One day in Luxembourg
I’ve had a couple of warnings early on about how little there is to do in Luxembourg, and how expensive most things are. To begin with, if a city’s top rated attraction on TripAdvisor is a cemetery (Luxembourg American Cemetery Memorial), I don’t think it raises your expectations too much.
I’ve been told that a lot of people who work in Lux go home in neighboring cities outside, such as Arlon in Belgium. I’ve been told that even locals who live in Lux sometimes take a 30 minute drive to Belgium to do groceries because it is much cheaper there including gas. Suffice to say that I was pleasantly surprised that the little city gave me a few memories that I didn’t think could ever happen overnight.
I arrived in the afternoon at Youth Hostel Luxembourg, and settled in my 4 person, female dorm. It’s quite a pricey hostel in an unusual location right under the famous Case du Bock, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
If ever anyone is going to stay there, please don’t bring a stroller bag unless you are coming by car or bus. The winding road down is hard enough to do without a bag, especially going up.
I especially enjoyed the Notre Dame church which deserves another blog post on its own, the quaint little bazaar near it and the wonderful panoramic views of the city.
When I got back after walking around, I met my roommate, Aissa, who from the Netherlands and was in Lux for a dance workshop. We hit it right off and went to dinner together. It was around 9pm when we decided to go back to the hostel since her friends had a gig and we were free to check out the scene.
We spent two hours getting lost, which is very difficult for such a small city, and ended up hitch hiking with these twentysomething guys we met at a gas station. They were kind enough to drop us at our hostel, despite its very inconvenient location. Although it felt like a really sketchy situation at first, after exchanging names and stories our intuition told us they were good people. I’m still thanking God for that.
After resting a bit, we got picked up by Aissa’s friends who were performing in a club in the city. Apparently, clubs generally open at 12 and the party starts at 2am. Since we came with them, they pretty much waved the entrance fee for us. Although I didn’t get to see them full on perform, from what I saw they were pretty great dancers and they made me wish I knew how to dance myself. We were pleasantly surprised there was actually that kind of nightlife in the area since the other people we saw before that were all in suits.
We left at around 3am and got accusing looks from our hostel front desk when we got back. The next morning we got on a train together and ate waffles in Brussels right before parting ways. I still can’t believe all that happened in less than a day.
I think the chances of me going back to Lux are slim, but I’ve made a few interesting friends in the short time I was there. Here’s to more unexpected adventures?
