Date: Sunday 29th – Monday 30th June
Staying: Camping Kockelscheuer – Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Distance Travelled: 0 Miles
Song of the day: The Passenger – Iggy Pop
I know we’ve had a few days recently when we’ve posted one blog for several days. I promise I’m not trying to pull a fast one, but when it happens it usually means we’ve had a restful day of doing nothing. Such was the case again on Sunday, except it turned out to be enforced rest for me as I caught a 24-hour stomach bug. However, as Monday dawned (and having slept on and off for 36 hours), I felt bright as a button and ready to see Luxembourg.
The capital of Luxembourg is, appropriately enough, Luxembourg. Luxembourg is often called the “Gibraltar of the North” due to its fortifications which kept out invading armies for hundreds of years. It is home to a quarter of the total population of the country, but is a surprisingly busy place considering that would only be about 120,000 people.
Like so many cities in Europe, it has an “old town” sector, complete with cobbled streets and the cafes that abound nowadays. It also has a lovely church in the old town (the “Notre Dame” of Luxembourg), having lovely stained glass windows (always a crowd pleaser for us), and huge internal columns that are carved in decorative reliefs. The Place d’Armes and City palace was also beautiful, showcasing more relief carvings and towering spires. Inside, the monarchy and democracy co-exist as it is the official residence of the monarch as well as the seat of parliament.
We also took the opportunity to take one of those touristy “hop on hop off” buses, which we haven’t done for an age. It gave us a birds eye view of the city, and took us down through the banking district, which sounds boring but wasn’t at all. There is an amazing amount of new buildings going up, and the modern architecture is quite intriguing.
We intended to round of the day with mini-golf, but unfortunately nobody wants to play golf on a Monday and it was closed. I decided to get my kicks instead by doing a load of washing, while Cam updated his travel notes (now 25 days behind).
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