After a relatively relaxing first day, Lydie and I got down to business sight-seeing. We drove to the capital city, Luxembourg City (mostly referred to as 'the capital'), and Lydie gave me the grand tour. We also went shopping.
The buildings were lovely, and the city ranged from older areas that looked like an 18th century movie set to modern glass European Union buildings.
We made a stop at the city's main cathedral, which had a great timeline of the country and basic history, which I found really helpful. I hadn't realized how many countries had claimed it before it became its own nation! In fact, the country was part of the Roman empire, the Carolingian empire, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and Prussia/the German Federation before its independence was ratified in 1867.
The cathedral itself was lovely, and the bells were much more musical than I expect church bells to be.
The later history of the country was also very interesting, and I was very lucky to have the cathedral's display expanded on by my own private guide! Actually, in general Lydie was a huge life-saver, because although Luxembourg has three official languages (Luxembourgish, French, and German) I speak none of them. I know, I'm useless...but I could translate some of the Latin in the cathedral!
Anyways, during WWII the ruling monarch of Luxembourg, Grand Duchess Charlotte, was able to escape during the Nazi invasion and travel to London. She was criticized for leaving her people, but became a symbol of Nazi opposition by broadcasting regular radio programs, and was able to speak to her people and encourage their resistance that way. There is a statue in her honor in the capital.
Given Luxembourg's multi-national history, I think the country's motto is perfect. Here's a picture of it on one of the buildings. It translates to "We want to remain what we are."
Luxembourg City also has great shopping, which we investigated after lunch. There were a lot of designer stores, so I did a lot of looking-but-not-touching. One shoe store we passed had the Manolo Blahnik shoes from the first Sex and the City Movie. I don't really watch the show, but Lydie was very excited.
Chris Noth as Mr. Big proposes using the Blahnik heels in SatC
Lydie eyeing them through the glass
I may not be a die-hard Sex and the City fan, but I am certainly a shoe fan. They were really gorgeous.
After our shopping and lunch break, we did some more sight-seeing, including some landmarks and the Casemates, underground forts part of the city's early structure.
the Nana statue
view from inside the Casemates
The tunnels were really interesting, but small, dark, and a little scary. Eventually we hit this massive spiral staircase that just kept going down and down and it got darker and darker...that was when we decided to call it a day and head back into the sun.
We also went to see the Palace, which is now a municiple building but still has the traditional guard out front. Lydie had to run an errand so we also stopped by the new judicial buildings, which were very impressive, and the 'eternal flame', a war memorial. Unfortunately, the flame wasn't burning very eternally in all the wind.
We finished the day in the capital with AMAZING hot chocolate and tiramisu cake from the chocolaterie across from the palace with one of Lydie's friends. It was a really neat system: there were wooden spoons stuck into big blocks of chocolate in different flavors, and you chose the one you wanted, then stirred it into a mug of hot milk. I tried pear and cinnamon in dark chocolate, which was delicious.
We spent the evening with Lydie's grandparents, which was really nice. Neither of them spoke English so it was an interesting experience for me, and I especially loved their stories about meeting American GIs stationed in Luxembourg after WWII.
The next morning we got up early to tour a castle, which was on top of a big cliffy hill, the way proper princess castles are.
Inside there were several rooms to walk through, and some interesting displays about the uses of the castle and medieval warfare. My favorite bits were the kitchen (obviously) and one of the bedrooms, which had a gorgeous canopy bed.
the castle chapel, with ceremonial well in the middle
stained glass including the Luxembourg crest
Oh hey, and also: Patrick Swayze filmed a movie there. And signed a 'thank you' picture.
The movie came out in 2004, and is called George and the Dragon. I found the preview on youtube. It looks kind of horrendous, but it was filmed in Luxembourg, which is cool.
That afternoon we went to see the florist shop where Caroline works. It was like walking into a magical garden, and really really pretty. It also smelled really nice, which makes sense as it was full of flowers. The we had ice cream.
Unfortunately, this is the point at which my camera died. That night we taught Caroline and Ralph how to make sushi (something my family taught Lydie) and I got to play with their cat!
Sunday I had lunch with the family, which was delicious, and then Lydie, Caroline, Ralph, and I went hiking in a park called 'Little Switzerland' because of it's hills, and then roller skating on a path around a lake. I also got to pet a really fluffy and adorable black lamb! Definitely a highlight. I left early the next morning, and was definitely sad to go.
It was an amazing trip, and I highly recommend a few days in Luxembourg to anyone travelling that way. The history is extremely rich and the countryside is gorgeous. Personally, it also felt like hanging out with family, which was great. Merci Beaucoup! Thank you very much Mariutto family.
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