We have gone about as far as the boat can go on the Mosel, so in the middle of the night, we turned around and headed back down the river, passing the same town, but will be stopping at new ones.

Just in the past two/three days I finally felt adjusted: sleep normal, digestion good, feet fine, back strong, and today, a tooth broke! Good news, our insurance covers the dentist bill, but who wants to see a dentist on their vacation? - one who doesn't speak English, to boot! So tomorrow, I will miss the Marksburg Castle and the brewery tour with a taste of real German brezel (pretzels) 

But today: Luxembourg! We boarded the buses right after breakfast for an hour & a half ride to the Duchy. Unfortunately, it was rainy, windy and cold. Whereas the past few days brought temps in the 60F range, or 21C, today was 7C…we didn't want to know the conversion. We all looked like refuges from Siberia!

Arrived in Luxembourg at the American cemetery, but no guides. Due to some communication difficulties between our program directors, the one who was suppose to stop and pick them up failed to do so. So we stood around in the cemetery, cold and damp, looking at all the sights, when an hour later, they arrived. Needless to say, we had seen it all already, but still the guides walked us through the cemetery to commemorate the Americans killed in the Battle of the Bulge. General Patton was wounded at the ended of the war, but died after the ceasefire. Per his wishes, he is buried here with his men. We walked through rows of crosses (photo) and I held it together nicely until the bells in the tower began to ring out the hour - eleven o'clock.

We then drove to the German cemetery, where 10,000 men were buried in a mass grave. Other graves had dark, heavy crosses that had two names on one side, two names on the other, so four men were buried together. It was sobering,

From there, we drove into the city of Luxembourg itself and our guide took us on a whirlwind tour (to make up for lost time waiting in the cemetery) of the history, the cathedrals, and the buildings important to the EU. Cold and damp, we lost much of the narration. We were looking forward to what came next: a warm, toast restaurant.

We had a delicious lunch of quiche Lorraine and salad, with wine, and crème caramel for dessert. It was the highlight of the trip. While finishing our meal, MarySue suggested I buy some wax for my tooth, to cover the rough metal edge of my dental work. My cheek is raw and sore from it scraping. The Apotheek (a pharmacy, and they spoke English!) was right across the allee, so I did as suggested. They knew exactly what I needed, and what a relief it was!

Right after we got back to the boat, there was a walking tour of the town of Traben where we are docked (Trabach is across the river), but we are too tired, too cold. So I don't have anything to report on these towns.

A two hour drive back to the boat in the rain, and we were greeted by the crew with warm towels and hot cocoa! Hopped into the hot shower, and I feel almost human, except my throat seems scratchy…oh no!

TOMORROW: Boppard, Germany , back on the Rhine River, and my dentist appointment! Yippee?