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The photo is Luxembourg city from the bridge connecting the old and new cities
Ok, so Luxembourg.....how to begin. Well, I think I just start off with the end of the Trier blog since we went to Luxembourg the VERY next day. Ok, so after we got on the train to go to Luxembourg, we just chill-axed b/c it was going to be about a 45 minute ride, and we wanted to take a breather before having to go out and function again. Once we arrived in Luxembourg, I noticed something; even though the country is legally tri-lingual, most of the signs in the train station are in either French or German, mostly French though. So I told Isaac that we were looking for a sign that read something like, "Sortie a la Ville" or something to that effect..(i haven't taken French in awhile, so I was doing my best). In any case, we eventually found the exit, and when we did, Isaac darted for the information desk to ask if we needed to show our Passports since we were Americans and such. Well the woman said that we didn't because Luxembourg is in the EU and we came from an EU country. However, later that night I was looking over some of the State Department literature...ok I was trying to figure out how safe it would be to go to Russia...and I noticed that we have to get it marked in our Passports since we're not EU natives. Though I mean I don't think they're going to be really strict about it. I think it's more of an intercontinental thing, insead of just moving from country to country within the same continent (or is that was intercontinental means???) It doesn't matter.
After finding that we didn't have to register with the nation (and I use the term nation lightly since Luxembourg is only about the size of the ENTIRE city of London....and I mean Luxembourg the country, not Luxembourg the city) we went to the book shot in the station and purchased the required postcards and city guides (of which I now have my own personal library). After finding that the entire city was probably 1/4 the size of Mainz, we set out to find the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Luxembourg. In our search for the cathedral, we had to go from the Neustadt (New City) to the Altstadt (Old City). This in and of itself was worth going to Luxembourg. The two parts of the city are separated by this massive ravine, which is crossed by a large stone bridge. It's absolutely AMAZING. You look across from the Neustadt and see the Altstadt sitting atop this massive stone plateau, which was subsequently reinforced by massive stone walls and the like, and then look down and see this cavernous ravine beneath you, which in modern times has houses alond the sides of the ravine and then a road at the bottom. It was absolutely amazing, and like I already said, would be one reason to go see Luxembourg! As we crossed the bridge (which is divided into driving lanes, biking lanes and walking lanes) we saw rising from the Plateau the cathedral. After finding our end point, Isaac and I we pretty easily able to fine the Cathedral, and enter. AMAZING! This Cathedral really showed off the riches of the country. If you didn't know that Luxembourg was the richest country in the world, just enter the Cathedral and you'll find out. There are rich tapestries in on the walls, and the entire inside looks as though it was made from the finest marble (here I could most def be wrong, but it was pretty.) Moreover, there are two chapels on either side of the main altar and both of them have frescoes made out of solid gold! BEAUTIFUL!! I took photos for those of you out there who don't believe me, but it was a sight, let me tell you. It was not a rather large cathedral, probably for the mere fact that Luxembourg is not a large city, but it definitely made up in accoutrement what it lacked in size.
After we'd had our fill of religion for the day, Isaac and I made our way back out to Roosevelt street (I s*** you not) and decided to next look for the Grand Duke's Palace (hereafter referred to in the French as the Palais Grand-Ducal). However, before we began our search in this small, and densely crowded city, we found a souvenir shop and decided to look for the stickers that we've been collecting throughout our visits in Germany, and now other parts of Europe. OMG, lemme just tell you, this was one odd experience. As I said before, Luxembourg is a trilingual nation, requiring that all students who graduated from Luxembourgish schools be fluent in Luxembourgish, French and German. Therefore, we were highly surprised when we asked for something in German and then got a response in French, or in some cases English. This was very odd. Granted, a lot of times Germans who notice the American accent will attempt English because they want to practice, but here it's just anything goes. I'll speak in one language, you talk in another. AMAZING! Needless to say, after being spoken to in French after speaking German, I just began to speak in French, and moved on with my life. Pretty cool though.
After obtaining our stickers (and Isaac's Patch) we attempted to find the Palais Grand-Ducal....this, I would like to add, was a lot harder than it should have been. Luxembourg is a very small city and very densely packed with many roads just leading off in different directions, and most of them being quite narrow. The largest road I saw was the Roosevelt street, and that was only large b/c it was both a highway and bordered the large ravine on the other side. In any event, we finally found the Palais, and decided to take a plethora of fotos, whereby we could remember our visit. There was a guard standing outside, but I didn't want to take a change of him being more like US Secret Service then Buckingham Palace Guard, so I stayed away, and settled for a photo about 8 meters from the Guard. After seeing the palais grand-ducal, we realized that we'd seen most of Luxembourg and we could pretty much go home. Granted, there were castles and forts which we didn't see, but we'd seen the main tourist attractions, and we also had about a 5 hour ride home with the train. Therefore, we decided to go across Roosevelt street and look down the Bock into the Ravine and chill for a bit before heading back towards the Hbf. Once back, we found a train to Trier that left around 4:30, and we were able to take it. We only stayed in Luxembourg for like 3 hours, but it was a grand time nonetheless, and I'm thinking about taking mom there when she comes to visit in March....maybe we can make a pit-stop on the way back from France. :-D
After arriving back in Mainz, Isaac and I parted ways and I went back and crashed, just plain CRASHED! I don't think I woke up until like 1 on Sunday or something like that, I was exhausted.
in other news, I believe that on this coming Friday Isaac and I are going to go to Koblenz, since it falls within that nice little free Studiticket area, and then on Saturday, Jessica, Isaac, Mark, and I will all go to Aachen.....YES!! Charlemagne, here I come!!!!
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