luxembourg Archives - Journey's Dawn

Exploring Art with Victor Hugo & History at Vianden Castle

Sophia — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 03:59:40 +0000

We originally were going to go to Germany or Belgium via train, but we liked Luxembourg so much we decided to tour the small country a bit more.

We took a bus to Vianden, a town north of Luxembourg-ville.

TIP: the transportation is great, but the timing needs to be scheduled properly, especially on the weekend. Give yourself plenty of time, as it can take from 1.5 to 2 hours one way. Renting a car may be more efficient for those who prefer driving.

Our first stop was Roman Villa Echternach – a Roman palace and museum.

It features a beautiful representation of the times and well-kept remains, with information provided at each stop.

Our second stop was Abbey Museum.

This place was filled with beautiful archaic religious items.

Our third stop was the house of Victor Hugo.

The walk-through of the house was very interesting, with audio sections throughout the house to keep you engaged as you visit each section.

We then proceeded to have lunch at a small restaurant in town which was fairly priced (Pizzeria au Feu de Bois).

As the skies were clearing up, we decided to ride the cable car to Vianden Castle before hiking up to the main entrance.

Luckily, we could do the tour with an audio guide, which proved to be the best way to enjoy the scenery and learn about its history.

Not only was the tour of the castle great, but as we moved from section to section, we ended up seeing a reenactment of the time period, with people dressed up as kings, queens, peasants and the like.

In total, Vianden itself is worth the visit if in Luxembourg.

We had a little dinner in town then headed back to our room.

__________________________

Our last day was fairly short. We had breakfast at the DoubleTree Hotel (not bad, but not great), packed up and went home!

Thank you/Merci Luxembourg!!

Sophia

Hi! Bonjour! I’m Sophia, a traveler since birth, a lover of nature and culture and a linguist! I want to share with you all the wonderful things you can do and experience if you just set your mind to it and travel!

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Day Trip to Metz France

Sophia — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 03:59:08 +0000

As Luxembourg touches Belgium, Germany and France, it’s a great central location to make short day trips to other countries. Today we found ourselves in Metz, France.

The main attraction was Centre Pompidou-Metz, an exceptional museum with multiple exhibitions, portrayed as a mini version of the Paris location.

It features 4-6 exhibits on its floors that focus on either a different event or project.

The art, the music, the exquisite paintings left us in awe.

Given the complexity and time needed to see this museum, we were fortunate enough to be allowed to walk in and out and go at our own pace.

TIP: The train station offers passes that cover both a return ride to Luxembourg and a pass to the museum. If you’re doing a day trip, it could save you a few dollars.

While in and out of the museum, we wandered the streets of Metz and enjoyed the scenery…

As mentioned earlier, we took a break from the museum and decided to have a small lunch at a restaurant that received great TripAdvisor reviews: LES COPAINS D’ABORD which translates into “Friends first”!

Lunch was perfect – great apps, main courses and of course, dessert complete with my favorite drink GET 27.

After we finished touring the museum, we took off back to Luxembourg for the remainder of the evening.

Sophia

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Sightseeing with the Luxembourgers

Sophia — Sat, 03 Sep 2016 03:59:38 +0000

Our original plan was to spend as little time as possible in Luxembourg because we heard it was extremely expensive. We thought we would use the city as a base to visit Germany (Trier), France (Metz) and perhaps Belgium. However our first full day in Luxembourg City changed our minds.

Luxembourg is a fantastic country with many things to do, not just in Luxembourg City, but throughout the country as well.

It’s reasonably priced; if you’re from a major North American city, you will find the pricing comparable (Some cheaper eats, mid-range, high-range), with affordable transportation (same fare across the country), so are most of the tourist sites. Best of all, if you have a car, the entire country is drivable within a couple of hours. We didn’t, but if we go again (and we plan to), we will certainly rent one.

Before we began our morning proper, we went down to the DoubleTree Hilton reception, and purchased a tourist/travel pass for one day (you can buy multiple days but we didn’t know how much time we were going to spend in Luxembourg). The tourist pass gets you unlimited train and bus rides, and over 70 tourist attractions in the country – all for 13 euros a person. It’s quite a deal, and it’s available at the tourist office in the city center, or at hotels (such as the one we stayed at).

We took the bus from DoubleTree down to the city center and began to wander around, finding ourselves at the Tourist office. The information desk was very helpful and we wandered through the upper (high) part of Luxembourg and down to the lower streets, stopping only for a quick pastry for breakfast.

Our first stop was the Bock Casemates, an old natural fortification in the historical district of Luxembourg City.

