We have been tracking our steps every day on this trip and so far our longest day was our second day in London when we logged nearly 19 km in one day. Our second biggest day was Day 2 in Luxembourg where we put in nearly 15kms. The city is built on two levels with staircases connecting the upper and lower so we really got our steps huffing it up and down and criss-crossing the old town, so we felt OK about stopping for pastries and/or ice cream on a regular basis
Travis burned off his pastries on the playground near our place by climbing straight up these slippery metal poles. I didn’t want to outclimb him so I stayed at the bottom and made useful comments like ‘ring the bell when you get to the top’ and ‘Did you know I got ‘Excellence’ in the Participaction challenge in Grade 5. Just saying. The Flexed Arm Hang in particular’. I don’t think he heard me. Things get pretty funny at the playground later on…
The city has great shopping and we made a few purchases along the way. And by few I mean we had to buy extra bags for all our stuff to get through the bag drop at the airport without having to pay through the nose for extra baggage costs and I may have dislocated my shoulder carrying stuff around. It was probably worth it though as they really had a lot of great independent shops and I didn’t have to go into H&M once, which is a good thing as I have PTSD after my last trip to Europe where the continents shifted and species evolved as I waited in the Oslo and Copenhagen H&M stores while Zoe and her friend Terra tried on every last item, all the time strategically moving around the store so I couldn’t find them. Anyway – that didn’t happen this time, is my point. Apparently I’m still bitter about that.
One of the features of this city is The Bock - a series of medieval tunnels built in the cliffside that separates the upper and lower cities. We had seen them from below after taking one of the elevators down and thought we should check it out. It‘s a good thing none of us were claustrophobic. The tunnels acted as shelters during the bombing of the city during WW2 and it must have been grim in there. I tried not to think about the many tonnes of rock over my head at any one point and also not to drop my phone down this seemingly bottomless well.
After many staircases and lunch and then more staircases, we ended up in back in the lower part of the town, which was a quaint tangle of narrow lanes, cafes and shops, and canals. If Sleeping Beauty had appeared on top of one of the casements or Rapunzel leaned out of a tower window I wouldn’t have been surprised.
Just as we were starting to feel a bit on the tired side, this little bus showed up, with a Luxembourgish fellow on board with what looked like a video game controller in his hand.
Autonom gave it away for us and Andy confirmed that the bus was driverless – he was just there to press reset every now and then. We all piled in and it trundled along, jerking to a stop every few minutes when, as Andy explained, ‘he sees something but cannot tell what it is’ ‘he’ being the bus.
Click here to see a clip of our bus ride It's a Bit Jerky
This was a fairly accurate representation of what happened when the train stopped. I wish we had a couple of these in Victoria. So cute, if a bit skittish.
Even though English is one of the languages spoken here, they still don’t get it quite right on much of their signage and advertising. It’s close, but not quite there. Like this giant banner on the main bridge into the city. ‘Luxembourg: Let’s Make it Happen’.
Make what happen? The Robot Revolution? The sychronization of traffic signals? The dripless teapot? Having said that, one does get the impression here that they are actually trying to make things happen. In the course of two days we rode on free giant elevators that we would be charged for in other cities, travelled on a driverless electric bus (for free), rode an electric funicular (free) that took us to a station where we got on Electric Light Rail and rode across the city (for free), passing stands of electric bikes (that are ridiculously cheap to use: 2 euros ($3) for 24hrs -more on the bikes later) and walked through beautiful parks full of leafy trees and solar-powered public washrooms. In a country of 500k, and a city of about 100k, it seemed like the future. To be fair, Luxembourg also has the second highest GDP in the world and is a tax haven but they also have a guaranteed minimum income based on your skill level, and they will send you to university for free. And don’t get me started on the common-sense bike lanes that work perfectly with the traffic. Users do pay for buses in the city but not the students or youth, and everyone rides for free on Saturdays.
But what may be the best thing about this city is this perfectly clean, crystal clear public foot bath that we found. After walking for hours and covering many kilometres on a warm day, the cold water felt like heaven on our tired hot feet.
The bath is fed constantly by a water fountain just up the hill and is clean enough to drink. The water fills the larger bath and overflows into the smaller bath where it drains so it is constantly moving and never sits. You would be hard pressed to find litter in this town anyway so there is none of that. It is officially called a Kneipp water-treading bath and there are some fairly specific instructions that one is to follow if one is to do it properly but basically one foot must be in while the other is out and the one that is out must have toes pointed down, and then you get out when your legs are feeling very cold, allow them to air dry (no towels allowed) and then do it again. There were a couple of locals there when we were there in the early evening and when we came back the next day, they were there again. It is considered a social event to attend the bath as well as being good for your health. I said I was thinking of installing one in my house but Zoe pointed out I could use the bathtub but it’s just not the same. It would be great if they could install one in Victoria but I’m sure if would be over-regulated and they would probably put it at Bay and Blanshard or something like that and ruin the whole thing as well as putting a surcharge on your taxes or making you have sticker on your car or something. As great as Victoria is, I feel like we could learn a lot from Luxembourg about what takes a city from good to awesome.
After the foot bath we rode another series of electric transit options and ended up back in the city. Even the rail tracks are amazing.
We have eaten dinner in the main square each night, which was always delicious – so nice to have vegetables again! There is a stage in the main square where live music was playing each night. Not to compare too much but I couldn’t help but think what Centennial square could be if we tried a little harder. In these walkable cities, the old towns are usually pedestrian friendly zones where pedestrians have the right of way. Delivery vehicles can still come in, but mostly it’s just people. Cafes spill out on to the street and it is so pleasant to be in an environment like that.
ANYWAY.
Just a casual lavender field in the middle of the city.
The next day, after a night of front-end loading and blade-sharpening in our little square, we though we would try our hand at the bike rentals. I had some trouble with the app and was trying to resolve it while the others went for a ride around town. After being on hold for some time with the company I had a message from Georgia that the mission had been aborted as, it turns out the tires aren’t very good on cobblestones. Zoe had her teeth rattled out of her head and said she was starting to feel motion sick from it so they came back to the rental point and we went up the sky rider instead – a cheesy but still awesome viewing platform that slowly rises, while turning, to a height of 70 metres.
The view was amazing, but what really made the trip memorable was Travis sitting in chocolate for the 4th time on this trip. So funny!
I’m not that great with heights but I thought this might help me get over it. Nope. It helped that it was enclosed in glass, but it still makes my stomach flip over.
I also tried to step out onto the glass floored platforms at one of the elevators but that was really a struggle. Zoe had to basically push me out there.
I think my eyes are closed.
Before we went home we stopped at the playground and this happened. So funny!
Rag Doll Travis
We tried to get to bed earlyish that night as we had to get up early to catch a train, but our plans were scuppered by the back-up beeper and the moving of giant concrete pallets. We were a bit bleary eyed when we rolled out the door at 7 something that morning (so early for us!) to catch the train to Amsterdam. I wasn’t ready to leave Luxembourg and I still want to go back and do a hike I had planned but we hadn’t gotten to. Next time.
In case you are feeling sleepy and need to stay awake for any reason, you can watch this video of the back-up beeper and perhaps have it playing in the background, or set it as your alarm sound.
Night Time Back-Up Beeper
Last day of the trip tomorrow!
Thanks for coming along,
Jane
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