Luxembourg
For the Easter vacation I choose to make a road trip taking advantage of my company car. First, I vent to visit one of my best friends in Frankfurt who just recently got her first baby boy and spent two days with her and her husband. I updated my Frankfurt blog with a few pictures from a boat ride we did, so feel free to have a look at it. From Frankfurt I started at noon, had a short stop at a gas station, a pharmacy (yes, I actually forgot my medicine home...) and a supermarket in Trier to buy some snacks for the way. This is where I spotted this cute church. My car was parking right in front of it and no, it’s not the nice old timer on this photo 😉
But back to Luxembourg, it is a small country surrounded by Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium and I was able to visit all these countries during my trip. I spend the first days in Luxembourg city and was in awe with how cute it is! I got there in the afternoon and in the hostel I right away met two nice girls, one from China, studying in France and a Brazilian writing her PhD in Spain. The only language we all spoke was Spanish and it was so much fun to speak Spanish, since I don’t do it that often anymore. This is what I love about staying in hostels, you meet so many nice people from all over the world and have conversations you wouldn’t normally have back home and if you feel like it, you’ll find someone to explore the city with. The Brazilian girl and I decided to go explore the rest of the day together and since we got along pretty good, we also spent the next day exploring 😊 Here are my impressions of Luxembourg:
This is the central station. The busses were just driving out of my photo, but I love how colorful they are. It gives the city a positive vibe.
Monument National de la Solidarité Luxembourgeoise.
The Gëlle Fra a war memorial.
The Adolphe bridge and the Place de la Constitution on the right. I wasn't aware of the fact the Luxembourg is so mountainous that it's districts have to be connected by bridges.
Funny statues at the Place du Theatre. We had a couple of drinks to end the first day and met a Belgian living in Luxemburg who also was fluent in Spanish and had long conversations.
View at the Musée de la Banque with the sun going down.
Next morning, we decided to head away from the old town first to explore the Krichberg-Plateau where you'll find some museums and the financial and thus new build district. The view from there back to the old town was really beautiful!
You can see part of the old town and especially the old wall which gives place to the Casemates du Bock which you can walk through.
The Fort Obergrünewald from where we got the awesome view and as it seems the only ancient part in this part of the city.
The Museum Dräi Eechelen and Museum d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean.
The Philharmonia Luxembourg.
Reflection of the Philharmonia in the window of the European Convention Center Luxembourg.
The Parlement européen and the museums in the back.
This is actually the oposit view from the wall that inhabits the Casemates du Bock to the "new town". Actually you can also see my hostel, the Youth Hostel right in front of the bridge. As you see, is not that far, you just need to be prepared to either walk up and down a lot or take a bus. A day ticket is only 4 Euro.
This is the Pfaffenthal Lift which connects the old town with the valley below it. We took it later that day when we headed back to the hostel.
View to the Grund, a middle age area of the town with this beautiful abbey.
The Casemates on the left and abbey on the right giving a beautiful view. This viewpoint is called Chemin de la Corniche.
Part of the Grund district.
This huge blowball is an installation in the entrance of the Luxembourg National Museum of Natural History. We didn't went in to see the exibition, but I really loved this one.
On this photo you can perfectly spot the holes in the wall there the Casemates lead you through the city.
The Abbey Neimënster.
Cute sculpture in the parc around the abby.
Gaffiti back in the old town.
Just the entrance of a pharmacy where my new friend was buying some stuff, but I liked the look of it.
The Pescatore, J.P. Foundation in front of it a cute park.
Again the Pescatore, J.P. Foundation, can you beliefe that this is actually a retirement home where old people live? What a nice place!
The already mentioned Pfaffenthal Lift and my new Brazilian friend in front of me :)
Yes, it's high and totally for free! I got shaky legs again, but it was less hard than expected. After that ride we headed back to the hostel and I got into my car for the next adventure ahead.
On the whole Benelux road trip, I drove 2123 km in 13 days, visited nine cities spread through four countries. It wasn’t a relaxing way to spend my holidays, but I got so many beautiful impressions! Also, I visited two countries I have never been to before and that way marked the 30-country mark. In the next few weeks I will post blogs about each city that I have been to on this road trip. But please be patient, I had to sort through 3991 photos and I’m not done with that, so I’ll do one city at a time. Stay tuned 😊
By the way, this is my first trip with my new camera Sony Alpha 6000 and a Sony 18/135 lens plus an Samyang 12/2,0 lens. It is still a starter camera but for me it is a huge upgrade. So far, I have been taking photos either with my mobile phone or a Panasonic DMC-TZ81. So now I’m on my way to upgrade my photography skills. Hope you like it.