Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

On MLK Jr weekend last year, we spent the long weekend in Las Vegas. We saw some shows, hiked through the Red Rocks, and drove out to the Hoover Dam. It was warm and sunny, beautiful weather. While this holiday's weather was pretty much the opposite of "warm and sunny", we were lucky to have a wonderful weekend spent with good friends in Brussels.

On our first full day in Brussels, we hopped on a train to get out of the city. The Duchy of Luxembourg is located about 3 hours from Brussels and is probably the only European country that nobody (aside from our host who lives in Brussels) in our group had ever traveled to. Well, maybe none of us have been to Andorra but really, who has?

Less than 1000 square miles large, Luxembourg is the 175th (out of 231) smallest country in the world. It used to be double this size though, until the late 1800s when half of the original territory was turned over to the Belgians. I've been to both of the smallest countries in the world (Monaco and Vatican City) and I have to say, this one didn't feel all that bigger!

When we arrived in Luxembourg City, the sky was grey and drizzly. Crossing the Petrusse River on the Viaduc bridge, we soon came across the Monument to National Unity. During WWII, Luxembourg was the only country to stage a strike against their Nazi occupiers. This monument commemorates the patriotism of those who fought with an Eternal Flame.


Moving forward, we eventually hit the Cathedral of Notre Dame (pictured along the top and below). The work on this Roman Catholic church originally began in 1613. While the bulk of the structure is heavy on the late Gothic architectural influences of the time, many of the smaller detail added later contain elements of the Renaissance movement. For a long time, this church was simply a church. However, Pope Pius IX elevated it to a cathedral in 1870. The stained glass windows inside were beautiful even in our rainy weather - I wish I'd had a chance to see them with light shining through.

By the time we hit the town square, we were ready for lunch. Though we'd purposely travelled on a Saturday to have a wide choice of shops and restaurants, we were dismayed to see that quite a bit of the city was closed. But you can always count on the American chains to be open!

While we didn't actually end up at Chi-Chi's, I think we got roped into something worse. Our lunch restaurants served burgers called '"THE" Whazzzuuuppp' and in their 'classique brassiere', they had a 'Filet Barak O.' My 'Whazzzuuuppp' chicken sandwich was ok.


After lunch, we stopped by the Luxembourg Museum of History and Art and waited out some of the rain. We headed back outdoors to the Duke's palace.


Guarded by a Luxembourgian soldier, the Ducal Palace is still the official residence of the Duke though it's also served as the Department of Forests and the Luxembourg Town Hall. During the Nazi occupation, a significant amount of damage was done to the interior but, unfortunately, nobody invited us in to see.


With a two and three-quarter hours ride back (we caught a tail wind), we soon had to return to the train station.