Tag: solo travel

Last night after blogging, I enjoyed the most relaxing evening in the lounge at my hotel. I had a cigar and read the New York Times and worked on the crossword puzzle. I also samples one variety of the Luxembourg beverage, L’eau de Vie. Basically it is like grappa, but in stead of being made from grapes, it is made from fruit. There is apple, pear, strawberry, plum, raspberry, and others. I had the raspberry. It was quite nice.

I chatted with the waiter, who is from Germany. He told me that he recently went to Canada; and where do think he went? To Invermere, Cranbrook and Banff. How random is that? Invermere? He thought it was beautiful. He told me that he had always heard that Canada had very good ”weed” and very bad chocolate. When I ordered my beverage he said ”Wunderbar”, of course it sounded like “Voonderbar”. Delightful; I didn’t know that German people actually said that.

I also talked to a Swiss man who has never left Europe because he does not think he could fly because he could not go without cigarettes fro the duration of the flight.

After a sleepless night due to a raging fever and an achy body, I began my day. I took a train to Ettlebruck and then caught a bus to Esch-sur-Sûre, which is North East of Luxembourg City. Esch-sur-Sûre is a tiny little hamlet nestled (that really is the most appropriate word for it) between the mountains in a steep bend in the river Sûre. The ride there was beautiful, past farms with horses and sheep with long tails and enormous cows. The town is tiny – population 250. It took me 20 minutes to walk every street. I played on a swing by the river and listened to birds and watched dogs playing by the river. The air was so crisp and the leaves were all in various shades of autumn.

The town dates back to about the 600s and there is a castle from about 800 on a hill in the centre of town. The castle is mostly in ruin now, but from its vantage point I had excellent views of the town. After a cup of coffee, I returned to Luxembourg city.

This afternoon I visited the AM Tunnel gallery. It is very odd. It is a gallery of photographs (100s of them) displayed in a tunnel 5 floors below the ground. The tunnel exists as a conduit between the various banks in the area (none of which look like banks, by the way; the all look like homes for royalty). The gallery had two exhibits: a vast collection of photos by Edward Steichen and a similar array of photos by Rene Burri. It was very impressive.

I haven’t done much since then; I had dinner (pizza) and I have just been walking and relaxing. I just had some tea and a cigar at my hotel. I am pretty exhausted and still feeling quite ill, so I shall retire shortly.

The weather was nice today: about 17 degrees, cloudy, but not rainy.
Tomorrow I plan to take the train to Clervaux. Details to come.
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Day two in Luxembourg has had two things working against it: my cold and the rain, which was severe this afternoon. Aside from those two negative aspects, the day has been lovely. I went on a brisk walk in the park this morning before browsing through the shops on the Grand Rue. There is a fine selection of chocolate shops here, although I have yet to sample any. I did however buy a coat. It’s weird, I know, but it is chilly here and the coat is nice; it is black and sort of marching-band-esque. It proved to be a wise purchase in light of the rain and cool temperatures.

I then went to the Casino. No, not the gambling kind, some of you will be disappointed to learn (and you know who you are), it is a contemporary art museum called “Casino” (it was a gaming establishment in the 1800s). They had an exhibit called SK-Interfaces and it was great, although I may very well have nightmares. It was probably the creepiest exhibit I have ever seen – and let’s not forget, I have seen mummies in Egypt, pickled babies in Russia and, yesterday, a jar of preserved fingers. The exhibit was this weird synthesis of science and art that culminated in art such as someone growing tiny leather coats using animal stem cells; some flowers that had been cross-bred with the artists own DNA; a fur coat made of road kill and an accompanying video of the skinning process; a video of an artist who had an ear grafted onto his arm; a display of artful hymens made of human and animal cells; ä collection of “perfume” bottles filled with liquid derived from human sweat and supposedly smelling of actual human fear; and a photography exhibit of a nude woman engaged in rather disturbing acts with a pig carcass. Yep. Not everything was creepy. There was a neat painting that you were encouraged to touch and when you did, the color would disappear (temporarily) from the places you had come into contact with. But by and large it was pretty disturbing (which means I loved it).

The rest of the after noon consisted of me wandering and, when the rain got too bad, hopping from cafe to cafe, sipping on wine and coffee and soup and smoking. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to smoke inside and to SEE people smoking inside. One cafe I walked past was filled with table after table of women with glasses of wine and coffee, smoking contemplatively and reading or writing in books. It just seems so civilized.

I had about a 3 hour nap today. I was wet and tired and I am, after, all, sick. This allowed me to go out this evening for a tea and a stroll. The streets are so welcoming here after dark. Everything feels so pleasant and secure. I have to say that there are a surprising array of inviting cafes and taverns here; they aren’t too loud or too quiet and the decor seems to always be just right.
Tomorrow I plan to venture outside of the city to explore one of the many villages in the country.
Gutt Nuecht.
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