We didn’t stay very long. Just enough to walk around town, take some photos and get a feel for the place. We noticed in a couple of places that the city seemed to be setting up lights and stages and risers for some kind of event. A sign tipped me off. The Pope was coming the next day! Can you imagine the traffic had we been one day later?
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| What a difference a day makes; Left photo: Scott Stevens; Right photo: The Seattle Times |
Officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the landlocked country borders Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east and France to the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembourg City, is one of the four institutional seats of the European Union (together with Brussels, Frankfurt and Strasbourg) and the seat of several EU institutions.
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| Pretty buildings everywhere |
With an area of 998 square miles and a population of 672,050, Luxembourg is the seventh-smallest and one of the least-populated countries in Europe. It is a representative democracy headed by a constitutional monarch, Grand Duke Henri making it the world's only remaining sovereign Grand Duchy. It is also the richest country in the world.
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| Lovely homes and smartly dressed citizens; Right photo: Scott Stevens |
The County of Luxembourg was established in the 11th Century as a state within the Holy Roman Empire. Four of its monarchs served as Holy Roman Emperor in the 14th and early 15th Centuries. Luxembourg came under Habsburg rule in the 15th Century and was annexed by France in the 18th Century (there were a lot more portioning and ownership changes, but isn’t that how it was everywhere in that part of Europe?). Luxembourg regained independence in 1867.
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| Church and palace doors |
Germany occupied Luxembourg in both World War I and World War II. After World War I, Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde was seen by many people (including the French and Belgian governments) as having collaborated with the Germans despite Luxembourg’s proclaimed neutrality. After many protests and a couple of skirmishes, she abdicated in favor of her sister, Charlotte.
In World War II, the country was informally annexed to the adjacent province of Nazi Germany and Luxembourg's exiled government was based in London supported the Allies.
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| Outside the cathedral (we couldn't go in because of papal preparations) |
With 2.45 percent of its prewar population killed and a third of all buildings destroyed or heavily damaged, Luxembourg suffered the highest such loss in Western Europe, but its commitment to the Allied war effort was never questioned. Around 1,000-2,500 of Luxembourg's Jews were murdered in the Holocaust . The Grand Duchy became a founding member of the United Nations in 1945.
The steel industry exploiting the country's rich iron-ore grounds in the beginning of the 20th Century drove industrialization. After the decline of the steel industry in the 1970s, the country focused on establishing itself as a global financial center and developed into a banking hub.
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| Spires are certainly popular |
Luxembourg does not have any "official" languages per se; its national language is Luxembourgish, French is used for legislation and German, French and Luxembourgish are used for administrative matters.
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| Turrets are also popular |
The first years of primary school are in Luxembourgish, before changing to German; while in secondary school, the language of instruction changes to French. Proficiency in all three languages is required for graduation from secondary school. In addition to the three national languages, English is taught in compulsory schooling and much of the population of Luxembourg can speak English. Portuguese, the language of the largest immigrant community, is also spoken by large segments of the population.
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| Fire service (in Luxembourgish) |
Luxembourg City was lovely, but we couldn’t stay long.
We wanted to have lunch, hoping to snag some of the country’s allegedly popular potato pancakes. But, restaurants open rather late for lunch and all the potato dishes we saw listed on menus seemed to be full, heavy meals with lots of meat.
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| Seems like a Luxembourg thing |
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| Breads, sweets and fish, too; Photos: Scott Stevens |
We decided to hit the road instead of taking a long lunch.
That turned out to be a pretty good idea because the weather worsened and it started to rain as soon as we got back in the car.
Final Leg
As I said, we had already been in five countries, so it was pretty cool that our route took us through southern Belgium, even though we didn’t stop there. By now, it was pouring. Definitely the worst weather of the whole trip. Later I found out that it was flooding not too far away in Austria.
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| Our route |
We accidentally exited the highway when I was trying to keep up with confusing GPS instructions and had a little difficulty getting back on (we had to drive several miles to loop back). Scott wasn’t happy about that at all until we saw a little critter cross the road in front of us. Dog? Fox? What????
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| It was a tiny, very wet and very cute baby wild pig; Photo: Scott Stevens |
This was quite significant because we had been in France and its neighboring countries for three weeks and had seen ONLY one Squirrel, a few captive Deer and two unfortunate mammals that had died on the road: a Red Fox and a European Badger. I see more animals in my back yard in one afternoon than appear to live in all of central Europe.
We had a delicious lunch (hamburgers, but, as I said before, France does them so, so well) at a store/restaurant just over the border in France. After admiring the hams and sausages it had for sale, we took off for our final leg.
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| A pretty impressive roadside cafe; Photos: Scott Stevens |
I had booked a room at the Residence Inn by Marriott Paris at Charles de Gaulle Central Airport so that we could just shuttle over to the airport the next morning for our flight. Of course, it wasn’t that easy. First, the hotel was a bear to find because you had to drive a big spiral to get to what may have been a driveway or may have been a walkway to the door. We choose driveway and were correct, but they told us we couldn’t stop to unload there, but rather had to circle back around to their (hard to find) underground garage to disgorge the car of all our luggage.
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| Photo: Residence Inn |
Then, after finally figuring out how to exit the one-land road in and out of the garage (just a traffic signal way from disaster), we couldn’t find the rental return because GPS had no clue and the directions on Budget’s website were wrong. Finally, we navigated to Terminal two and just followed the signs.
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| Ack! Rendering: ADP |
We took the on-airport Metro back to a stop about a block away (in the rain) and inquired about a shuttle the next day. The clerk told us the Residence Inn’s shuttle went to terminals 1 and 3; we needed to go to 2. She said an Uber would be cheaper (Yep, the Residence Inn even charged for the pleasure of taking you to the wrong terminal), but the best bet was the Metro. That’s what we did, but dragging all our luggage across the hotel’s super-thick, non-luggage-friendly carpet and across sidewalks studded with metal cylinders at every traffic crossing was exhausting. Then, we got to Terminal 2, but American’s desk was about as far as you could walk. We were damp, tired and grumpy by the time we boarded.
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| At least it was free; Photo: Wikipedia |
The only good thing about the hotel was that its restaurant was quite good.
I have tried several times to simplify my life by staying at an on-airport hotel. It always fails (no shuttle, attached to the wrong terminal, attached to the right terminal but too early for the gates in that terminal to be open). I think you are better off being close but not in the airport. Of course, Charles De Gaulle is so big, you might end up in a different country if you try that approach.
Anyway, everything was smooth after that. I had hoped to upgrade at least one of us going home, but the price never dropped enough for it to be worth it. So, we just stuck to our extra-legroom seats. The plane was comfy. And, our flight left at a decent hour and got us home at a decent hour. So, all was good.
It was a long (maybe too long) and ambitious (maybe too ambitious) trip, but, even with lots of missed sights and some less-than-perfect weather, I feel that we got a got feel for the entire country of France. And, I got 10 new birds and two new countries!
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| So many sights |
Trip Dates: September 4-26, 2024
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