“Today we’re travelling by train!” Grandma says as she takes us by the hand in Ettelbruck. The train to Mersch is already waiting. We get on board and find seats by the window.

As the landscape rolls by, Grandma points outside. “Long time ago, a train ran from Noerdange to Martelange. There was a small railway station in Niederpallen, dating back to your great-grandparents’ time.”

“Can we go there?” Mia asks curiously.

“Of course,” Grandma smiles. “We’ll just take the bus later.”

After our train ride, we travel by bus to Niederpallen. The old station is still there, with its thick stone walls and a train with carriages. The station walls look old but sturdy. It is easy to imagine how trains once stopped here, with whistles, steam and people waving from the platform.

After exploring the station, we continue walking along today’s cycle path, where the train once travelled. The route passes beautiful meadows and smells of summer. Water sparkles in the small streams beside the path, and dragonflies fly above them. It is quiet, almost too quiet.

Suddenly, something rustles in the bushes. A dark shape moves.

“The Kropemann,” whispers Emil.

Grandma nods. “People say he lives in the water and warns children when they get too close to the riverbank.”

We quickly step back. Then we realise it was only a branch.

We laugh, and Grandma gently strokes Emil’s head. “Soon we’ll visit the Kropemann Festival in Redange. It’s a wonderful street festival, and you’ll get an ‘Eisekuch’ (waffle)! Then the fear of the Kropemann will quickly disappear.”