Sunday

After breakfast and saying goodbye to our hosts we left for Luxembourg.

And because we never take a direct route, we drove south and came upon a local festival in LaRoche en Ardenne.  The Festival de la Soupe!  It was meant to be, I had been craving veggie soup....It's apparently an annual event and soup competition.  First, you buy your soup "tasting bowl" which is locally made pottery.  It has a small hole in the handle, you're given a string which you tie through the hole and hang the bowl around your neck!  We all enjoyed tasting many soups, all good and hearty.

Festival de la Soupe

Soup needs bread!

La Roche en A. was one of the western most towns  seized by the Germans in the Ardenne's Offensive and was partially destroyed.  We saw several monuments in town honoring their liberators.

Full of soup, we moved on south to Orval Abbey, a Cistercian Monastery founded in 1132 known for it's production of the Trappist Beer Orval and several kinds of cheese.

New Monastery built around ruins of the ancient one

Arched Ceiling in Ruins of Monastery

Afterwards,we moved on to Beaufort, Luxembourg and our inn, Auberge Rustique for the next two nights.  It has been a coach stop and inn for over 200 years, thankfully the nine rooms have been remodeled!  Owner host Julian has been friendly and very helpful.

Auberge Rustique

And just around the corner, Beaufort has a caste!