Stanford Student Letters and Memoirs

28.5.60

Dear Folks -

Well, just about the time I write this you should be in the midst of a great weekend with Jean & Irv. Wish I could be there with you all to share in the fun! I'm sorry it's been so long since I've written just an ordinary, non-travel letter, but time has been rather scarce here on the Burg toward getting my lit paper prepared - it was due yesterday and I just squeaked under the wire as usual.

Our ride through Belgium from Brussels last weekend was just grand. As we traveled eastward (through Namur, Marche en Famennes, to Bastogne) the country became gradually hillier and the forests increasingly of pine. Everything was so lush and green in the rain, it was simply amazing. As we neared the Luxembourg border we saw that there would be time enough to wander around the little country, so we got out the guide book + planned a route which zig-zagged around so as to cover most of the territory.

[drawing of a map]

As soon as we left the last town in Belgium the traffic died off to almost nothing, and all the way through Luxembourg until we reached the city of Luxembourg Sunday noon we hardly saw a car every 5 minutes. The country is one of rolling green hills, sometimes quite rugged and forested, always peaceful and gorgeous. Sort of had the feeling of being on top of the world as we wound through the countryside, passing through occasional small towns. We saw one town (Clervaux) with an old castle and a medieval abbey above on a bluff ovelooking the town, drove up to see it. Then on to another small town right near the German border where we stayed in the youth hostel, just down the hill from one of the best ruins of a medieval castle in Europe. On a steep high rocky hill, with the town circling its base, as if protected in its shadow as surely it once was. Sunday morning we drove through narrow, wooded and silent river valleys, past occasional farmhouses to the capital city. Spent an hour walking around - to see the Grand Ducal Palace, cathedral, etc. It is ideally situated half on and half at the base of a high steep cliff, cut by the