Luxembourg Stopover

Grand Duchess Charlotte (1896-1985)
Lead the country's govt. from London in exile
during WWII. French sculptor Jean Cardot.

One friend rolled his eyes and gasped 'Not Luxembore' when he saw our Easter Holiday Itinerary.

We drove from Cambridge to Luxembourg, via the Ferry crossing, in one day so planned to stay two nights there in order to have a whole day for a look around. Our hotel opposite the Train station was lovely, with one of the best breakfast buffets I've seen in Europe so far. (http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-2058-mercure-grand-hotel-alfa-luxembourg/index.shtml) We smuggled out a couple of slices of their Marmorkuchen (a German marble cake) for afternoon tea. (recipe here - http://www.bavariankitchen.com/desserts/marmorkuchen.aspx)

Left: Saving some money with the induction cooker - what management don't know won't hurt them.
Right: Petal enjoying the bells of Luxembourg.

Nortre Dame Cathederal - Coat of Arms

All the back streets around the hotel were full of seedy nightlife. We parked the car in a lockup garage a block or two walk away, past a variety of strip clubs. We figured the 42 Euro charged for the 40hrs was worth it. It would seem that the entertainment needs of one type of traveler were particularly well catered for! When we popped back to the car to get my camera charger the next evening it was a bit confronting to see young girls being dropped off by brothers and boyfriends for work.

The sun was shining so we walked around the central district of Luxembourg City. It felt like a little Paris without the OCD planning regulations. Being Palm Sunday the bells were tolling, a couple of enterprising souls were snipping leafy stems from the public potted gardens and tried to sell them to us to take to church and the many faithful gathered at the Cathedral for Mass. The capital is in the bottom half of the country but because the whole country is only about 2 600 square km it is fairly close to everything. The Gutland is rolling hills crisscrossed with rivers, the rest is narrow valleys and huge rocky outcrops. Luxembougers do tunnels and bridges really well.

Train Station across from the Hotel

One of the many Mary icons around this
very Roman Catholic city.

Streets of Luxembourg

Left: Notre Dame Cathederal  Right: War Memorial

A huge Ravine splits the city in two. Centre: The trickle that seems to have caused the gap.

The ruins of the Luxembourg fortress. It was touted as the strongest defence in Europe apart from Gibraltar. The French and Prussians battled over  control until the Treaty of London declared that Luxembourg be a neutral country and the fortress torn down. And so to stop the tiny country being torn apart by it's neighbours, a Castle that had never had it's walls breeched was demolished.  The ruins have been given UNESCO heritage status.

As we drove through Belgium and Germany we noticed that nearly every tall rocky point had a Castle plonked on it. Perhaps because there are so many vantage points down fertile valleys, Luxembourg seemed to have even more Castles crammed into it. As we crossed the Belgium/Lux border on the E25 motorway, we saw a walking holiday advertised called 'The Valley of Seven Castles'. It follows the a national pathway through the Eisch river valley from Gaichel to Mersch. It is 37km with plenty of villages to stop at along the way.

Left: Clervaux Castle from the village street             Right: The inner courtyard. 

WWII relics inside the Castle gates. Petal was not impressed that the hatch was wielded shut.

10 or more large rooms are filled with highly detailed models

We decided to see all of Luxembourg's castles in one visit by taking the train from the capital (4 Euro pp for all day travel!) to Clervaux in the north. It is an easy walk from the station to Clervaux Castle, we decided not to take the steep zigzag up to the interesting looking Abbey. It started life as either a Roman or Celtic fort - and then was developed by different families until the battle of the Bulge (WWII) when it was smashed and burnt out. The state took control of the site and have completed an impressive restoration according to photographs and plans of the original. It now houses the local council government, a museum of Luxembourg's castles in miniature, a collection of WWII memorabilia collected from the area, both American and German, and the UNESCO 'Memory of the World' Family of Man photography exhibition.