We explored the tunnels, with our guided map in hand, and learned about the history of the fortification. It was an interesting stop, and as a strategic location in fending off armies of the Burgundians, Spaniards and French to name a few – a very interesting historical site.

After that stop, we took in the sights of the river flowing Pétrusse, followed by Notre-Dame Cathedral, and finally passed by the Grand Ducal Palace (tours were available, but we didn’t do one). Just wandering a few hours around the small city to take in the many picturesque sites led us to realize that Luxembourg deserved much more time than previously allocated!

Two of the best sites we saw were the National Museum of Natural History.

This museum includes multiple floors, each one dedicated to a different era, starting from billions of years ago…

to modern day.

We spent a few hours exploring, and it was well worth it. It was also kind of cool that we were the only people in the museum, and had a guard follow us everywhere (trying to look inconspicuous).

We broke for lunch at a small and reasonably-priced restaurant near the Grand Ducal Palace.

The second site we saw was Fort Thüngen, another popular tourist attraction that requires a few hours of your time.

It tells the rich history of the fort with an incredibly detailed audio guide (all included in our tourist pass).

TIP: Of all the places we visit, Jason and I always find that audio tour guides provide the best experience. We had the audio guide for the Co-Cathedral in Malta a few days ago, and this one was just as good. Very informative for every piece of the fort, and well worth the visit.

Finally, we kept wandering the streets until the late hours, had dinner in the city and went back to get some much needed rest!

Sophia

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Multiple Flights to Luxembourg!

Jay — Fri, 02 Sep 2016 03:59:49 +0000

We were woken up early in our room at Hotel Catania at around 5am to the rustle of people setting up for the daily market. While the Hotel itself was decent enough, I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who plans on getting up late. The hotel is flanked by the market so if you’re near a window, you’re bound to hear the bustle of the market below. However, my wife and I are early risers – so it wasn’t a problem for us.

We packed the night before (something I highly recommend if you don’t want to feel rushed), so we just grabbed our bags and headed down for breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast was ok – standard fare, nutella, croissants, and cereals – a solid breakfast, but not nearly as good as what we’ve had on the trip so far.

After our quick eats, we walked across the street to the bus stop – there is a shuttle AMT bus (line 457) from Hotel Catania that costs 4 euros each (and runs every 20 minutes heading directly for the hotel) that makes the hotel a fine stop if you’re in town for a one day layover.

The longest part was yet to come though – two stops (with two hour layovers in between) – Catania to Geneva, Geneva to Zurich, and Zurich to Luxembourg. We came prepared though with power banks, music and books to make the time pass and to enjoy our day. The Swiss Air flights we took were good (We find it to be one of the best airlines in the world – fantastic complimentary snacks and Swiss chocolate!). Additionally, the day before, we bought some snacks for lunch (pizza, chips, etc.) so we could save some money at lunchtime at the Zurich airport. The best part of it was overlooking the Swiss Alps. That alone made the long haul worthwhile!

By the time we got to Luxembourg Airport in Ville de Luxembourg, we were already refreshed from resting the entire day (multiple flights can be relaxing if you plan ahead!). We got to the Hilton Doubletree Hotel, which was a bit away from Luxembourg City Center, but was a great accommodation nevertheless and included a FREE transfer to/from the airport.

We unpacked our bags and headed for the bus (the busses in Luxembourg run frequently, and 20 euros/person gets you a 48-hour Luxembourg city pass for unlimited bus and train rides within the country). This can be purchased in town or directly from the hotel lobby.

We took a walk around the pedestrian area, taking in the views of the shops, streets and spectacular areas of the city.

We decided to try our luck at a local restaurant called “Matelots“, a French restaurant where we had some pasta, fish and crepes. We then took another bus back to the hotel and rested for our next day – exploring la Ville de Luxembourg!

On a side note – the first thing we noticed about Luxembourg (A tri-lingual country: Luxembourgian, German, and French) is that everything was in French, including signs (which is good, because my wife speaks the language, and our pronunciation of German words is pretty poor!). While the accents were different than of the Swiss or French, it was easy for us to navigate the city and speak to all the locals fluently. Si vous parlez français – you’ll have no trouble in Luxembourg. Secondly, was the pricing – we were told that Luxembourg is a very expensive city, and we were expecting prices on par with Zurich and Geneva. I must say, while it’s certainly not a cheap city, it’s on par with North American large city pricing – being from Toronto, food and shopping was as expected back home. Very reasonable.

Jay

Hi, I’m Jason Wingate and I caught the travel bug a few years ago with my wife Sophia Bello. Together, we’ve been travelling the world and sharing our experiences here on our blog, hoping to inspire and help you on your own journey!

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