Luxembourg
July 4th through July 8th.
Map Courtesy of The General Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin www.lib.utexas.edu/maps
Friday, our first full day in Luxembourg, was spent sightseeing.
It's interesting how your first look at a new place isn't ever quite
like you imagined it! Let me see if I can describe it and do it
justice... The "old city" part of Luxembourg towers high above
everything else with big fortress like walls. Then there is a steep
(I mean steep) drop down to a little valley area below which has a
sleepy little stream running through it. On the other side of the
valley, the terrain again rises up and fans out into the rest of the
country side. When we first got there I got a map which shows a
lift (elevator) at the edge of the old town. I thought, that's silly
why have a lift labeled on a map, until I saw how huge the drop over
the wall. The only other way down is to wind around on streets or
take a lot of stairs.
We took two tours: one through the Bock Casemates and one through
the Petrusse Casemates. Since almost all of it was dismantled or
closed up in 1867 (they couldn't blow up all of the casemates because
it was so vast it would have demolished the city) we only got a
glimpse of a small part or what it used to be. I can't imagine
living life like that underground! Besides the two casemates, we
saw two old churchs and walked up and down the city streets.
Finally, exhausted after a day of sightseeing, we found a nice
little Italian restaurant in the middle of the main square with
great wine and pizza (outside seating of course).
After dinner as we meandered back to our hotel we ran into
"The Cycle Circus". It was about 20 bicycles (and I use the work
loosely) of all different variations. Some where the really tall
ones that you can barely get onto from the ground (I had to use the
table). Some of them were powered by pushing on the seat with your
butt! Some had different axis of rotation. A couple where the ones
where you can recline back and pedal. Finally, my favorite was one
that looked like a tricycle but you peddle from the side! You could
try out any of them that you wanted. Little kids and grownups alike
were all pedaling around laughing and having a great time. And of
course, we had to try them all!!! (Got a few pictures too so we can
work out a deal to blackmail Dave!)
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Dave and Vareen's Travels
A little history from the tourist brochure.... "As far back as 963,
Count Siegfried chose the Bock promontory to build his fortress
surrounded by a simple fortification. In the course of the years a
second and a third fortification were set up on the west side,
whereas the rocks of the Petrusse Valley and of the Alzette Valley
constituted a safe natural defense. The Burgundians took the city
by surprise in 1443 and it developed into a strategic position in
Europe. After more then four centuries, the best military engineers
of the Burgundians, French, Spaniards, Austrians, and Germanic
Confederation ended up transforming the city into the "Gibraltar of
the North". Three girdles of battlements provided its defense: the
inner one was fortified with bastions; the second included fifteen
forts and the third was composed of an exterior wall, counting nine
forts, all hewn into the rock. A network of 23 km of underground
tunnels, called casemates, and bombproof rooms provided for thousands
of defenders with their equipment, horses, workshops, and kitchens.
The strategic stronghold was closed in 1867 when Luxembourg signed
an act of neutrality, but was used during WWII to shelter more then
35,000 people. Only about 10% of the bulwarks still remain visible
today."
The
End