13 October 2015 - Luxembourg today!

The temptation to visit another country just because we could is something that perhaps Australians find more exciting than Europeans.  Where I come from, it is at least 3 hours journey by plane before I can touch foreign soil.   As we are currently only an hour away from Luxembourg where we are staying in Belgium, it was a "must do".

Here we are in Izel

Good morning!

Tim and I had a walk in the 2 C still morning and enjoyed the cows and fields, birds and trees.  I even scored a few more free fall apples so you can guess that we did indeed have another apple tart for dessert tonight.

Garden silhuoettes

We settled for a bit of school before leaving for Luxembourg.  The moment we stepped out of the door, we realised that this was going to be a coat, hat and scarf day as it was still only 4 C at 11.30AM and the clouds had covered the sun.

A breigny - doughnutty knot from our bakery

The border between Belgium and Luxembourg

Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial

First stop was the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial which commemorated the battle through The Ardennes from 16 December 1944 to 22 March 1945.  We wanted to take the kids there to give them an idea about just how many die during a war.  In this case, there were 5067 Americans killed in this battle, just a small representation of how many died during WWII.  To see acres of white crosses and some Stars of David, makes quite a visual spectacle.  I know war graves I saw years ago are still clear in my memory.  It was a very well maintained site with someone even washing each white cross to keep them looking pristine.  It was starting drizzle a little so we didn't stay too long.

1941-1943

1943-1944

1944-1945

A mass of graves, of lives shortened, of grief

How do I photograph so many graves to give a true impression?

 Luxembourg, actually the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has no coastline but is locked between Germany, France and Belgium.  It is only 2586 square kms with a population of 524,853.  It has the world's highest GDP.  We had thoughts that this wealthy country would be free of beggars but we saw more beggars today than we have seen since London.  I did feel sorry for them in the cold weather.  Like in the rest of Europe, we noticed there were also many smokers.

Outside the Royal Palace

It is the world's last remaining grand duchy headed by Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg.  Three languages are spoken in Luxembourg: German, French and Luxembourgish  but we only heard French today.

Royal Palace guard doing his duty

Quirky fountain

Muscles on his muscles!

L'Hotel de Ville

Tim and Luke riding lions

King William

Going over the bridge

Towering over the buildings below

  Historically, Luxembourg was known as Lucilinburhuc (“Little Fortress”), and became an independent state in 963 AD.  The old fortress is built on and into a huge rock which makes a pretty imposing backdrop.

Down down to the beautiful gardens below

Luxembourg joined NATO in 1949, the Benelux Economic Union  in 1948, and the European Economic Community (later the EU) in 1957.  Luxembourg's parliament approved the Maastricht Accord, which led to the establishment of the EU in 1992.  

Today, we could have called the city a city of roadworks and beggars.  We walked past the royal palace to the old fortress and we could see what a huge project it would have been to build and what a grand entrance to the city it is.

Magnificent  old pathways

Looking up to the rock

Lovely still day for reflections

What amazes me is the openings in the rock and all the little rooms ?dungeons?

After a few twists and turns we made it onto the freeway and we were back to Belgium.  It was so cold and we were looking forward to our cosy house.  Alas our heating was off again.  The kind neighbours who only speak French came to help and reset the pilot light but it is still not fixed completely.  Our host is doing her best sort it out.