London Coming Soon

I'm frantically trying to finish packing. I was supposed to pack last night but my Irish friends kept me out late, which I certainly didn't mind as I would much rather have hung out with them rather than pack. But now I feel the crunch. My train for Paris leaves at 8:30 tomorrow, and I'll arrive in the South sometime in the early evening. I'm super excited.

Pictures from London will be coming soon. In the mean time, here are some more amazing photos of Luxembourg City. Not that the photos are that amazing, but the subject of the photos is amazing.

These guards manage to never acknowledge that people are mere inches away taking photos and point at them.

The Valley from inside the fortress

The outer fortress.

Inside the fortress caves. Thousands of soldiers used to share over 10 miles of caves like this as bunkers and drilling areas.

This actually isn't a fireplace but the beginning of another set of stairs. They're off to my right.

Changing of the Guard

Enjoy these videos of the changing of the guard at the Grand Ducal Palace in Luxembourg. This is, sadly, only a part of it. There was first a parade where the band went all the way around the block playing... music of course. Then they did a neat little military drill and finally this below.



Sorry about the jiggle. A rude Spaniard (which is really being repetitive) kept pushing me. Of all the Europeans, Spaniards are the only ones I don't have anything nice to say about. Their rude and loud and have no sense of morality. That's all. It might have something to do with them having lived under a dictatorship for so long. Then again, eastern Europeans are some of the nicest people ever.



Hope you enjoyed this little part of Fairy Tale Land (the short form name for Luxembourg).

Fairy Tale Land

Once upon a time...

Forget EuroDisney, yesterday I took a day trip to the magical land of Luxembourg, the last Grand Duchy in Europe.

The history of this tiny country is long and sordid. It's been owned by practically everyone in Europe: Austria, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and finally the European Union. Somehow, even with all the invasions, it's known as the Gibraltar of the North because of the intense and impregnable fortresses that make up the city. When Revolutionary France decided they wanted to tiny Duchy, they had to starve the citizens out (6 months) because the fortress impossible to breach.

It currently acts as the home of the Secretariat of the European Parliament, the secondary meeting places for the Council of Europe (after Brussels), the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors, and the European Investor Bank.

The country is located in and around a beautiful valley. Bridges connect the two sides of the valley, and you can walk up and down by paths and stairs. Below are some photos of the beautiful valley. I'll post some of the fortress pictures later.

Looking down into the Valley