?>
Main image
1st July
2011
written by Justin

Because of the stress we encountered upon entering Europe, we decided to remedy our poor planning as soon as possible and reserve 1 week or more of our upcoming accomodation and transportation.  Of course, nothing is that simple – our hotel, being the cheapest in Luxembourg, did not have internet available (but, interestingly, it did have an ashtray in the shared bathroom), so we went on a quest to find some cheap or free wifi in town.  This also afforded us a chance to sightsee along the way into town!

Valley and Bridge

Valley and Bridge

The train station is actually at the outside of town, because central Luxembourg is situated between two or more gorges that severely limit the available space.  We had about a 3km walk to the middle of town (20 minutes).  Up to the gorge was a fairly modern area that had a lot of shops and pubs.  After that was a bridge over one of the gorges, which were wide enough to have buildings and things in the bottom of the valley, and then the old town began as soon as you finished crossing the bridge.

Church and Statue in Luxembourg

Church and Statue in Luxembourg

The old town is a clump of historic buildings and churches connected by winding cobbled streets, with flags everywhere!  It seems that they are very patriotic in Luxembourg.

Justin in the square in Luxembourg

Justin in the square in Luxembourg

Inside the church in Luxembourg

Inside the church in Luxembourg

We managed to find some wifi after wandering around a bit – but it was in the middle of a fast-food restaurant!  We ended up trying to figure out where to stay, emailing a few friends and relatives, and decided that in order to see our friends on the weekend we needed to go to Strasbourg for a few nights and get to Germany for the weekend.  So we booked two nights in Strasbourg and hoofed it to the train station since there is no way to reserve trains online in Luxembourg.  Since it was a relatively cheap journey we decided to buy it separately and save a day on our Eurail pass.

A very small part of the protest

A very small part of the protest

You would think it’s an easy 20 minute walk back to the train station.  However, the people in Luxembourg had a different idea!  As soon as we crossed the bridge over to the new side of town, we started hearing explosions and a crowd all dressed in red and green shirts was packing the streets!  We found out then why all the hotels were booked up in Luxembourg!  It turns out that a protest against European austerity measures was happening that day.  People had very loud firecrackers, signs, and chants and were parading down to the capital!  After all our stress of the previous day the firecrackers were almost too much to handle, so we fled out to the train station, booked our tickets and tried to get off the main streets and do some more planning.  Unfortunately the pub we chose to plan in (which said WiFi in the window) had no wifi!  We only found this out after ordering a glass of wine, of course.  So we pretty much gave up on planning more while in Luxembourg – our hotel in Strasbourg had internet – and just enjoyed ourselves and relaxed the rest of the night.  There was a music festival going on complete with a symphony orchestra and 4 or more stages!  It was a big night to be in Luxembourg!

Yummy German sausages

Yummy German sausages

Very fancy obelisk

Very fancy obelisk

 

2 Comments

  1. Carol Gregory
    01/07/2011

    Hi,

    Just caught up on your blog – can envision many of the things you write about since we have been to much of the same area. Love all of the places and especially Strasbourg. Hang in there – Europe is a busy place during the summer, but you are up to the challenges!! Enjoy!!

  2. Hazel
    11/07/2011

    Thank you! We absolutely loved Strasbourg as well! Things have calmed down quite a bit by now, thank goodness, and it has all worked out really well in the end.

Leave a Reply

*