Day 20 - Luxembourg

Alethios

New Zealand2765 Posts

February 01 2010 13:45 GMT

Hey guys, moving right along to my next day in Luxembourg.

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Click here to start at the beginning.
Click here for the previous entry.

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It was around 8 that I decided that, despite still being tired, I wasn’t going to be getting any more sleep. What keeps so many people out till 3am on a Monday night?

Breakfast was a buffet style affair and completely free, which went a long way to curing my grumpiness. The hot chocolate was particularly nice, yum yum!

I didn’t have a chance to walk along the river the previous day, so that was first on my list of things to do.

After checking out, I walked outside to find a guy attempting to scale one of the foundations of the massive railway bridge. All he had to grip onto was the rough stones. I watched for a while as he slowly inched his way up the giant pillar, before deciding that I had to move on. I’m sure there are probably more hardcore climbers out there, but I was pretty impressed. I could of sworn I took a number of photos of the guy… but I can’t find them anywhere.

I ended up taking an odd route along the old battlements, hoping that I’d be able to get down at some point. What I really enjoyed was the twisting paths and alleys, you could go through an archway, or up and pass over it. Whichever path you took, you’d probably end up crossing over the other.

Like this!

Though footprints in the snow gave away the presence of others, I didn’t cross paths with another person the entire time I was walking along the walls. I had the fantastic views out over the city entirely to myself. I realise now that this meant I didn’t have a single photo with me in it from my entire trip, as I saw nobody that could take one (my camera has no timer function). Despite being the center of a major city, my walk ways incredibly quiet and very peaceful.

More great views

Eventually the walls curved around, and I found a tiny staircase that led down into the gorge below. I used to suffer from terrible fear of heights, but seemingly managed to conquer it by shear force of will (I put myself in as many high situations as possible during a school camp 10 years ago), so I was very surprised to find it return that day while climbing down that narrow staircase on the side of the city wall. I’d forgotten what the sensation was like to be honest.

The stairs eventually brought me to the park around the river which runs through the city. I really like how the green space has been preserved, despite probably being immensely valuable land, it really helped in making the city very beautiful.

The wonderful bridge that i'd crossed the day before

As I continued walking through the park, enjoying the sights, It began to snow very lightly. I’d didn’t think I’d be see it snowing again, and it was a nice surprise. It wasn’t long before my jacket was covered in tiny white freckles. Like pixie dust! Tee hee hee.

Eventually I left the park and headed back to the train station, remembering the tourist office there from the previous day. Once I’d arrived, the guide was kind enough to explain the way to the ‘MUDAM’ museum, and which bus to take.

After a fairly uneventful bus ride, I was dropped off on the side of a gigantic highway called “John F Kennedy”. I took some time and wandering before I eventually spotted the characteristic roof of the museum.

MUDAM

I walked up to the front door, and saw that the museum was closed on Tuesdays. Thanks tourist office! Perhaps you could have mentioned that?

Luckily, I knew that the reconstructed Fort Thüngen was very close by, and went to check it out.

The ‘Three Acorns’

There were no signs indicating anything about going inside, but I noticed one man doing so, so went along to check it out. Much to my surprise, it was open and free to enter. Many of the old tunnels had been reinforced and lit, and one was free to walk around and explore.

Apparently the castle had been demolished as per the treaty of London, signed in 1867, which called for the destruction of much of Luxembourg’s fortifications. The castle had then been reconstructed during the 1990s, at the same time as Mudam was being erected.

The old tunnels in particular really left a lasting impression. Even with the air conditioning running, the air down in the tunnels was extremely thick and humid. The tunnels were lit, but still very dark and the ceilings were very low. I felt a sudden appreciation of what it would have been like to be a guard in these tunnels, back when the fortifications were needed. Life would have been pretty miserable, and one would not want to suffer from claustrophobia!

The area open to the public at the time was not very large, so soon after I started to make my way down the hill, back towards the city. The fortifications must have been extremely vast, because what remained still stretched on and on.

Somewhat further down the hill

I eventually broke free of the fortifications and enjoyed another long leisurely stroll through the city before catching the train back to Brussels.

+ Show Spoiler [Lots of day 20 images] +

The drawbridge chain

The sign screwed up over and over, before the operator finally gave up trying to make the train go to Liege and not “Li(ge” or “L34ze”

As always, will tag any and all images that are requested.

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Click here for the next installment

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So that’s it for Luxembourg. Going to try and get the next one out before I leave for the Amsterdam early tomorrow morning.

Until then,

Alethios

minus_human

4784 Posts

February 01 2010 14:11 GMT

Taken with you phone? many of them are horribly unfocused.

disco

Netherlands1667 Posts

February 01 2010 15:08 GMT

So that’s it for Luxembourg. Going to try and get the next one out before I leave for the Amsterdam early tomorrow morning.

Yay, Amsterdam

Pika Chu

Romania2510 Posts

February 01 2010 15:44 GMT

On February 01 2010 23:11 minus_human wrote:
Taken with you phone? many of them are horribly unfocused.

No, he mentioned earlier that he's got a camera, but don't know why they got out so bad.

Nice blog btw, keep writing i like it.

aqui

Germany1023 Posts

February 01 2010 20:06 GMT

Great pictures as always. Looks very melancholically.

Alethios

New Zealand2765 Posts

February 01 2010 21:01 GMT

Doesn't look like i'm going to have time to write as much as I wanted to before heading off.

Sorry about the photos, best I could manage (i'll explain later).

See you all when I get back.

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