river – 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 24, 2026September 7, 2026

A Wet and Foggy Day in Luxembourg

We woke up at the Luxembourg Marriott Hotel Alfa to a dark and foggy morning. After breakfast, we walked across the Pont Grande-Duchesse Charlotte to visit the Musée Dräi Eechelen within Fort Thüngen. We then walked down into the Pfaffenthal district in the valley formed by the Alzette and ascended back up the Ville Haute via the Pfaffenthal Panoramic Elevator. After lunch, we walked to the south above the cliffs and walls of the Luxembourg Fortress and the Chemin de la Corniche until reaching the Citadelle du Saint-Esprit at the south end of the Ville Haute. Later in the evening, we returned to the Ville Haute to see the view at night and to have a light dinner.

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 28, 2025August 29, 2026

Gifu Castle and Park

Upon waking up at the 名古屋マリオットアソシアホテル Nagoya Marriott Associa Hotel, we headed upstairs to the lounge for breakfast where we also saw the sunrise. We took the train over to 岐阜 Gifu and ascended to 岐阜城 Gifu Castle via aerial tram and a short walk. After, we had lunch and visited 正法寺 Shōhō-ji to see its Great Buddha Statue before walking around 岐阜公園 Gifu Park. We ended our visit in Gifu with a walk through the historic 川原町 Kawaramachi before returning to Nagoya for dinner.