The Luxe of Luxembourg City

Luxembourg city, if you look up the towns from the storybooks you will probably find this one. Although Lux is a city, it has the ambience of a little town, a town where tranquility is taken seriously. Friday afternoon I took a train from Paris Gare de l'Est, I’ve got to say now I don’t want to travel by plane again. I absolutely loved the train, first of walking through the station you definitely feel like you’re on your way to Hogwarts–yes I grew up with Harry Potter so I felt quite excited when I walked the quai in the station to show my ticket at the entrance. Although the movie didn’t have the whole e-ticket on your iPhone, that has gotten quite advanced and if I may say practical, piece of cake traveling. Not only did I love the comfort of the train but also the quickness, in just two hours I was in the center of Luxembourg city, voilà my friends. Makes it great for those short weekend trips.

On Friday night I was walking around the town and it felt like your typical ski town, small boutique shops, everything closed haha, stone streets with buildings that have an English/French façade. It’s the town where everyone knows each other, where they all see each other in the local bars and the city can be seen and walked through in just a couple of hours.

Though cities like Lux have a lot of charm, to me they’re the cities that give you a little taste of what the European towns are known for.

Like any travel destination I learned a few things about Luxembourg, for one they have like 3 official languages; Luxembourgish, German, and French, anywhere you go in the city they will probably speak 2 if not all three of them. Regardless of its size and townesque living, Luxembourg has a few big name companies as well as some United Nations offices sitting in the territory. Another interesting fact is that they have a duke, just like some countries have a king and a queen or a president, Lux has a duke, the government’s stamp reads: “Government of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg”. In the middle of the town center stands the “humble” home of the Duke, by humble you should know I mean a home that covers a whole block of the city, a little mansion looking house that looks as fancy as the rest of the castles in Europe.

Aside from the city, on Saturday the sun was out and it was a beautiful day, so we took a little road trip to the suburbs to a town called Vianden. When you arrive you realize that Luxembourg really is a city compared to what is actually considered a town in Europe. This town was about an hour away from Luxembourg. The road trip there had the prettiest sceneries, vast green fields little adjacent towns with tiny houses and charming neighborhoods. we continued through the hills and greens and eventually saw a castle in the middle of it all, I fangirled immediately with an “omg look at that” haha. From there it just took us another half an hour of going around the town figuring out how to get to the castle itself.

After seeing the castle inside and out, we headed to a place for lunch called Hot Stone, it was in the town just behind the castle. We sat in the terrace and had a view of the castle as we enjoyed what I must say was one of the best meals I’ve had in Europe thus far. Their specialty was the meat, they bring you a hot stone (hence the name) and on top is your choice of meat—raw, which cook to your liking at the table. On the side they give you their three sauces, a typical pepper sauce, a flavored Mayonnaise and a third buttery deliciousness flavor that I couldn’t identify. On the side we asked for potatoes gratin…my mother would be proud not only did it finish my whole plate I didn’t get picky at all haha.

From Vianden we made our way to Lux, trying to beat the sudden change of weather, we were just glad to head back. Later that night we went to a Mexican restaurant called “Mamacitas” it was actually quite authentic and even popular among the locals, we had some margaritas, as well as some Mexican cravings and called it our dinner. From there we went to what was probably the most chic bar in Luxembourg, a place called “White House” just a block away from the restaurant. Go in order your gin tonic with strawberries and just sit and watch the people that come in and out of this trendy spot. From there we went to “Steiler” another bar in the center of town, I thought I knew what crowded felt like until I walked into this bar. In Steiler if your a local you will most likely see your friends, everywhere I had someone to say hello to that I had been introduced to that weekend. The music and the ambience still make up for the amount of people, its a great place to go to end your day.