It’s been a while since I’ve written a post, so here’s a long one to make up for it! Since it is currently fall break (Herbstferien) in North Rhine Westphalia, AFS offered some students in the area the opportunity to travel to Luxembourg and surrounding areas for a few days. I was fortunate enough to be able to go along, and it was such a lovely trip! I met AFS students from around the globe, saw some AFS-CBYX friends from Hamburg, and also had the opportunity to spend a few days getting to know my Betreuerin (AFS liaison/mentor), because she came on the trip as well.
The trip started early Sunday morning, when we got on a bus from Duisburg and drove for four hours to Luxembourg City, the capital of Luxembourg. We checked into our hostel and went straight downstairs to eat lunch...I had the biggest bowl of mussels I’ve ever seen, plus a salad, French fries, and a dessert (it was only 10€ for everything!). After lunch, we went out exploring the city for a few hours and bought a few snacks at Monoprix, a famous French grocery store. The cashier who rang me up spoke five languages–Luxemburgish, French, German, English, and Portuguese. Shortly after, we went to bed because we were so tired! I only knew one of my roommates, she was at language camp in Hamburg with me, so it was really nice to see her again! The other two were from Norway and Finland, which I thought was so cool!
↑ A view of Luxembourg from the bridge that was near our hostel.
Monday morning, we woke up early to visit Metz in France. It was my first time in France, and I was so happy to be able to add another country to the list of places that I’ve been! This entire trip was also a great opportunity to practice my French. We saw the Cathedral of St. Stephen and also just walked around the city–along the river and through winding old streets that were quintessential “Old Europe”. At one point, myself and another girl branched off from our larger group and walked by ourselves for a bit...and we discovered a park with a statue of Marquis de Lafayette in it. He left from Metz when he came across the Atlantic to help the American colonies fight for independence. As we are both Hamilton fans, we had a miniature jam session next to the statue performing Guns and Ships from the musical. (We also made sure to check that nobody else was around so we wouldn’t disturb any peace, in case you were concerned about that.)
↑ The Cathedral of St. Stephen from the outside...
↑ ...and a tiny corner of the inside. I just really liked the lighting in this picture.
For lunch, we went to a French restaurant, where I ordered quiche for myself and also ordered everyone else’s meal, because they did not speak French. It was nice to feel useful with a language, for once! Since coming to Germany I’ve had very few moments where I was better at the necessary language than someone else was. We had crêpes for dessert, because when in France...
After lunch, we still had plenty of time before we had to go back, so we went to a pharmacy (because French pharmacies are supposedly the best) and a few other stores. We also went to the cutest little café and had coffee and hot chocolate! I felt very French, even though I know there is more to a culture than its cafés. Just before leaving the café, I played a piece on the piano in the corner. Normally I would never do something like that, but I figured, “Why not?” and I am really glad I did.
↑ Another bridge view! Specifically, a bridge view in Metz.
Tuesday was Halloween! Only the Americans in the group really knew what it was all about, but it was fun nonetheless. In the morning we visited the Bock casemates, which at one point were actually used to defend the city from invaders. People lived inside and everything! Now, they are a UNESCO World Heritage site. They were a little spooky, especially in the dark corners!
↑ Inside the casemates, and a view from one of the “windows” of the casemates. They were partially carved out of rocks that were already there, partially constructed with stones from elsewhere. During World War II, they served as bomb shelters.
After that, we walked around the entire city of Luxembourg...inside the cathedral, past various historic buildings, and even through the luxury shopping district.(Luxembourg is one of the richest countries in the world, so naturally they have a few streets worth of designer boutiques.) We didn’t buy anything, only window shopped, but it was still really fun! And before going back to the hostel for the evening, we went to a bookstore. They sold books in Luxemburgish, French, German, and English. If one lived in Luxembourg, it would be so easy to learn so many languages! I bought a French to English dictionary, and the cashier spoke to me in both French and German. This is normal for Luxembourg though, I have no idea how their brains don’t get mixed up! Mine certainly was.
As it was freezing cold and all of the stores were closed, a few of us decided to have a night in, so we watched Hocus Pocus (a classic Halloween movie!) and ate chocolate before going to bed. It was a pretty successful Halloween overall.
Wednesday was the last day of our trip, so after packing up and eating breakfast, we left the hostel and headed to Trier, the oldest city in Germany, that has been around since Roman times. We passed under the Porta Nigra, a giant Roman gate that is also a UNESCO World Heritage site as well as a few other Roman monuments while walking along the designated “tourist route”. (I figured that was the best way to see as many monuments as possible in the least amount of time!) Even the parts of the city that were not leftover from Roman times were very old, and just as beautiful! The town really looked as though it had come from a story book.
↑ View from the town square in Trier.
↑ Yep, this is real. It was a palace for one of the old rulers of the region, but now it’s just a historic site. The garden had statues and hedge mazes and everything! It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland.
Our last stop before heading back to the bus and driving home was the cathedral, where All Saint’s Day Mass was going on. I was a bit disappointed that we wouldn’t be allowed to walk around because of the service, but it turned out that we were allowed to stand in the back corner and observe. That ended up being better, because the organ was playing and the choir was singing for Mass! I was completely floored by the sound of it all, the acoustics were unbelievable. A great way to end a wonderful trip!
Thanks for reading this (very long) post, tschüss!