Very cool castle town in a valley

Monday, August 04, 2014
Vianden, Diekirch, Luxembourg
Mon Aug 4
-fair amount of church bells and traffic noise so not the greatest sleep for me
-Laura got coffee and spoons from grumpy manager and we had bfast in the room . Then checked out and headed over to the info center. 
-helpful guy told us about a walk in town to a lookout and a nearby river walk. We drove out looking for the town walk but ended up driving to the lookout. This turned out to be fine as it was pretty foggy and the walk was through dense trees. We cut the hike short and moved on. 
-we decided to drive forward on our route to a different river town, La Roche de Ardennes. We got there and as soon as we had sat down in a cafe, it started to pour. We ate lunch while the rain came down and enjoyed our salads. 
-after lunch I headed over to a chip shop to top off. It was pretty good and I didn't feel greased out afterwards. 
-due to the rain, we decided to bail on the hiking plan and headed off for Bastogne to see a Battle of the Bulge museum. Turns out it was closed on Mondays so we went on to see the memorial. It was pouring rain but we enjoyed it anyway. 
-we drove on to Viaden in Luxembourg and happily the rain started to let up. The drive was alot slower though and I was getting tired of being in the car  
-As we rounded a bend in road, a Disney like castle appeared on the mountain in front of us . We quickly turned off and took some pictures. The town below looked quaint and we were pleased with our decision to come here. 
-Viaden did not disappoint. We got checked in and got some pizza and fuel and went out for a stroll. We found a path up the hillside that followed old castle fortifications and offered great views of the castle across the valley and the town below. It was stunning. 
-we crossed to the top of town and made our way downhill via the cobbled main street. We found a restaurant on the side road along the stream and stopped for dinner proper. 
-we ended up chatting with the couple next to us. The husband was from Tennessee and the wife was Dutch. They has lived all over the world and now lived just across the border in Germany. 
-they were chain smokers and very nice. They gave us a good tip about a small town to go to tomorrow where there is neat hiking. Lonely Planet agreed and we had a destination for the next day. 
-home to bed and we decided to wing the plan for lodging for the next day

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