Luxembourg - July 2008

On Saturday July 19th Pam and I drove to Luxembourg for the weekend. Luxembourg is about a two hour drive from Heidelberg. It is a constitutional monarchy and in every business there are pictures of the Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg. (I’d recommend reading about Luxembourg in Wikipedia.com)
The site for the city of Luxembourg started out as a Roman fort and the location was chosen because of the its ability to be defended. It is on a rocky outcropping with gorges descending on either side. The town of Luxembourg grew at the base of the Fort/Castle and a wall was built around most of the town for protection. Most of the new town is on the plateau on either side of gorges built all around the castle and above the old town. The effect is very dramatic walking when above looking down at the old town or looking up from the old town at the Castle and walls.
On Saturday night there was a Jazz festival in the old town. We left our hotel at around 10pm (22:00) and walked over and down to the old town. It was not hard to find the way as you really just needed to follow the crowd and then follow the music. The walls of the gorge funneled the sound up and from above you heard a cacophony of sound emanating from the multiple stages and the crowd noise.
Down in the old town it was crazy. Crowds of people, food vendors and the stages set up for bands. There were between 7 and 10 different festival stages set up as well as several bars that had their own entertainment and several amateur groups who were just walking around performing. It was a great crowd and excellent music.
We got back to our hotel room pretty late and slept in a bit Sunday morning. With our room, we also got breakfast at Le Bec Fin. After breakfast we checked out and drove to Vianden. Vianden is a small town on the border with Saarland, Germany. The drive from Luxembourg City to Vianden was mostly on small roads and was exceptional as the countryside of Luxembourg is a beautiful.
Vianden is built on a mountain with a beautifully restored castle at the top. It is a quaint little town with a river running through the town at the base of the mountain. There is an amazing view from the top of the castle. For you history buffs, the family that built the castle is descended from the same family as William of Orange.
Pam and I loved Luxembourg, it is a beautiful country and the people are very friendly. Most of the people speak 4 to 5 languages including English. The one strange thing that Pam noticed is the proliferation of Chinese restaurants and the fact that we saw no Chinese people on the streets.