Edward Steichen, a Luxembourger, had collected and exhibited photographs from war - hoping to prove its futility and pain to prevent it happening again. He is said to have been unhappy with the response of the thousands of visitors -'though many were disgusted and not a few tears were shed.' He decided that the only way to stop humans killing others for pride or space was to make humanity too valuable to sacrifice. Over three years he traveled and advertised to collect photographic images of daily human life. He amassed over 2 million from every cornier of the globe taken by amateurs and professionals alike. He contrived a series of themes and eventually chose 503 photographs to form his exhibition. This was launched in New York at the Museum of Modern Art and toured the world several times before being permanently housed in Luxembourg as this philosopher artist requested. The Family of Man is a treasure that we were privileged to be able to view.

At Petal's prompting I purchased a book with all the photos to keep alive the idea of every person's worth and unique contribution to our Family. Unfortunately I put a bottle of Rivella(a Swiss softdrink) into the bag with the book, a drizzle on my leg a little later alerted me to the fact that the lid hadn't been screwed on tightly enough - the book was wet! We just missed the hourly train back to the capital so we sat in the 1856 cafe with coffees and hot chocolate to wait in the warm. The lovely staff were so patient with our lack of any language apart from English (Willow was visiting her friends in Italy) and gave us a slice of complimentary Marmorkuchen. Petal and I had turns flicking the pages across the top of the radiator to try and dry them out before they stuck together.  Only a few need the attention of the letter opener.

As one of the smallest independent countries in the world, landlocked by historically powerful neighbours, Luxembourg has become a model of diplomacy and integration. Napoleon, the Prussians, Belgium and the Nederlands have all wanted a piece of Luxembourg in the past. It was finally given independent country status as the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in 1839 by the First Treaty of London. France and Prussia nearly went to war over it in 1866, it was invaded and occupied by the Germans as they crossed French borders through it in WWI. Luxembourg announced neutrality in WWII but was not strong enough to keep it so was annexed by the Third Reich in 1940 as a large portion of the population are Germanic. Its government fled to London and many of its police and armed forces were sent to concentration camps for refusing to sign the oath of loyalty to Hitler.

A little town where big things happened

The Moselle river is the border that runs between Germany and Luxembourg. Down in the corner where French, Lux and German borders meet is the little town of Schengen. Here, on a boat moored in the river, Luxembourg hosted the signing of agreement between the initial European nations working towards an open border, same currency United Europe. Not a bad idea for victims of bullying to reuse - unite possible foes in a cause that benefits all.

We were not sure if this interesting looking barge was being built or dismantled. It is opposite the Museum celebrating the signing of the agreement. Germany is over the river and France beyond the lock rear right of this picture.
We assumed this may have been where the boat for the signing was moored.

A clever sculpture where each country in the agreement provided a star with emblems of their own.

One of three panels by the river - this one with a photo of the signing.

Left: The original Das Schloss von Schengen with a drawing of how it was used, looks a bit Rapunzelish now.
Right: The new habitation of the family.

This little town had some really interesting architecture.

Everything is so close over here!

The country aims to make it's citizens efficient members of this European Union through mastery of language. In the first few years of school, Luxembourgish - the national language, is used. The remainder of primary school is taught in German as the national language is a high German dialect. Then in secondary all instruction is delivered in French which is the language used for business and finance in the country. English is also considered a compulsory subject for anyone hoping to get a tertiary education.  I don't know if the Aus/NZ monoliguistic attitudes and expectations are a blessing or a curse.

After a giant Creme Brulee that had been flambeed with Amaretto for desert, I slept very badly in the enormous comfy bed; Petal creaking around on the fold out spring wire bed and the powder puff pillows didn't help much either.

Considering our stay was very brief I didn't find this little Duchy at all boring. Big ideas can come from little places.

Read: Strange Meeting by Susan Hill

http://www.amazon.com/
Strange-Meeting-Susan-Hill/dp/0140036954

Getting ready for the 100th anniversary of WWI
I don't know how I've missed this title - Petal read it at school and told me about it. An intriguing plunge into the lives of a man and his mate as they head for the trenches.

'I am afraid of myself. Of what I am becoming, of what it will do to me.'
"Are you afraid of your own dying?"
Barton's face lightened at once. "Oh, no. I've thought about that too. No. I have never really been afraid of that.'
"It is a brave act of valour to condemn death, but where life is more terrible, it is the truest valour to live."(Quoted from Sir Thomas Browne) p129

"I am out of the war  for good of course, but cannot look ahead at all." p174