castle – Roving Sun

January 26, 2026September 9, 2026

Bourscheid Castle

After a big breakfast at the Luxembourg Marriott Hotel Alfa, we took the tram to the north side of the city to walk over the Pont Grande-Duchesse Charlotte again as the weather today was much better than two days ago. We then took a train and bus to visit the Château de Bourscheid. Unlike Vianden, this castle was outside of town and was in a ruined state. We returned to Luxembourg for a very late lunch and then visited the city’s fortifications on the east side of the Alzette atop the Plateau du Rham before returning to the Marriott after sunset.

January 25, 2026September 8, 2026

Vianden Castle

After breakfast at the Luxembourg Marriott Hotel Alfa, we headed north by train and bus to Vianden, a town in Luxembourg next to the border with Germany, to visit the Château de Vianden, a beautiful castle atop a hill overlooking the town below. After our visit, we had a huge lunch at a local restaurant before returning to Luxembourg to end the day.

January 21, 2026September 4, 2026

From Dulles to Namur and Luxembourg

After flying from Dulles to Brussels on United, we took the train down to Namur. We spent most our time there visiting the Citadelle de Namur, accessed via gondola, and even got a private guided tour of its underground tunnels, although it was only private because we were the only people who booked today! We also enjoyed lunch and a short walk through the city before continuing on to Luxembourg where we checked in to the Luxembourg Marriott Hotel Alfa.

January 1, 2026September 2, 2026

Hatsumode at Inuyama

Happy New Year! We woke up before sunrise and headed up to the lounge at the 名古屋マリオットアソシアホテル Nagoya Marriott Associa Hotel for breakfast and for 初日の出 hatsuhinode, the first sunrise of the year! We then headed up to 犬山 Inuyama for 初詣 hatsumode, the first temple or shrine visit of the year, which we did at 針綱神社 Haritsuna-jinja. We spent the rest of the day visiting the 国宝 National Treasure 犬山城 Inuyama Castle and the nearby 三光稲荷神社 Sanko Inari-jinja. After lunch and snacks at the 犬山城下町 Inuyama Castle Town, we walked east to visit the large Buddhist 大聖寺 Daisho-ji, a temple on a hill overlooking the city, before returning to Nagoya to end our last full day in Japan of this trip.

December 29, 2025August 30, 2026

Nagoya

After breakfast at the 名古屋マリオットアソシアホテル Nagoya Marriott Associa Hotel, we headed out to visit 名古屋城 Nagoya Castle… which was closed for the Japanese New Year holiday! We ended up walking around it before having the local 味噌煮込みうどん miso nikomi udon for lunch nearby at 山本屋 Yamamoto-ya. We then visited 熱田神宮 Atsuta-jingu before spending the rest of the afternoon and evening around the 栄 Sakae district and オアシス２１ (Oasis 21). We had dinner in the area at 矢場とん Yabaton, a local chain that specializes in the local 味噌カツ miso katsu dish.