Lux-urious

I never thought I’d say this, but I think Luxembourg is the most overlooked state in the European Union. It doesn’t have the water or canals like Venice or Amsterdam; and there are no famous beaches. It doesn’t have the fame of Paris, London or Berlin. It doesn’t have the history of Rome or Athens. And although it is home to EU institutions—Eurostat (the national statistic agency), the European Investment Bank (a kindler, gentler World Bank) and the European Court of Justice—it’s Brussels that gets all the EU glory. So where does that leave Luxembourg? In obscurity, exactly where it wants to be.

Luxembourg is small in many ways. Slightly smaller than the state of Rhode Island, it is nestled between Belgium and Germany and on top of France. It has a population of about 450,000 who speak three languages: French, German and Luxembourgish which is a hybrid of the two. But it is incredibly wealthy, and has the highest GDP per capita in the EU—which may be a circumstance of its small population more than anything else, but we’ll give Luxembourgers the benefit of the doubt. As a result, there is a strong small-town feel to the city.

For one, it is very clean. Not that Brussels is a dirty crap-hole, but I am no longer surprised to see dog poop (fresh or already trampled-on), empty Jupiler beer cans or still-smoking cigarette butts on the sidewalk. But the streets of Luxembourg looked like they’ve been scrubbed clean that day. They were Toronto-style clean. And there were no homeless people anywhere. I visited Cassandra for an entire weekend and I didn’t see anyone looking less than European chic.

Luxembourg doesn’t feel like a capital city either. It feels like a small town. Most things you need are within walking distance. It's surrounded by greenery. Trees, bushes, ornate gardens are everywhere. And there isn’t the noise of the city. There’s no hustle and bustle, there’s no horns honking or the ever-present police sirens we get in Brussels. Instead there is simply quite. Or birds chirping. I felt more like I was at a cottage in Muskoka than a European city the entire weekend.
And what a blissful weekend it was. Cassandra and her mother and sister had just returned from a cruise along the North Sea that weekend. So on Friday night we drank champagne on her terrace and talked about the trip. The next morning, after sleeping in one of the most comfortable beds I’ve ever lain in and showering in a bathroom the size of my apartment here in Brussels, we had a delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs (which may have been a special treat as Cassandra is well versed of my weakness for pork products). Then we headed off to Germany for the afternoon.

The view from Cassandra's apartment

Sunday was spent exploring the city. I was a little skeptical that we could fit the whole city in an afternoon (we didn’t get going until around 11am thanks to another great breakfast). But we did. First stop was the casemates which are visible from Cassandra’s balcony. Luxembourg has a history of being shuffled from one European power to the other (Germany, France, the Netherlands and even Belgium have laid claim to this little territory), so the casemates, like a fort, were built to protect the citizens. There we saw canons and canon holes and walked among the halls that real soldiers lived in.

Me with the Bock Casements behind me

Where the cannon goesView from the Casemates

Then we walked down by the river and up through a gorgeously old monastery whose giant square hosts music festivals and religious parades.

The Monastary and its square.

Casemates and gardens from beside the Monastary

After lunch we roamed the city centre. Cassandra took me to the Royal Palace. Now I'm no expert on castles, but this one was underwelming. Luxembourg is only a Duchy (meaning its head of state is a Duke) so the castle was not among the most stunning I’ve ever seen. The national bank has much nicer buildings. I’m assured that the Duke has another, more fantastic castle in the countryside.

The Royal Palace

She pointed out the Notre Dame Cathedral, the biggest in the city.

A highlight of Notre Dame was the beautifully intricate carmvings

Somehow we ended up on a tour of weird Luxembourgish statues:


Then there was the giant liberty-style statue commemorating the Second World War.


Finally, we ended at the Pont Adolphe. This was the famous bridge immortalized in a Mini Europe exhibition (and Luxembourg’s only contribution to the park). Its relevance lies in that it is the first bridge made of natural stone built with such an extensive Roman arch (84 m).

By then, we’d seen everything Luxembourg had to offer. In all honesty, I’d never thought of visiting this tiny country. But I can see why Cassandra and her family chose to live here.