A Day in Luxembourg

Once again I got up early and headed up to the train station to catch the train to Luxembourg - a 3 hour train journey away from Antwerp.  I got to Brussels Nord where I had to change trains.  Ate the breakfast the hostel had packed for me while I waited.  Then the train arrived.  A man got on before me, then... the doors closed, and even though I pressed the button, the doors wouldn't open again and the train went without me.  I was sooooooooooo pissed off.  Fortunately there was another one an hour later, so I wandered around the train station for a while then headed back to wait.  When it finally came, there was some capital letters around Arlon-Luxembourg - so texted Anne to check if I had to change trains at Arlon.  Turns out it did - so I am getting the hang of things.

I was so terrified I was going to miss that connection too, that I atached myself to this wonderful girl who lives in Luxembourg but studies in Berlin.  She was on the way home for a few days to catch up with family and friends.  It was so nice talking to her on the way down, and also gave me the confidence I wouldn't get 'lost'!!  The trip went fast because of this.

My first impressions of Luxembourg was of beauty.  I walked up from the train station towards the old town.  On the bridge this is the view...

There was a market in the main square in the upper town, but I did find the Palace and in fact the Prince drove past me with his police escorts...  That is about as close to any royal family member I've ever been to.

I started walking towards the start of the Wendel Walk - a walk that takes you to the lower part of Luxembourg.  To get there I had to go by the palace - this is the back of it.  I wouldn't mind living in a house like that.

As I went down - I passed my friend from the train having a coffee.  They invited me to join them, and I would have loved to.  However, I was very very aware of time constraints seeing I had an hour less as I had missed the first train, which left me with only 3 hours in Luxembourg in total.  However I took a photo.  That's my friend on the left, and her sister.  I never thought to ask her name - so hoping she'll see this and contact me and let me know :)

The houses were old with lovely cobblestone pathways and little arches.   I love the architecture of Europe.

The Wendel Walk  is a walk that takes you from the Upper town, to the Lower town which dates back to medieval times.  The upper town is on a cliff face, and to get to the lower town you either have to walk down in zig zag paths to get to the bottom, or go through tunnels that were carved into the cliffs centuries ago.  I decided to go through the tunnels for a mere 3 euros.

This is from the top of the cliffs looking down to the lower town at the Cathedral and at the town square.

To the left of the main square was this beautiful park...

Cathedral and main square again....

Starting to go through the tunnels...

A bit lower now, you can see the fort on the left from where the tunnels started...

Looking down on the town in another direction, this time the focus on residential dwellings...

I'm half way down now - and his is looking to the cliff face with the buildings of the upper town on its edge...

The pathways weren't too steep, or so I thought on the way down.  I found out later when I had to go back up that they were deceptive!

At the bottom of the lower town, this beautiful canal runs throught it.  My day was perfect blue sky - which made for perfect reflections...

Looking up at the cliff face where all the tunnels are - and they are beautifully reflected in the canal below.  I tried to use the word 'river' to the person at the tourist office, but she said it's not really a river, so I have avoided using that word here.

One beautiful medieval Bridge spanning the 'canal'.

The main square...

Luxembourg town from bottom to top...

I was now headed towards the train station to catch the train back to Antwerp.  To do this I had to walk along the old town wall, then head up the hill.  It took ages as it was so steep, and I wondered if I had been wise to walk to the lower town.  I have to say I'm much fitter now I've been in Europe for a week..

One last image of Luxembourg, the country I had dreamed of visiting when I was a child, now realised.  Despite the missed train, it was worth it, as it's such a beautiful country.

Antwerp in a Day

I caught an early train from Amsterdam and headed down to Antwerp for a few days while my daughter worked.  This is the first time I've travelled around Europe on my own, and had to keep my wits about me to make sure I got on correct trains/trams etc...  I arrived in Antwerp at about 10am, wandered out of the station, read the instructions on how to get to the hotel, and jumped on the correct tram and even got off at the correct stop - although that was more good luck than anything else!

I found my hotel within several minutes, checked in, dumped my bag, and armed with the map the hotel gave me, set off to explore.  Initially I was going to just get the trams here there and everywhere but in the end I decided to walk. These are the sights I saw on my walk..

First up is the Royal Museum of Fine arts.  I didn't go in, decided to keep on walking...

Wide Streets with tram tracks down the middle.

Spring hasn't quite arrived with the trees still heavily pruned awaiting the green leaves to come...

Everywhere there were bikes, but probably not as many as in Amsterdam!

I loved the name of this restaurant...

I arrived in the market square to find.... Chocolates.  Every second shop was a chocolate shop with fine high quality Belgian Chocolate.  I tried one or two but they were expensive so didn't buy. Some didn't allow you to take photographs!

In the main square is the city hall.  Lots of people around, including a police presence.  I asked and was told that there was a delegation of five people talking to the mayor, and the others were waiting for them to come out of the talk.

The main square and the buildings around it.  The Australian flag was flying as they were expecting the Australian Ambassador to visit that day.

The Notre Dame Cathedral...

Inside it was very beautiful...

I particularly liked the name of this store...

I walked on to the MAS - Musseum Aan de Stroom.  Impressive brand new building and only newly opened. It was recommended that I visit.  There were exhibitions but I chose to only walk around the building inside.  There are escalators going up each floor around the outside.  The windows are plexiglass and it gave you wonderful views.  

This is up one set of escalors looking out to the front.  The Plexiglass is curved all away around...

After going up 9 floors by escalator, the last floor was by stairs.  I loved that half way up, it told me I was 9.5 floors up!

From the top you could see for miles in all directions.  From here I could see some of the old buildings I visited on my walk..  They had little round cut outs in the glass where you can poke your camera lens out of to get the best photo with the glass in front.

After my long walk, I caught the train back to the main station and got a 'disabled' ticket into the zoo!  My deafness comes in handy at times!  The zoo gardens were beautiful and spring was definitely in the air.  The grass was beautifully mowed but you weren't allowed on it!

White Magnolia trees...

Beautiful planters full of spring bulbs..

A lot of the animals I hadn't seen before - so here's a few...  Firstly the Golden Poison Frog..  the enclosure was 'closing' to the public (end of day) so these were hurried and some didn't turn out. Kicking myself that I didn't check the image before moving on.

Another one but I didn't take the photo of the name, so I've forgotten already!!

The meercat I have seen before but I am quite pleased with this image so putting it up anyway!

A lovely Heron - this actually was wild, and not part of the zoo.  It was waiting by the seals, obviously about to do some easy fishing when the seals got fed!

More spring blossoms!

The rare and endangered Amur Tiger...

And finally the Yellow Mongoose of which I've never seen one before!

After the zoo my foot was agony, so I popped into the supermarket and got a cheap meal, caught the train back to the Hotel, ate dinner,  did some photos and hit the sack early. Antwerp - was stunning - I really enjoyed exploring the city.