Luxembourg

We took the overnight train from Milano to Luxembourg transferring at Koln the following morning. Within 10 minutes, the number 9 bus carried us from the train station to within a few hundred meters of the hostel. It was raining as we boarded the bus which made our choice to bus here rather than walk a good decision. The first thing we noticed after crossing the border into Luxembourg was that the signs at the train stations were written in both German and French. The street junctions (such as La Liberte and Heinrich Hine) provide an interesting reflection of a German-French dichotomy. A local newspaper, "Point24", read in one direction is published in German, but flipped over it is published in French. The German section has 6 pages, and the French section has 18. When trying to speak German, Michele and I are both struggling to remember to say Danke and Jah, but our tongues invariably spit out Grazie and si as has been our custom for the past month. I have to admit that my capability to distinguish French accents is not strong, but, to my admittedly untuned ears, the predominant accent here sounds tres pointu. The driving skills we witnessed on the bus ride to the hostel reminded me of the Bastians in the manner they plug intersections in both directions without any apparent concern for those they are blocking. Interestingly, though, we didn't hear any horns honking. The landscape surrounding Luxembourg city is vey hilly and very well endowed with a rich combination of both deciduous and conniferous trees. On the way into town, our train elevated on the hillside, passed an old, but active, brick factory completely surrounded, literally buried deep within a green bowl of the forest. The city is built up and down the hillside and is lusciously green everywhere. The streets are clean, the benches look as if they have all been freshly varnished, and everything is so neat and tidy. Bicycling appears to be a popular activity. City bikes are available and bike paths are plentiful...in some places there are double lanes for bikes. The city is presently engaged in a huge rennovation program. Stones are being re-laid on the cobbled streets, concrete structures are being covered with polished stone facades, and yet, we hear no noise and see no mess, and pedestrian walkways are not disturbed. The Luxembourg people are not flamboyant and maintain a calm quiet demeanour in the comings and goings. A well disciplined town with a rich history dating back to the the 10th century. The war monument makes special mention of Belgium in appreciation for all the help that the Belgian people provided to Luxembourg during the war.