Day 19 - Luxembourg

Hey guys. Welcome to day 19!

Sorry this has taken so long. I’ve been doing other things and suchlike. Anyway, onwards!

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I’d organised to go to Luxembourg the day before, booked a hotel and planned to catch an early train out there.

Ended up leaving a little later than I’d hoped, not reaching the train station till just before 10. I was initially a disappointed, as I’d only planned two days in Luxembourg. I soon realised that I’d probably be doing a huge amount of walking and end the day being really tired, so I wouldn’t miss an hour or two.

I was a bit zoned out at the train station and when I bought my ticket I forgot to mention I was a student. Ended up costing me 41 euro. That translates to roughly $82 NZD, which was a bit painful. Still, $82 dollars to go to Luxembourg, not too bad.

The train ended being half an hour late or so. I’d already brought myself around to the leaving a bit later, so it would have been fine had the station not been acting as a giant windtunnel! Gah!

The train ride was another interesting one. It took about 3 hours to traverse the 170 kilometres between Brussels and Luxembourg, mainly because there was lots of stops. I hadn’t seen snow since the train ride to Brugge, and I’d actually assumed I’d seen the last of it for a long while.

The snow started with a few a bits here and there, and gradually increased as the train wove its way south. At one point, we passed through a forest that was just lightly dusted with snow. A truly beautiful sight. No sign of any humans anywhere, and all the trees softly highlighted with pure white snow.

As the doors of the train opened, I was greeted with a rush of cold air. Brrrrr. I was wondering in the morning how heavy to dress, as it was fairly warm outside, but eventually decided to be cautious. I was so glad that I’d done so, because the temperature was well below freezing.

The Luxembourg Trainstation

I spent, as seems to have become custom, my first day walking around the new city. It wasn’t long before I started really enjoying the sights. I really feel like I came to Luxembourg at the right time of year, as the light snow frosting of everything was truly beautiful. I suppose I wouldn’t really know when the best time to go would be, as I have nothing to compare my experiences with. In any case, I’d seen nothing of the like before and it helped make the trip special.

I had picked up a map from the train station, but I had no destination really. I just wanted to wander for a while. It wasn’t long before I reached this amazing bridge, over the gorge which runs all the way through the center of the city.

A view from the bridge

Everywhere I looked there was old ruins, snow covered fields and cute rows of houses with a great river winding through it all. The flecks of snow on the trees and caught in the stonework really gave everything this great texture.

I was spoilt for views really. The modern city is built upon the ramparts and walls of the old city. For the most part, the different periods had been really well integrated. It all came together to make the city one of the most beautiful places i’ve ever been to.

My one complaint about the place would be the occasionally marring of the skyline with massive skyscrapers, and the cranes that come with all large constructions.

City walls, old churches and… tall skyscrapers.

One of the funny things you soon notice about Luxembourg is that everybody drives expensive cars. Everybody. BMWs, Mercedes, Bentleys and Aston Martins line the streets. They also seem to love driving them recklessly around the city, which, I imagine, would make driving a fairly intense experience.

Along with the expensive cars comes expensive everything else. Rolex watches, tailored suits and caviar. Everywhere the place reeked of incredible affluence. Even the beggars in Luxembourg are rich it seems, and don’t need to beg any more (I didn’t see a single one on my entire trip).

The place is also very French. The people all speak a French dialect, the food seemed very similar to Paris and (the best indicator of all), the Luxembourgians seem the share the same hypochondria as the French, and you can almost never go anywhere without being able to see at least two pharmacies!

I eventually found my way through the winding streets and the narrow alleys, which you already know I love (everything is so utterly different in New Zealand) to a museum related to the history of Luxembourg. Literally as I reached the door, they closed. The security guard locked the door, leaving me a tad miffed.

That was much of the rest of my day really, wandering around taking as many pictures as I could and soaking in the wonderful sights.

Beautiful beautiful views everywhere I went

After darkness had set in, I slowly made my way down towards the Youth Hostel where I was staying. The place was very cheap (20 euro a night), and I wasn’t expecting much, but ended up being very pleasantly surprised. The fee included breakfast, the place was very clean and tidy and included a lounge with activities and a café/bar area.

Having felt like I’d earned one after spending most of the day on my feet, I headed to the bar to sample the local brews. I tried both of the beers they had on tap, one of which was your basic pils. The other beer ‘Battin’, was a light ale, tasting nice enough, but which much to my surprise, left the taste of honey in my mouth after each mouthful. Completely unexpected, but very pleasant nonetheless.

It was around 8 or 9 when I finished my beer, and I wasn’t quite feeling tired yet, so headed to the lounge to kill an hour or two before bed. Unfortunately, the TV and most of the books were in French, so I had to hunt around for a bit before I found something I could understand. ‘Breaking Dawn’ by Stephanie Myer, third or fourth in the Twilight series.

+ Show Spoiler [Book Review] +

I’ll start by saying I actually know a fair amount about the series (which is a fair amount more than I’d like to know), having been dragged along to the movies and been talked at about how dreamy Edward/Jacob is by virtually every girl I’ve met in the past year. Seriously, even girls much older than I seem to go gooey over these books. *hem* anyway…

My god. How does anybody read this crap? It’s terribly written, in almost every way. The words and sentences don’t flow on from one another.. making you have to work simply to actually read the words. The characters are all unlikable wankers who seem to have little motive for any of their actions. The central premise is that Bella, having spent a year or two with Edward, has decided that one lifetime isn’t enough, and is going to become a vampire in order to spend more time with her honeybunch.

Personally, I find the idea of immortality a tad repulsive to start with. The knowledge that our time is limited and our experiences won’t come around again is what makes them so precious in the first place.

The book quickly goes on to make very clear what a bad idea being a vampire is. Apparently you can’t have babies and you’re all dead and suchlike. At first, I was a tad mollified by this… before I realised that the line the book was taking was “What an amazing sacrifice Bella is making for Edward”.

I gave up in disgust, having found not a single thing likable about the books. I understand that teenage girls are drawn to the romance and so forth, but why anybody reads them is beyond me. It truly is. There are so much more beautiful and well written stories out there. Have they simply not being exposed to good literature?

</rant>
Sorry about that, moment of weakness.

So I headed to bed early. I was sharing a dorm room with 5 other people, but they hadn’t got back yet and I drifted off to sleep without too much trouble.

I awoke to the sounds of people yelling in the hallways. I was feeling very tired, but considered getting up in order to make an early start and enjoy as much of Luxembourg as I could. I always feel very tired in the morning, so it wasn’t until I looked at the time that I realised it was 2am. That marked the beginning of my consternation.

People continued to noisily file in, flicking on lights and talking loudly for the next few hours. Eventually, once the room was filled and silence again seemed to be about to break out… one older gentleman began an irregular hacking cough cycle that lasted until the next morning.

+ Show Spoiler [EXTREMELY image heavy] +

[i]Haughty Perfume, very Parisian

As always, I’ll tag any and all images if requested.

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Click here to hear about the second day of my trip to Luxembourg.

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There you have it. Next one up tomorrow morning. Have to catch up to the present before I leave for the Netherlands

Day 19 - Luxembourg

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