Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

(June 6-8) Since we had a few days to kill before we had our date with destiny in Germany, I suggested to Matt that we go to Luxembourg. I have to admit that the idea to Luxembourg did not float freely into my head. It was planted there by Rick Steves. Maybe it's his smart little silk shirts or his whispy light brown hair combined with those know-it-all glasses but I admit he made Luxembourg look tempting and I eagerly took the bait. It was an easy train ride there from Brugge with a brief stop in Brussels to change trains. When we first stepped off the platform I took a deep breath because as we rolled into the station I wasn't impressed with the skyline. Luxembourg looked more modern than what my nerdy dreamboat Ricky showed me on PBS. Outside the doors of the station there were panhandlers that stared us down like prey. We hadn't really encountered that on our travels.

Like turtles we waddled through town away from the seedy train station and were immediately impressed with the large stone arched bridges and the emansive fortress walls. Our Youth Hostel was nestled right underneath one of the arched bridges. In fact we weren't sure how we were going to sleep with the trains passing by right outside our windows but we were saved with the earplugs in our traveling pharmacy aka our first aid kit. The hostel was a far leap from the previous two spots we stayed at. It was very institutional in it's appearance and especially how it was run. The upside being it's practically brand new and clean as a whistle. We dormed it up in a room with just one other couple from Boston. Our room had a toilet and a shower which is a total luxury.

Luxembourg is without a doubt spectacular. In it's hayday it was seriously fortified against enemy attack. Over the centuries various leaders improved upon and upgraded the fortifications. During a treaty around the late 1800s it was forced to dismantle most of the fortresses but a vast majority remain. It's hard not to walk around and see ancient building of significance. Valleys cut through the city with small rivers and creeks snaking about. The various fortress walls and compounds sit upon the steep hillsides giving them a larger than life feel. Down below in the valleys it seems as though time has stood still. Small farmers have vegetable plots trellised along the waters edge. You get an idea what life must have been like in the belly of the formidable fortress.

Hidden within the fortress walls and underneath the city is a virtual labyrinth of tunnels and caves called the castements. Soliders lived and fought out of these castements. We took a tour of one of the castements just below the financial hubbub of Luxembourg. It was dark, dank and about 15 degrees colder inside the castements. We walked down steep steps along slimmy walls. It was good we had a guide because we quickly got turned around with the fingers that pop off the main tunnel. At times we found ourselves peaking out at foot level with the outside yet people outside were unaware of our gazes. We got to explore another casement right near our hostel called the Broc Castments without a guide. It was larger than the small tunnels but still had it's own series of complicated tunnels within tunnels. At times we found ourselves endlessly spinning up and down spiral staircases climbing and decending through the elevations of the city within the castments.

We played a game with ourselves the two days we were in Luxembourg. We tried never to walk the same path twice. There are a multitude of walking paths that take you up, down and around the city. It's comforting because you can't really get lost because it all circles back. With so many landmarks it's even easier to pinpoint where you're at. Our legs got tired from the hills and the countless steps but the weather finally changed from misty murk to sunny clear skies so we happily abandoned ourselves to the walking paths outdoors. Sometimes being outdoors is like a fulltime job for us. We left the hostel at 9 am and didn't return to regroup until 5 pm.

Luxembourg City was a shiny gem. One I will pull out of my memory banks from time to time and smile at the way it glistened for me.