Vacation ‘23, Day 9: Maastricht —> Luxembourg City

I woke earlier than SMS and took a walk around the city center. It was a beautiful morning.

Along the way, I saw a painting of the Beeld Bronzen Haan. Wait a minute, is it more famous than I thought?!?!

I got back to the hotel. SMS and I went to the fancy hotel breakfast buffet. Yum!

Then it was time to go. I had requested a taxi that was running late, so we took the bus. I would have been fine with the bus all along, but the Google directions didn’t provide it initially as an option. We took the bus, cut through the station, and hopped on our Flixbus to Luxembourg. The night prior, I had bought our tickets for 15.99 Euros each! So cheap! It was also the fastest, easiest option to get to Luxembourg City. Google maps has been great throughout this trip, but the routes to LC were really long and convoluted. I didn’t quite believe it, but I also didn’t want to spend a long time figuring it out. So, Flixbus for the win!

We stayed at Le Chatelet, a super cute hotel with the most Euro bed set-up so far. SMS was a fan of the separate bed covers. It was still warm and there was no AC, but it wasn’t peak hotness of the trip so we were ok.

For lunch, we went to a cafe specializing in Luxembourg dishes, among other options. It was on the corner of Place d’Armes.

Even though it was hot, we went for two gravy-based dishes. We know how to live- follow us for travel tips! I had a Vol du Vent while SMS had a sausage dish. Both were excellent.

Then we walked around the central part of Luxembourg City. We stopped at the Grand Palais, where I took a ridiculous picture to send to my book club since our last book was a thriller set in LC.

Next, we went to the Chemin de la Cornice, “Europe’s most beautiful balcony.” It overlooks the Casemates, which was our next stop.

We entered the Casemates after paying our 5E charge. There was an English language pamphlet, which was helpful but the layout was confusing. By the end, I think I got it. The fortifications are very impressive, as are the views from the view holes. I would definitely recommend going.

Then, we walked into the Grund. Most shops were closed, since it was Monday. Even though it was hot, it felt safe to walk down because SMS had made a key discovery through a podcast- there are elevators to take you up and down in the Grund. Total lifesaver. We took the ascenseur Plateau St. Esprit Grund twice. It’s not super obvious, i.e. no signs to say, “Elevator over here. Please take to avoid sweating to death while walking uphill!” But if you know it’s there, it’s easy to find. Like most things in life, I guess. Although SMS felt the Luxembourg City in particular had a lot of discreet passageways and staircases that you have to be in the know about, otherwise, you’re out of luck.

For dinner, we went to Panane, a cute cafe near our hotel. We both got veggie heavy dinners. SMS tried the local Cremant, while I had a British-style Gin & Tonic, i.e. in a huge goblet that allows more alcohol to be served the botanicals to effervesce and reach the nose.

We took a walk back into the Centre after dinner. It was a gorgeous evening.

Also, another super cool piece of bike infrastructure was the bike/peds bridge under the Pont d’Albert. Even though there are sidewalks on either side of the upper vehicle part, there is a really nice bridge underneath. We took it earlier in the day for the shade it afforded. A+