Steve Mueller's Digital Scrapbook

Europe 2002

Sunday May 19
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

Occasionally, usually unexpectedly, you discover a place that reminds you why you travel. For us, Luxembourg City was such a place. The uneventful four-hour drive across northeastern France did not prepare us for what lie ahead. We reluctantly left Strasbourg, believing that the high point of our long anticipated trip was behind us. It seemed impossible that the beauty and atmosphere of Alasace could be surpassed. We were wrong. The tiny, usually overlooked, country of Luxembourg, or more formally, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, was the most rewarding part this trip. This compact (35 km by 90 km) nation, which is slightly smaller than the state of Rhode Island, with a population less than that of Wyoming, demonstrates that great things do sometimes come in small packages. Luxembourg City Luxembourg City is visually impressive, and may be the most dramatically situated European capital. The city covers a high plateau that is dissected by 150 ft deep gorges, known as the Petrusse and Alzette valleys. Massive fortifications have been built into the cliffs and spectacular bridges span the gorges. After Gibraltar, Luxembourg City was the most formidable stronghold in medieval Europe. The most impressive bridges are the Pont Viaduc and the Pont Adolphe. Both offer unforgettable views of the Petrusse Valley. The latter, at a height of 46 meters, was the largest stone bridge in the world at the time of its completion in 1903. Our hotel, the Relais Mercure, was located about two blocks from the main train station. The free parking mentioned on the website was a very small, cramped "garage" located beneath the hotel. Access was through a hole (it was far too small to be described as an entrance) only slightly larger than our mid-sized car. Once through the hole, it was necessary to navigate down a ramp that was so steep that its surface was obscured by the front of the car. The sides of the ramp were brightly colored with the paint of hundreds of cars, the drivers of which no doubt soon wished that they had made other parking arrangements. There were no delineated parking areas. Vehicles were parked anywhere that sufficient space was available between the massive piers that supported the building. The parking garage was so cramped that it took nearly five minutes to manuever the car so that it was parked facing outward. I dreaded the time that I would have to drive the car out of there. After checking into the hotel, we wandered into the historic core of Luxembourg City, known as The Ville, and quickly realized this place was worth the trouble. We walked longer and farther on our first day in Luxembourg City than on any other day of the trip. It seemed that there was always something a little farther away that simply had to be investigated. Luxembourg City consists of three main sections. Two of these areas, the Ville, mentioned above, and the Gare, the region near the main train station developed primarily in the early 20th century, are located on the elevated regions and separated by the gorge of the Petrusse Valley. These very different sections of the city are linked by the spectacular Pont Viaduc. Luxembourg's main train station is not located in the old city because the gorges of the Alzette River were too wide for mid-19^th century trestle bridges. The gorge bottoms constitute the "lower town," which is the third section of Luxembourg City. The Petrusse Valley is a lush city park, whereas the sharply curving Alzette Valley is more developed and includes some of the classier residential neighborhoods of Luxembourg City. This very attractive area is known by the very unattractive name of The Grund. After our first walk around the city, I asked the hotel manager about an impressive building at the southern end of the Pont Adolphe bridge. He said that it was probably the state bank building. This seemed unlikely to me because the building was obviously some type of palace, probably with historic significance. From under the counter, the manager pulled out a book with pictures of Luxembourg. He showed me a picture of the building in question with a caption indicating that it was the state bank building. Only in Luxembourg could such an impressive palace-like structure be merely the state bank building. Luxembourg city came closer to recapturing the feeling of our first trip to Europe than any place we have visited since that trip, and, for better or worse, it will now be the standard against which we will judge all other European cities.
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