European Diary

The daily diary of a wandering restaurateur in Europe
August 2 - Burgundy to Luxembourg

Today was a lot of driving -- six hours on the road from our chateau in Burgundy to the Little Switzerland area of Luxembourg, just across the border from Germany. The European motorways move very fast (which was fine with me) and are just as boring as our interstate system!

My restaurant adventure of the day was to visit the restaurant at one of the service areas to see what they were doing. It was like being caught in a washing machine! People running everywhere, elbowing others out of the way to grab food from one of several different pick-up stations with instructions in several languages (but not English) . . . terrifying! We managed to make it out the other side with something vaguely resembling what we wanted to eat . . . and the tab was close to $30! So much for research! When it comes to smooth systems for handling crowds, I still think nobody does it better than we do!

One interesting idea from the hotel we stayed at in Luxembourg. They have joined with ten other hotels around the area in a joint marketing arrangement. They have put out a very slick color brochure -- magazine, really -- that promotes each part of the region and the hotel or hotels (that are members of the group) in each town. I wonder if we couldn't all learn something from this idea. We spend too much time competing and too little time cooperating, especially in resort areas. It might be worth looking at who else has a compatible operation and joining together to promote the several rather than fighting it out alone.

For the travelogue shots of Beaufort, click here.

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