The car rental process at Hertz was also fairly painless… though we struggled a bit to find the #1 Club Gold garage and then also fumbled around trying to install Emerson’s car seat. The “good” news is that we ended up with a Chevy Captiva (a quasi-SUV/crossover), which has adequate storage space for us. The “bad” news is that it’s still a Chevy… in Germany… for an American who drives a Porsche at home. How’s that for life’s little ironies?

We departed Dusseldorf heading for the Netherlands. Reaching Holland, we drove down through Maastricht and on into Belgium. We stopped off in Malmedy to take a quick look at the resort town (charming) and picked up some frites (hey, it’s Belgium, right?). After this, we headed for Vianden in Luxembourg, which somehow brought us back into Germany and then onto a series of crazy, winding back roads through Germany and (somewhere along the way) into Luxembourg.

Amidst this bucolic splendor some trouble began. Emerson became increasingly cranky (unusual for her) and then suddenly vomited… uh oh. Fortunately, I found a place to turn off the road, and we managed to get her cleaned up. Based on her “rapid recovery” and lack of obvious other symptoms, we were forced to conclude she became motion sick (heretofore unheard of with her). And, based on the fact that she seemed to get unsettled again during the drive following our visit to Vianden, we’re at least a little concerned that this might be an ongoing issue this trip. So, I’m coming up with Plan B (taking trains) now in case Plan A (driving a car) doesn’t work out over the next day or two. In any case, there’s nothing to do about it now: we’ll just have to wait and see.

If vomit was the lowlight of the day, Vianden was the highlight. The town itself is nestled deep in folds of terrain that make up part of the Our River valley. Above the town looms the imposing structure of Chateau Vianden, which we toured this afternoon. Clearly, the ability to visit this sort of small village is the reason for traveling by car—it provides an efficient means for getting off of the “beaten path” to gems like Vianden.

Chateau de Vianden

We left Vianden and drove about 45 minutes to our hotel in Luxembourg City. However, by the time we parked, checked-in, got a bit settled, and grabbed a quick dinner – it was getting late, and we all were fairly tired. So, with that, I’ll close for the day and go to bed…

Today’s box score: +1 country for us (Luxembourg)… +4 countries for Emerson.