Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Luxembourg

  • Luxembourg – Germanyinternetgate

    Everything was going marvellously as the train pulled out of Luxembourg, until we started to approach the German border. Then tragedy took place, something went wrong with my phone connecting to Vodafone Deutschland. By something went wrong, I meant everything went wrong and there was no connection at all. There was no wi-fi on the train that I was on either, so for several hours I was totally without mobile data.

    I hardly mentioned the situation to Nathan, who managed to get signal on his Nokia 3310, which very much irritated me. But jealously is a very bad vice, so I didn’t tell him that. I turned the phone on and off at least 20 times (my phone, not Nathan’s, although I was tempted to interrupt some snooker game he was avidly playing, like a young Judd Trump), but to no avail. I remained brave, calm and dignified in the situation and tried to forget about the crisis. But I struggled, if I’m being honest.

    Fortunately, suddenly when we were in Bonn, around six hours later, the phone signal whirred into action and my e-mails came flooding through. Panic was over and normal service was able to resume, meaning I could go to the pub without fear of missing out on something on-line.

  • Luxembourg – Newelcome

    Luxembourg – Newelcome

    We had an hour or so before our train departed from Luxembourg railway station, so plenty of time to find some sort of Greggs equivalent. Some places appeared to be quite busy, but this patisserie had some seats available, so it seemed an appropriate choice.

    All reasonable prices at Newelcome, which is an interesting name for a cafe, although very slightly difficult to know how they want people to pronounce it.

    The croissant selection, all very lovely. This location appears to be relatively new as there are very few reviews of it, all of which are from the last few weeks. Table service is offered and it was friendly and engaging, with the food and drink being brought over promptly.

    The Natas, or Portuguese custard tart, with latte, came to around £3.50, which was perfectly reasonable for Luxembourg. A relatively basic order, but it all tasted fine. The cafe was clean, there were downstairs toilets which were handy, with the whole atmosphere being relaxed. All rather lovely before the train, but little did I know of the Internet disaster that was about to happen……

  • Luxembourg – Christmas Market

    Luxembourg – Christmas Market

    Neither Nathan or I are that engaged by Christmas markets, but there’s a rather Christmasy feel about the city at the moment. It’s all a bit much for me, but it must be charming for kids (and expensive for their parents).

    A snowman kiosk.

    Decorative barrels.

    I know two boys who would like this  🙂

    A foggy morning.

    A Christmas tree, for those who like that sort of thing….

    I’m not quite sure what has happened here, but it seems to be quite sad.

    And these two photos are from the Christmas market at night, where it was too busy, so we didn’t linger.

    Anyway, that’s enough of Christmas for now….

  • Luxembourg – McDonald’s Closes….

    The end of an era for the McDonald’s near the railway station in Luxembourg city. After 35 years of trading in its current location, the restaurant has just closed with the above poster now in the main window. There is a recently opened Five Guys outlet nearby and the Quick restaurant a few doors down has been rebranded into a Burger King.

  • Remich – Laundrywomen Statue

    This large statue rather dominates the main square and it’s an intriguing fountain which was designed by Manon Bertrand and was installed in 2004.

    The sculpture is designed to represent the public washing area which was once located nearby.

    Entitled ‘Les Lavandières’ in French, the dog adds rather well to the whole piece.

  • Schengen – Flags of Schengen Nations

    At the meeting place of Germany, France and Luxembourg there is this display of flags, all part of the Schengen Agreement complex. The flags include countries in Schengen which aren’t in the EU, such as Switzerland and Iceland (I hadn’t realised that Iceland were members of the agreement).

    The country flag of Hungary.

    A nicely presented little area by the river and there’s also plenty of seating.

  • Schengen – Berlin Wall Fragment

    This is, to my knowledge, the only piece of the Berlin Wall which is displayed to the public in the country of Luxembourg. It was placed here because it’s near to where the Schengen Agreement was signed  in June 1985 which did away with border controls between many EU nations.

    The segments of wall were placed here in 2010 and they marked the 25th anniversary of the signing of the agreement. The segments overlook the banks of the River Moselle and they were donated by the Sony Centre and the City of Berlin. Before being moved here, the pieces of wall had been located at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin.

    For some reason the base of the plaque which gives information about the wall notes that the segments aren’t for sale. I’m not quite sure what prompted that useful information to be added, perhaps tourists from certain nations tried to put an offer in…..

  • Luxembourg – Battin Gambrinus

    Since I’m in the airport lounge for nine hours due to a flight cancellation, I thought that I’d at least inspect the quality of some of the beers. Usually my flight leaves at 11:35 and so I don’t pay much attention to the alcohol selection.

    And this is the Battin Gambrinus, which was founded in the Luxembourg city of Esch-Alzette in 1937. I read the on-line reviews of this beer before trying it, and since they’re frankly pretty poor my expectations were low. I have the useful (well, arguably not useful at all) advantage here of not really knowing much about beer, so my views are frequently out of sync with everyone else’s….

    But, anyway, I quite like this beer, which is a pale lager. It’s a bit watery and not my normal type of beer, but there’s a lingering malty flavour which I quite like. Not as good as eating eight packs of Maltesers, but interesting nonetheless. All very acceptable and the beer is 5.2% ABV and is just 180 calories.

  • Esch-sur-Alzette – Café Casablanca

    En route to the country’s National Resistance Museum I decided that it was too hot to walk any further without a drink. So, this cafe looked a suitable stopping point.

    So this became the mobile office for an hour or so…..

    The alcohol menu, but searing heat and alcohol don’t in my mind really mix. I settled for just having a coffee, which I was pleased to discover was €2.80. I was pleased to discover this as I only had €2.80 in change and normally things don’t work out quite as well as that.

    The latte, which was perfectly acceptable and was at the temperature that I like, which isn’t so hot that I can’t drink it for three hours. And it came with a biscuit, the hallmark of a decent coffee (I’m easily pleased).

    I don’t really like sitting outside usually, as I’m usually attacked by insects, street sellers and dogs. There’s the other disadvantage of smokers, who effectively have a monopoly on the outside area. So, typically, of all the seats that a smoker could have sat at, they choose to sit next to me. They seemed more confused than irritated when I subtly managed to move five tables along. I say subtly, but it’s a hard action to hide.

    Anyway, other than for the continental love of outdoor smoking, which seems common in Luxembourg, this was a pleasant place to spend an hour. There was a slight breeze coming down the road to help keep me cool, although the temperature is still far higher than I’d want it to be.

  • Luxembourg – Public Transport

    I know that it’s a little easier for Luxembourg to achieve an integrated public transport policy given the size of the country, but nonetheless, they’ve managed to do it. A day ticket across all public transport in the country, including buses, trams and trains cost me £3.61 today. So, given the weather is at 39 degrees, I’m taking this opportunity to travel around the country in air conditioned public transport.

    What makes this even more remarkable is that in eight months the entire public transport is becoming free for everyone. A real achievement for the country and I hope it improves on the congestion problem on the roads that they’re trying to tackle.