UK Day 14…?: In Which we Leave the UK and Arrive in Luxembourg and it is Lovely

As you can probably imagine from all my going on about it, we were very sad about leaving High Houses, and a little anxious about having another Train Ride from Hell but as it turned out it was fine and there were no snits on the trip down to London. Virgin Trains aren’t my favourite – they are cramped and the air conditioning is always on the fritz, but they do have good signage:

We had a few moments to spare before the train left so we made good use of the photo booth and soon had a sheet of 16 tiny photos of ourselves which I have been leaving all around the place, for no good reason other than it seems like the right thing to do.

We were a bit sad to say goodbye to my mum, who is off to Salisbury for a week, but didn’t have long to feel sad as we had to rush off to Heathrow to catch our flight to Luxembourg. At this point, if you’re like everybody else I’ve spoken to, you are likely wondering why we chose Luxembourg and the answer is mostly because it looked like a fairy tale land when we googled it and the words ‘hidden gem’ kept coming up. Besides, I hadn’t been there before, and it looked intriguing, but mostly because I have always wanted to do a tour of the tiny countries in Europe and why not start here. Only five to go.
London felt super busy after being in The North where we were hard pressed to see another person when walking out the door. There’s always such a crush of bodies anywhere you look in London and it makes it hard to get anywhere fast. Heathrow was busy, too, with a million people all trying to do the same thing.

I wasn’t sure what was going on with this sign – it seems like they are willing to help if you need it but it’s going to cost you…?
As per usual, after boarding our flight, we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes waiting for I don’t know what…the captain to finish his fish and chips? The sheep to get off the runway? The baggage handlers to finish their argument about Brexit?
It was a good flight and I never get tired of the view out the plane window.

Anyway, when we arrived in Luxembourg we got a cab to our place in the city centre (and I use the term city loosely) but I worry that the cab driver may have been a Formula 1 racer in his spare time and shouldn’t be driving a taxi. After his third incident of honking at another driving and tearing around a corner a high speed, I gave him a  look and he slowed down a bit, only to speed up again and overtake several more cars on the shoulder. After a few more near misses we arrived at our apartment which was on the top floor of a five story building with no elevator so everyone was really happy about that but somehow we made it up the tiny winding staircase with all our things and collapsed in the apartment. Travis didn’t recover that night as he was fighting a man-cold but the girls and I composed ourselves and stepped out for a wander and a bite to eat.
One of the keys to travelling, and indeed life, is to keep your expectations down – that way you won’t often be disappointed, and can experience delight when you encounter something or some place that exceeds your expectations. Such was the case with the city of Luxembourg. The sky was clear and the stars just starting to come out, the architecture was lovely, and the winding streets and passages pleasantly empty except for small groups of people out for the evening. We found a restaurant for dinner where Zoe and Georgia took full advantage of the 16 and over alcohol limit and got into the Kir Royales while I went crazy with a bottle of San Pellegrino. It was good to eat something other than British food, although we may have ordered too much… also there was chips, which we ignored.

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It's a beautiful cityand felt like a mini Paris, but cleaner. We loved it.
We tried to go to sleep when we got back to the apartment but having gotten used to absolute quiet at High Houses, we were not ready for the noise of a European city at night. Any number of scooters, motorcycles, people, church bells, and work trucks conspired to keep us awake. There is a small square outside our place and part of it is taken up with giant concrete blocks that the City of Luxembourg feels compelled to move around the city between 11pm and 4am and they must also use a tractor to do so, equipped with back-up warning beepers which made me want to attack someone. Why? WHY.

Luxembourg: Ve vill move ze blocks tonight just after bedtime.
People in their beds: ok ya but do you have to move zem wiz ze giant beeping truck?
Luxebourg: vell how else will zey know le truck is moving ze blocks? Zey might get hit! Ve cannot risk it.
People in bed: But ve are in our beds zen! Ve do not need to know zat le truck is moving ze blocks then!
Luxmbourg: But le truck it is very dangereuse. It might hit you!
People in bed: But, Luxembourg! Ve are not behind le truck zen!
Luxembourg: Ve know! Zat is because you have heard ze warning beep and have avoided it!
People: But ve are in bed zen!! It is loud!
Luxembourg: Bed is ze safest place for you ven zere are dangerous trucks zey are carrying ze heavy blocks around. Very good decision!
People in bed: ugh. Forget it. Can zey just turn it down ze beeping.
Luxembourg: Vat? Ve Cannot hear hear you as le truck is beeping and it is very loud!

Sigh.

If you are wondering what language they speak here, this may or may not help:

Come back tomorrow and hear about our adventures trying all manner of electric transit options available in this city, an generally having a fabulous time.
Thanks for hanging around-
Jane