Looking down from the city center.
EU offices stand tall on the next hill.
Luxembourg
September 8
Over 1000 years ago a castle fortress was first built on the site of Luxembourg city, the capital of Luxembourg, the Grand Duchy. This was ruled by a guy named Siegfried who left his name in fable directly associated with the Rhine river which borders the country as it's defined today.
Since then the country has been taken by the Carolingians, Burgundians, Spanish, French, Austrians, Prussians, and the Germans. It's been a part of Belgium and the Netherlands as treaties divided up the Rhine region over the last 200 years. It's only 50 miles north to south and 30 some miles across. Mountainous and "riddled with rivers".
Across the south edge, the capital city is a crossroads for tourist and truck traffic through some fine motorways. Many people try to cross Luxembourg on trips because of cheap gas (about 50¢ per gallon less) and cheap cigarettes.
Looking down from the city center.
EU offices stand tall on the next hill.
The "Red Bridge". Something else they are proud of.
Lots of construction.
The city is a major high-end shopping mecca.
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The city
itself has been sacked, destroyed, and rebuilt 20 times, as they are proud to
tell you. All the fortifications are gone now. Luxembourg declared itself
permanently neutral in 1867 (lot of good that did) and the 24 forts and rings of
walls were demolished to make room for population growth.
The one remnant of the old fortifications is the Casemates.
(k³s"m³t") n. 2. An armored compartment for artillery on a rampart.case·mate
17km of tunnels under the city have dozens if not hundreds of openings on the face of the embankment overlooking the river and canal system. These were built and enlarged by all those other countries that occupied the city over the years.
About a mile of these tunnels are open to the public to wander through on a
ridge just east of downtown. The rest have presumably been closed off since they
were used as air raid shelters during WWII.
The small town
of Ettelbruck has a General Patton Memorial Museum. Bob couldn't resist. It was
a great movie. Oh, and his 3rd Army did pretty good also.
They liberated Ettelbruck on Christmas day, 1944 while simultaneously
relieving Bastogne and shutting down the Battle of the Bulge. There's a
larger-than-life statue of George Smith Patton Jr in town and an exact copy in
the museum. There are numerous pictures and biographical items displayed in half
of the museum. The second half documents the German occupation of Luxembourg and
the resistance activities. A third half displays literally tons of military junk
found around the countryside years later including mines, guns, unexploded
bombs, and aircraft parts.
A couple of other sights around the country.
Esch sur Sure. A quaint town built on a peninsula that now is bypassed by a
tunnel.
A strange apartment building in Bettembourg.
Wiltz, in northern Luxembourg, has the National Beer Museum. Maybe every country should have one. It's owned by the Simon brewery and most of the display is beeriana of Simon and other brewers.
An old wort chiller. This one in the best condition of any I've ever seen.
| An old drum filter and a suit of armor. Don't ask why. Don't ask why
his left arm is laying at his feet either.
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The real jewel of the National Beer Museum is the micro-brewery built in 2001. And I mean Micro. Unfortunately there was no solid information about this system nor anyone to ask. It's just dirt cute. The perfect homebrewer's setup. The coppers have little opening doors and stainless steel tanks inside. It's computer controlled by a Siemens unit. Even a wort chiller. Two fermenters, complete with chilling systems, were bubbling away with condensation on the outside. I want one (and so do you).
Two serving tanks in back were full. But there weren't any glasses or anyone to pour me a beer. The high-school girl at the ticket counter didn't know a thing but she seemed to agree when I suggested they make beer for festivals.
