In under 4 hours drive from Stuttgart is Luxembourg. Luxembourg brings the count up for our one country per month travel right on track to 8 not including the US trips, or the previously planned trip through Greece before the job move to Germany. An update, I began working full time now as well, and got a car! I am officially riding German style in a BMW. We are hoping that our job schedules won’t hinder our travels too much since the travel was the main reason to live in Europe. A weekend to London is coming up soon!
Luxembourg boarders France, Germany and Belgium. It is a walled city where there are caves and tunnels within the walls that were built to hold artillery. You can explore most of the caves for 4 euros. The hike through is long, dark, and the spaces are very small to get through. So cool.
Viaduc (Passerelle) & Casemates du Bock (wall artillery tunnels)
The city itself is relatively small. We made it to all the main points within a full day of walking around. The Cathedral, the Palace, the caves, about 3 other old churches, the food and antique market in the main square, local shopping and beer, of course.
Notre Dame Cathedral (Cathedrale Notre Dame)
Palace of the Grand Dukes (Palais Grand-Ducal)
Our hotel was the Park Inn just over the bridge from the old town. It was the nicest we could find with the lowest per day parking rate validated at 15 euros per day. We read that staying and parking within the city walls is about 30 euros per day. We are always nervous finding hotels in new cities keeping our fingers crossed that the location will be in walking distance to everything. It was a great spot, just over the walking bridge from the wall and Cathedral into the main square about 15 minutes. The weekend was cold and rainy on and off. The hotel said the cold is typical. It’s rarely warm and sunny there.
There is excellent breakfast at the only place we could find that had eggs, called La Table Du Pain. It was just what we needed to start the day of walking to see historic sights…and go shopping! There are plenty of shopping streets in Luxembourg center of designer stores.
The market square had a band playing surrounded by a huge antiques flea market. There is another square one block over where the fresh farmers and flower market is held at the same time. The produce looked amazing. It is spargel (asparagus) season here, but I have never seen such large asparagus than we did at this market. The markets happen Wednesday and Saturday on Place Guillaume II and Place de Paris.
Chocolate House (By Nathalie Bonn) is across from the Palace and it’s a must stop. You pick the solid chocolate stick, plain or with liquor drops, give it to the counter and they will make your creamy hot chocolate with it, to stay or to go. The cakes were mouth-watering too.
The Beer:
Go Ten is where we ended up to try the local Luxembourg Simon brews. The bar theme is asian in vibe so doesn’t match the craft beer feeling expected. But, outside it was a good stop across from the palace to taste something local.
The Independant bar had a good selection for a bit less than Big Ten though they did not have the same beers. Good vibes with snacks and late night food service as well, plus free wi-fi. Score! .
We did not make it to the Big Beer Company which is no longer an actual brewery but it is still on our list to see next time since the building that was a brewery from the 1500’s must be awesome. They do serve beer that is brewed next door. Next time for sure.
Travels Through Europe 
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