As promised I show some pictures of my half day sightseeing tour with Lydia in Luxembourg. Luxembourg is the 7 smallest country in the European Union – but oh it is a beauty. From Hamburg I flew in a small airplane, landed in Saarbrücken (still in Germany) after 1 hour and 10 minutes, when about two-thirds of the passengers left and we flew for 15 minutes (no kidding) with five people to Luxembourg. 
Official languages are French, German and Luxembourgish – making it interesting to read street and shop signs, as there seems to be no consistency as to how languages are displayed. Sometimes you have all three, sometimes you have a street sign warning you in french that there is a curve ahead, just to be followed by a german sign telling you to slow down.
The first sightseeing stop on monday was Echternach where we went to the Abbey of Echternach which was founded around 700.
This sculpture fascinated me- especially with the shadow !
I fell in Love with the windows- I love the pattern – I am sure you will see it somewhere again ;)
Echternach is located at the River Sauer, you walk over a bridge and you are in Germany- so I went for two seconds ;) (note the entry sign with the unofficial abbreviation of Germany…very outdated)
From here we went to Luxembourg City. This is a fortification also called Three Acorns in front of the Museum of Modern Art. Actually this is almost all that is left of the fortification. It was super pretty- and each of the towers had an acorn on top.
This is the Gëlle Fra – luxembourgish for the golden lady which is a war memorial.
Very fairy tale like are some of the views- I was amazed at all the old buildings, some built into the rocks- and it was wonderful having Lydia as a tour guide as she knew so much about the city and history.
Loved this old tower called hollow tooth
And there is a last view of the old part of Luxembourg before I head out to my weird bus-stop-like flight back to Hamburg ;)
And the moral of the story…Luxembourg is definitely worth a trip. I am so happy Lydia talked me into staying a day longer after the workshops to do some sightseeing!
Hope you enjoyed the little journey with me .
huge hugs
nat
Related articles
- Workshops at J.P. Morgan in Luxembourg (nathaliesstudio.com)
Comments (20)
cal8007
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Thanks for posting your travel photos; I love that statue and the shadow too. This is one country on my list to visit. When? I don’t know…
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Laura S
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Makes me want to go to Germany, even more! Thank you for sharing!!
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lydia kahihikolo
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hey Laura Luxembourg is still not Germany ;-) but you should definitely come visit both for sure ;-)
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Sue Clarke
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I so love seeing your pics from your trips. I feel as if I get to travel a bit with you Nat. The shadow on the sculpture is incredible and I could look at it for hours. It’s hard for me to imagine seeing buildings that are that old. In the U.S.A. 200 years is considered old.
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Nurse Ratchet
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Thank you so much for a wee glimpse of Luxembourg!
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Kathy P
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Oh, to live in Europe and be able to more easily visit all of these cool places. Art wherever you look! Thanks for sharing these awesome stories and photos with us here, Nat!
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christinemobuddy
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You were right…definitely tears…like a promise kept….thanks so much for sharing…Mo
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brenda
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I am glad that you stayed the extra day and shared your pictures with us. Also enjoyed the pictures from your class as well.
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Kathy Gledsdale
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What an interesting place, thank you for opening my eyes to it, I would never thought of visiting before, but now I would love to go. So when are you going to do some workshops in the UK please?
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Nathalie Kalbach
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Kathy – I would love to teach in the UK- it is on my wish list- but so far I wasn’t invited to come. I will look into this a bit more :) Any suggestions are welcome ;)
nat
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Mariana
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the internet’s magic , I’m having breakfast in ARGENTINA and enjoying Luxembourg with you, awesome!!
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Martha Richardson
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Thanks for the travelogue..one of my dreams from college was to backpack throughout Europe…not so sure I could do that now but one can dream!
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Nathalie Kalbach
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You could still travel through Europe Martha – I am sure you would love it!!!
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mjmarmo
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Oh – that is a place I have never been. Love all the amazing photos!
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Jan
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Tolle Bilder, ich glaube, da müssen wir auch mal hin…
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Nathalie Kalbach
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Auf jeden Fall- war total schön dort! Hoffe es geht Euch gut !!! :)
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Jackie
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Thank you Nat for sharing your trip- these are places I never would get to see- I love that you travel and share what you see!
hugs Jackie
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Nadine
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Hey Nat,
as pleased to read a posting on my home country I am, I have to say I’m not too glad about the order of the languages ;)
Luxemburgish should be mentionned first as it’s the language spoken by each Luxemburgish person and very important for national identity. French and German are – although very frequent – still second languages to us that we only learn in school (therefor far from beeing mother tongues). We have been struggling for ages to get our language accepted as a language and not as a German dialect and the struggle is still going on…
Concerning the consistency it is to say, that Luxemburgish didn’t have a lobby as written language until the early 80ies when Luxemburgish officially became a national language. The division although is rather clear: Luxemburgish is used for all kind of spoken language (radio, tv), German as the language of print and other media (press, internet), French as the language of administration and official documents, although there is a law that says that administration has to reply in the language it was addressed to. The impression that French is the most common language results from about 60% foreigners working in the country (mainly Portuguese and French people) and particularly in gastronomy and retail, but no Luxemburger will ever speak French with his family as far as they are all Luxemburgish ;)
And yet another small correction: the Three Acrons are by far not the only remainings of the fortification. Actually the whole city is built on the fortification. The surrounding wall is still there and so are the 23 km of casemates and bomb-proof rooms within them and yet other smaller remains like the Spanish Towers or the Heiliggeist Citadel. The historic center and the fortification are even part of the UNESCO World Heritage.
In short it is one of the prettiest cities in central Europe and I’d be glad to show you some more places at your next visit :)
Bye
Nadine
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Nathalie Kalbach
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Thanks for your elaborate long comment- glad you got it all out ;) LOL- I am sure as you live in Germany there are things that you see in a way that I would tell you differently too. It was interesting to read- thank you.
Nat
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geri
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Totally loved taking this trip with you!! Your pictures are stunning…thanks for the tour!!
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