Chilly & Rainy, with a chance of "Whoa!"

While we've gotten everything done in the office, things took longer than expected (for reasons outside my control!) and we wound up working this morning to polish a few things off. This torpedoed my original plan to grab a train up to Vianden in the Ardennes today, but I'll try again tomorrow. Meanwhile, I did get to spend the afternoon knocking around the Old Town (the "Haute Ville") of Luxembourg City. (If the weather doesn't get too nasty I'll try to see Vianden tomorrow.)

While people have lived in this area a long time, the city got it's start when Siegfried, Count of the Ardennes, built a fortress on the Bock, a promontory overlooking the Alzette river in 963. The Old Town formed on the upland behind the fortress, which was expanded, improved and strengthend over the centuries. It's said to have been the strongest fortress in Europe after Gibraltar at it's peak in the early 19th century. Eventually, Luxembourg was declared neutral and most of the fortifications were torn down. What's left is still pretty impressive!

The core of the Old Town is pedestrianized - no cars in the core of the city. Saturday is the big shopping and market day in Europe, and despite the lousy weather (cold and rainy, and me without a coat!) people were out in force.



My colleague Sead (from the London office) and I split up - he to pursue some presents for his "princess" (his five-year-old little girl) and I for some lunch and wandering. I wound up eating at a pizzaria off the Place d'Armes, the central square of the Old Town. The three-cheese pizza was tres fantastique! But the real delight of the meal was the family next to me which included two adorable little girls. The youngest appeared to be about 4 or 5, and when her mushroom and ham pizza arrived, she began pumping her arms in the air and cheering "Champignon! Champignon!" ("Mushrooms! Mushrooms!") I've never seen a child so excited about any vegetable, much less mushrooms!

Fortified by my leisurely pizza and Coca-Lite (and let me tell you, I really appreciate the Continental European dining attitude - "take your time, enjoy the meal") I decided to set off on a shopping expedition of my own, and decided to do at least a bit of site-seeing. I wandered down south from Place d'Armes and and down a side street found a toy store that looked promising. Going inside, it turned out to have three levels, and part of the second level was devoted to baby things:

The third floor actually had one of the best scale model selections I've seen in a long, long time. I wound up making a few purchases here, and then continued south to Place de la Constitution, which has splendid views overlooking the Petrusse valley (the Petrusse joins the Alzette east of town) and across to other parts of the city.

This clock tower belongs to either the Bank Museum, or the State Savings Bank

Looking down from the Place d' la Constitution at the park in the valley below

The Pont Adolphe, one of the many impressive bridges spanning the valleys

Looking east from Place de la Constitution along the valley; the Viaduct is the bridge here.

Following the street (Boulevard de la FD Roosevelt!), one follows the remnants of the old city ramparts.

Ramparts and Blvd. de la FD Roosevelt

I passed behind the Cathederal Notre-Dame, which while not as large as it's namesake in Paris, is still pretty impressive.

The boulevard slides southeast, following the edge of the heights and the old city walls, and winds up at the Plateau du St. Esprit. This is where the city and national court buildings are, with a large courtyard between the buildings of the complex. It's another promontory jutting southeast out of the highlands, and has some amazing views of the two river valleys. Unfortunately, what looked like some of the best vantage points are currently blocked by contruction work, but I did my best to capture things!

The Cite Judiciare complex

View northeast; the modern buildings in the distance are in the Kirchberg Plateau district.

View north from Plataeu du St. Esprit - note the old city wall beneath the buildings.

From there I followed Rue du St. Esprit and eventually the "Chemin de la Corniche", a pedestrian path the follows the eastern walls and got great views of the valley, the Grund district that lies in the loop of the Alzette, and the southern side of the Bock.

The Bock promontory, and the Church of St. John in the Grund

Truly ancient stairway leading from Rue du St. Esprit to the Chemin de la Corniche

Looking southeast from along the Chemin de la Corniche

The Chemin, the Bock, the valley and Church of St. John; if you blow up the image you'll see the old Wenceslaus Wall running out from the Bock across the river to the Grund.

East and down into the Grund. The complex attached to the church is the Abbey Neumunster, which now houses an art gallery, brasserie and outdoor performing space.

View south from the Chemin de la Corniche - fortress on the right, Grund to the left.

There's still a bit left of the old fortifications on the Bock but not much. What's left gives you just an impression of just how strong the original medieval fortress must have been. The Bock is also honeycombed with casemates - tunnels dug primarily by the Spanish in the 18th century when they ruled this part of Europe. My knees definitely let me know they weren't up to exploring the casemates after bopping around the top of the Bock for a little while.

West edge of the Bock

Bridge connecting the Bock to the Haute Ville (Old Town)

Inside the Bock; folks with better knees than mine heading down into the Casemates

Wonder what's down there? Roll for initiative.

Waterfall on the Alzette, and a bit of the Wenceslaus Wall connecting the Bock to the Grund
Old fortifications on the Rahm Plateau across the river, uphill from the Grund

Cheesy tourist transport everywhere! Kirchberg Plateau complex in the distance.

View north along the Alzette valley from the Bock. The bridge is the Pont du Grand-duchess Charlotte, or the "Pont Rouge" (Red Bridge).

Feeling a bit tired and sore (I spent a lot of Friday wrestling equipment in and out of computer racks and moving boxes) I passed up hitting any of the museums for the day. But I did get a look at part of the Grand Ducal Palace (it's not open to visitors this time of year).

Entrance to the Grand Ducal Palace

After a quick stop in the city tourist office to pick up a map (now that I don't need it!) and a Luxembourg card (good for free admission to sites all over the country, and free use of the train and bus network - 10 euros for 1 day, quite the deal!) I wound up back in Place d'Armes, where the band that had been setting up when I left was just kicking off a medley of - get this - "The Age of Aquarius" and "Let the Sun Shine In" from Hair!

Band performing in the rain in Place d'Armes

Finally back to my room at the Hotel l'Royal (very, very nice and only three blocks from the office) and time for a bit of refreshment before calling home and writing this up.

Fuel for the weary tourist: an almond croissant, water and a Coke Zero.

Tomorrow's outing will depend on the weather. If it's truly nasty I'll stay in town and hit the local museums. If it doesn't get too chilly, I'll head down to the Gare (train station) and try to make my way up to Vianden. Au revoir!