{"id":2896,"date":"2016-06-15T22:58:20","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T04:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dltwt.com\/?p=2896"},"modified":"2016-06-15T22:58:20","modified_gmt":"2016-06-16T04:58:20","slug":"petite-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/?p=2896","title":{"rendered":"Petite “Paris”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luxembourg City is the capitol of Luxembourg.\u00a0 It is perched on a rocky plateau and\u00a0 protected by a deep ravine.\u00a0 \u00a0It is\u00a0 a compact city with a breathtaking setting.\u00a0 Upon stepping off the train, Luxembourg immediately reminded us of a “petite Paris”.\u00a0 \u00a0The train station, which is in baroque revival-style, is a marvel in itself.\u00a0 This immaculate city, which was not ravaged by WWII, is filled with original, traditional, classic buildings.\u00a0 Not surprisingly, Luxembourg is one of the world’s richest counties.\u00a0 We have spent two delightful but rainy days walking around the historic old quarter of the city called Upper Town.\u00a0 The city is so tiny and compact that it is truly a walking city.\u00a0 There is a tremendous amount of construction underway, mostly rehabilitation versus new construction. The city center is divided into two components, old town which sits high and the Grund, a small neighborhood below old town on the Alzette River.
\n\u001f
\nWe were surprised to see the picturesque old town streets not overrun by tourists, especially since it is mid-June.\u00a0 We have since read that Luxembourg is not a big tourist city.\u00a0\u00a0 Luxembourg is somewhat difficult to get to; as, we had to change trains 3 times and the Luxembourg hotels, in general, are limited.\u00a0 We did see a couple of Chinese tours but not nearly the number that we have seen in other cities.\u00a0 Most of the the tourists seemed to be French.\u00a0 It is EU’s powerhouse with significant operations here.\u00a0 Luxembourg is one of three “headquarter” cities.
\n\u001f
\nOn our first day, we took several self-guided walking tours of the city.\u00a0 \u00a0Luxembourg is full of stunning buildings and vistas.\u00a0 We peaked inside the stark but grand Notre Dame Cathedral, strolled pass the Grand Ducal Palace, Cornishe Monument of Rememberance, Constitution Square and the main square called Place Guillaume I.\u00a0 We were overwhelmed by the magnificence of this place.<\/p>\n

After a wonderful seafood lunch, we took the Wenzel Walking Tour of the “Grund” on our own.\u00a0 The Grund quarter is one of the oldest parts of Luxembourg City; and, it can only be accessed by foot or via a lift which descends through the cliff.\u00a0 Here you will find the old city walls, defense casements, and towers.\u00a0 In one area during our walking tour, the city incorporated these walls & towers into a significant senior living facility. The architecture worked quite well.\u00a0 This itty-bitty adorable hamlet is popular for its bars and nightlife; however, everything appeared very, very quiet during out stroll through the\u00a0hamlet.\u00a0 \u00a0 One interesting fact we learned is that\u00a0the population of the Grund is only 784 people, of which only 33% are Luxembourgers!\u00a0 \u00a0And, of course, it has a UNESCO World Heritage designation.\u00a0 We are not sure that this designation means much anymore since it seems like every place and\/or area on our World Tour is a UNESCO site.
\n\u001f
\nYou don’t visit Luxembourg for the sights, there are not many.\u00a0 We think the magic of Luxembourg is in the scenery and lush green landscape.\u00a0 We loved exploring all the enchanting side streets, pretty hidden parks and spectacular views from the old fortification walls.\u00a0 The city has an amazing diversity; as, we were told that there are people from over 150 nationalities living here.\u00a0\u00a0One other note we might add is that the Luxembourg women are very fashion conscious just like French women.\u00a0 We were taken back by their impeccable tailored style with a subtle, very tasteful flamboyance.\u00a0 We haven’t seen a lot of pink, green or purple hair here!
\n\u001f<\/p>\n

\"City<\/a>
City Hall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Grand<\/a>
Grand Ducal Palace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The towers of Notre Dame<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Largest<\/a>
Largest Plaza in Luxembourg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Restaurants<\/a>
Restaurants along the Plaza<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"WWI<\/a>
WWI Memorial<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Notre<\/a>
Notre Dame Cathedral<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"6<\/a>
6 Big Mouths<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Memorial<\/a>
Memorial to Queen Charlotte<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Grund<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Grund\"<\/a>
Grund<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"What<\/a>
What does this store do?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Great<\/a>
Great musicians!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Above<\/a>
Above a door<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Senior<\/a>
Senior Living facility<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"OLYMPUS<\/a>
Grund<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luxembourg City is the capitol of Luxembourg.\u00a0 It is perched on a rocky plateau and\u00a0 protected by a deep ravine.\u00a0 \u00a0It is\u00a0 a compact city with a breathtaking setting.\u00a0 Upon stepping off the train, Luxembourg immediately reminded us of a “petite Paris”.\u00a0 \u00a0The train station, which is in baroque revival-style, is a marvel in itself.\u00a0 … Continue reading Petite “Paris”<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Si9J-KI","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2896"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2900,"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2896\/revisions\/2900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}