This past Friday, I spend the day exploring Luxembourg, which yes, I didn’t know was its own country until this past summer. Luxembourg City, the capital of Luxembourg is only 45 minutes away from Metz via train. It was the perfect getaway for only our second weekend abroad and before we activated our global unlimited Eurail passes. It seemed as though everyone from GTL had the same idea.
Luxembourg city is so much bigger and more beautiful than Metz. Everything just seems brighter and more lively there. We spent the earlier part of the day wandering around the city and exploring the surrounding. We stopped at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Luxembourg. It was very pretty, but not quite as impressive as our cathedral in Metz.
Notre Dame Cathedral in Luxembourg City
The Altar
The organ
Then, we wandered to the tourist office passing by the Gëlle Fra (Golden Lady).
Gëlle Fra
The tourist office is located very close to the main square in Luxembourg. Here there were all sorts of street performers and venders. The most impressive one was the balancing act in the picture below. I was super confused about the physics behind it for the longest time until they took a break. The statue man on the top stayed put, so a structure was built to hold him up. I’m thinking there is also a chair holding up the woman. Sorry… my engineering brain kicking in here 🙂
How??
Next, we decided to take a self-guided tour of the Bock Casemates, one of the casemates in Luxembourg. The term “casemate” comes from the word “chasm”. They are a huge underground military defense system built into the rocks and have switched owners many times throughout history including Italian, Spanish, Belgian, French, Austrian, Dutch and Prussian. Unfortunately, we were only able to see a fraction of what this fortress used to be because of its partial dismantling after the neutralization of Luxembourg. Still today, there are miles of tunnels over multiple levels. That meant lots of narrow spiral staircases… I slipped and fell on one of them. Whoops 😮
Tunnels in the Bock Casemates
Boom Boom
From the Bock Casemates, we had a picturesque view of the Barrio Grund, a region in Luxembourg City. People put the cutest locks on the fence of the cliff like they do on the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris. There weren’t nearly as many here though.
Barrio Grund
Panoramic View
60th wedding anniversary lock ❤
Finally, we took a tour of the Grand Ducal Palace. Luxembourg follows the political system of a “parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch”, headed by the Grand Duke. This palace is where the current Grand Duke Henri and the Grand Duchess currently live. Unfortunately, we were unable to take any pictures inside the building but it was very interesting. It is not what I would consider your typical castle. It used to be the cities town hall and was then renovated into the Palace. The building belongs to Luxembourg, but all of the belongings inside belong to the family. Many of the Grand Duke’s and Grand Duchesses have renovated the interior design giving it many different looks. There are classic portrait paintings of the families next to modern light fixtures.
Thankfully, the Grand Ducal Palace tour was short because all of us were physically and mentally exhausted after a long day of sightseeing… we walked over 7 miles. I guess I better start getting used to this considering I will be traveling every weekend!
Little Swan, Big World 