Cause what is Spring if not hope? Hope you will enjoy some blooms and fill your heart and soul with beauty. Go to a forest, they come back to life right about now, take a breath of fresh air even from your window, and already life will begin to colour.

Pop an eye on my Insta to see when the Cherry trees are in bloom in Arlon

A cheecky self promotion and a promise to dust off my Insta and this blog and find some time in my busy "sit and do nothing" schedule to actually follow my advice. Today is Bretzel Sunday or Bretzelsonndag so if you don't see a pretzel on my Insta by evening, it is a sign I've had a huge fight with my husband as I understand this year is the year he has to give me a pretzel :) don't know why, I just want one.

What no picture? I better go and find one. In the meantime, pop on Instagram as there are all the cool things happening. You will find me @mademoiselle.ralu