Luxembourg

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is an odd place, sandwiched in between France, Germany and Belgium, it is tiny in size but big in influence, largely due to it’s tax laws and generous concessions to businesses.  It’s also very pretty.  We mainly came here to visit Anna, and conveniently Dave followed us (obviously the amount of time we spent in London wasn’t enough!).  Or more accurately we followed him, accidentally. 

Anyway, we had a few days here.  On arrival we went out for dinner with Anna and some of her work colleagues, which was a pleasant affair despite the fact that the restaurant didn’t have half the things on the menu as they were going on holiday the next day.  This was our introduction to the slightly odd opening hours in this part of Europe, and also the tendency for people who run hotels, restaurants etc to go on holiday in the middle of the tourist season.

  We found that happened quite a lot.  Anyway, despite the menu limitations, dinner was delicious.  I had carpaccio, which is raw beef, extremely thinly sliced.  Tastes better than it sounds...  After dinner we went out to a bar (we’d forgotten what a difference the no smoking laws in pubs makes at home) which was fun. 

The next day we took Dave and Anna for a drive to the Moselle Valley, which meant we kept wandering in between Germany and Luxembourg (not that I’m trying to get him into trouble but Dave didn’t have his passport!  Illegal immigrant!).   We had a picnic by the Moselle River and stopped in a number of little towns along the way.

  The highlight was Echternacht where we stumbled on a market, some good ice cream and a garden filled with painted concrete statues like garden gnomes.  While we were looking at the gnomes, the owner turned up and invited us in for a better look!!!  Quite odd, but very funny.  It was also a rare encounter with an actual Luxembourgian, as most of the people we met have moved here for work (like a large chunk of the population).

Returning to Luxembourg city we checked out the fair which was on.  The fair was a bit like the Show at home, with a few notable differences.  Firstly, the rides were much, much crazier (see photos).  Secondly there wasn’t as much concern with public safety (for example the rifle range sideshow where bits of plastic and slugs were bouncing off in all directions).

  And finally, alongside the standard food kiosks selling all the predictable things (ice cream, fairy floss, chips, etc) there were kiosks selling cigarettes.  They love to smoke!       

Leaving Luxembourg city the next day we headed to Vianden, which is a standard tourist destination due to the castle perched in an imposing position overlooking the town.  Because it was a nice day and we’ve been through our fair share of castles we decided to go up in the chairlift and look at the castle and the town from across the valley.  This was a good decision and we got some great views. 

So that was basically Luxembourg.  Apart from the meandering route we took to get to Brussels due to the creative decisions taken by our satnav, which meant we got to see a few more country towns and narrow roads.  It’s very pretty and well worth checking out.