Luxembourg City, Luxembourg--Sat, May 13

By far, the best day trip!

I love, love, love Luxembourg...the city itself is on top of a hill/mountain, but parts of the city are also is in the valley, which is surrounded by green trees, flowers, and small rivers. You can see the lower parts of the city from various places in the city and the bridges are amazing too! (I actually read that the city has the prettiest balcony in all of Europe...not sure who decides, but I would probably agree with them!)

The city is as old as 963 A.D., according to the timeline in the cathedral. And its history is oozing out of every part of the city...from the architecture to the museums. I think I could have spent another day or two there just soaking it all in.

It only took us about 50 minutes and 8 euros from Trier to get to Luxembourg. From the main train station, it was a nice walk across the bridge that overlooks another neighborhood way below and into the main city. The city itself, looked more French than German to me...but, it has influences of both. The country has belonged to Spain, Austria and Prussia during its history...

Which, I learned in an amazing museum! The name was French, but I can't remember off the top of my head...something like Museum of Art and history. The building itself is a bit hidden (but thanks to the guide book Andy and Syd gave me, it was easy to find!)...and it was so cool because it is right in the location of where houses from the middle ages once stood. You actually walk through the same stone hallways and stairs to see the museum as people long ago once walked through to probably get to their bedroom! Crazy.

I kept gawking at everything I saw...it was just so unbelievable:

-A painting of Luxembourg king from the middle ages and on his clothing was a gold brotch; that same brotch in the painting was in a glass case below.
-A wooden, huge, and very heavy looking gun from the 14th century
-Armor from the 1600s
-models of the city from 1000 A.D. to just 50 years ago.
-A helmet that a man in the Prussian army wore
-a special exhibit on the misconception of photos...how the media alters them. For example, Stalin and Hitler would both do this a lot if there were people in the pictures that they did not want to be shown.
-Also, a beautiful exhibit of photographs with the topic being simply, "Life".
-Many paintings, artifacts, and so just so much!

I also saw the "Casemates", which were first built in 1755 by the Spainards, but have since been used for bakeries, slaughterhouses, and as bunkers in the 2 world wars. They were at the top of the bridge and went all the way down to the river, which is a very long way down. Just incredible.

We also went into the Cathedral Notre Dame, which was another amazing church with its high ceilings and beautiful stained windows. Pope John Paul II went there in 1985. Also, there is a famous statue there (from the 1600s) of Mary and Jesus...the entire altar is adorned with silver and gold. A bit gawdy, in my opinion.

What else? Hmmmm...I had really good coffee at a cafe and for dinner, we had mexican food. Yes, not very Luxembourgish...but, it tasted delicious because I had a big craving after so long without it :)

Also, it was very interesting to hear not only German, but also French, and Luxembourgish...which, is a mix between German and French.



This used to be a residence of the king of Luxembourg, but now it is just an office for the government. I found the female guard more intriguing than the building though because I don't think she was able to speak with us or make eye contact.




This is where the museum was...it was 3 stories high full of art and artifacts in the exact location where houses from the middle ages were.






These are all the people that I traveled with....Yjork, Arielle, me, Katie, and Aldo.




Most of the area around the city looked like this and this was not the only bridge similar to this. I found this view incredible.