Luxembourg

During what would-have-been my Thanksgiving break in the states, I took a 3-day weekend trip to Luxembourg. I took a Flixbus from Paris to Luxembourg City, a 5-hour transit that had me comfortably sitting in the front seat of the top level where the views and leg-space alike were excellent.

Day 1

I arrived at the ripe hour of noontime, giving me at least 6 hours of daylight to see Luxembourg City before I needed to hop on a quick 1-hour bus to the eastern town of Echternach, where I would spend my next two nights. Luxembourg City itself was marvelously mediocre. It is the smallest capital city I have ever been to, and everything about it lacks “mass” for lack of a better word. It is a finance capital that exudes a wimpy amount of ambitious energy. It is a cultural and historical hub that has sold itself out to one too many corporate conglomerates. It is a “big city” that leans too far into being a generic suburb to stand amongst the ranks of the giants in its neighboring countries.

The single, most memorable aspect of Luxembourg City was its geological separation into a Ville-Haut and a Ville-Bas. Downtown and the financial district are elevated on plateaus situated roughly 50 m above the rest of the town, which resides in a valley carved by the Alzette. The roads transitioning between plateau and valley certainly put motors to the test. My favorite part of my brief visit of Luxembourg city was the walk along the Alzette.

By nightfall, I was in the tiny town of Echternach with intentions to hike the Mullerthal trail the next day.

Day 2

I woke up bright and early with nothing but the 38 km Mullerthal trail loop 2 in mind. I was certain I wouldn’t make the entire 38 km, but I had many backup bus stops to take me back to Echternach. The Mullerthal trail itself was a mildly-difficult trail that was stunning in the fall. My hike took me through mildly-dense forest, claustrophobic boulder crevices, and hospitable rural towns. There were plenty of markets, rest stops, and even restaurants in the towns along the way, so I was never worried about getting hungry/thirsty.

I walked carefree until the sun began dipping below the horizon, at which point I found the closest bus stop to take me back to Echternach. By 8 PM, I sat back down on my hotel bed with a pint of Ben & Jerrys and a massive sandwich for famished me. After eating, I took a brief evening stroll around Echternach which felt extremely safe. Sleep came quickly after covering almost 25 km on foot.

Day 3

Today, I mostly just backtracked from Echternach back to Luxembourg City back to Paris via the exact same modes I arrived with. But this was not before I took a morning walk to the very edge of Echternach and crossed an unremarkable bridge into Germany. No border check, no nothing. Thank you EU. Simple as that, I checked “cross international borders by foot” off my list. Even my T-mobile plan gave me a “Welcome to Deutschland” message.

Closing Notes

To no fault of its own, Luxembourg is an identity-less country. I literally couldn’t find an acceptable definition of “traditional Luxembourgish cuisine”, much less find a restaurant serving it. Most places I went, I heard exclusively French, German, or English in passing. Luxembourgish itself seems to be an elusive tongue in its own country. I learned after-the-fact that many of the people you meet on an average day here actually live in France or Germany, commuting to Luxembourg only for work (owing to the drastically lower cost-of-living just across the borders). All things considered, and with as much reverence for the locals of Luxembourg as possible, I have checked this country off my bucket list in permanent ink.