Angharad Dowse

Look, not thrilled by this hostel. 😆

I was so hot omg. Didn’t care my knickers were probably on display for all to see cause I couldn’t use my blanket. I was a living breathing flame. We also had a snorer. Not the worse type of snorer but not a great one. Had to wake Will when I needed to wee and probs woke everyone else up opening the door. Needs some WD40. Clunk clunk clunk.

We made breakfast just in time. Free but very basic. Had a Nutella roll and Will had cereal. They were the only 2 options really.

Got dressed and walked up the gigantic hill to town.
Needed a drink but we don’t really understand cause the whole city is closed and it’s a Wednesday. Where is everybody?
Walked in to maccas but told it was closed. Walked into a Burger King and ordered a drink.
They were also closed but gave it to us bless them haha.
Very strange, it’s 10am wakey wakey.
At 11 we walked to the tour start point.
Our guide is hard to describe.
Undiagnosed adhd is the best I can do. Very bouncy but not in a coherent flamboyant way. More of a cant keep a train of thought type of way and uses body to communicate very disjointedly.
She was from Minsk, Belarus so that was cool.
50% of Luxembourg people are not from Luxembourg.
They have 3 languages French, German, Luxembourgien*. French in the language legislation is in. Luxembourgien was fast fading but when Germany took over during WW2 they banned everyone from speaking French but not Luxembourgien so it made a come back.
Not the most interesting of cities. We have done the tour and didn’t think it was overly detailed but have been given a map of the city and the highlight were all in the tour so actually it was a pretty good tour lol.

We saw the palace with the guards out front. The duke was in according to the flag position.
They changed the laws recently enough that if the first born is a girl she will become duchess. 🎉
They have had one dutchesss before during the war cause the duke had 6 daughters so a singular exception was made. First duchess I believe was Maria? Didn’t do a great job. Had lunches and parties with the Germans which didn’t go down well. Her sister shortly took over and did a bang up job and is in essence why the monarchy lasted. Her name was Charlotte. When she fled to London she sent daily radio messages to troops for morale so she is greatly loved. In London she set up relationships that helped keep and rebuild Luxembourg. Killed it. 💅🏼

The palace is patrolled by guards but guide said they are in essence a tourist attraction as army is only 1000 strong. Not much of a global impact haha.

We got told about a chocolate house we plan to try later.
Was shown a troll head someone put outside their house to protect them from witches.

Was pointed out the oldest pub and a secret Luxembourg society building - only for men so she didn’t know much and then a museum we will go to tomorrow.

Walked to stand on an old fortress with beautiful lookouts. The entrance to the bocks casemates are closed which is a shame but ah well. (Tunnels under city)

“Bock Promontory: cradle of the city of Luxembourg, linked to the city by the castle bridge (1735). On the "Bock” are situated the foundation walls of the first stronghold belonging to the Luxembourg Counts, converted into Monument of the Millennium in 1963. Incomparable panorama”

Took a pic of a map and that’s what it says - I think it’s where we were idk. All very confusing. They call different things the same name and the same thing different names.
Point being - old place, cool views.
Walked along the view point. There was a purple statue she talked about the legend of a mermaid lady of the city.
We walked down the hill then got an elevator back up.
Came out at a Jewish memorial monument and then went in the Cathedral of Norte Dame (see, another repeat name)
There was a Mass happening which I loved because the singing echoing sounded incredible and the feeling of holiness was uplifting but did think odd as it was 12:30 on a Wednesday afternoon. About 20 all up in attendance but all very spread out. A lovely church. Stain glass windows and all the works. Deceptively large. Outside looks like matchbox.
An important church for the Duke. You are baptism here, married here and put in the crypt here.
Went down to the crypt - 1 obvious crypt/casket and then 2 other maybes. Nothing like the Austrian one with all your relos for the last 1000 years. All 300 of them. 😬👍🏼
Maybe just bad signage or has a secret spot out the back haha.
Last stop after church was just to show us th statue of “Gelle Agra” who was lost for 40 years after the war cause she was hidden and only found in 80’s when doing some construction work.

We talked with 2 guys on our tour. One was Dolten who is Canadian and in our room but also sleeps with hair rollers in which gave me a great amount of joy last night the other was Rob who I wasn’t fussed by. He was Australian. Been to 70 countries so at least had stories.
Rob followed us the chocolate house where you buy a mug of hot milk and a spoon of chocolate and you have to melt the chocolate in the milk. Loved it, had a fab time. Delicious hahah

Had another poke bowl… 👀😆

We have now come back to hostel and are doing washing. Only one washer and owner of previous clothes MIA so had to move his undies 😒😒
He came back and English is POOR just chatting to us in some other language. No idea hey.
Bit of a back log for the dryer now.

So old mate stayed and chatted for TWO HOURS. He was French Canadian but a rather odd person. English improved but still atrocious.
Does not know the word for dry. Had to touch his undies again cause he used the dryer and we asked if they were dry and couldn’t not process this question. Had to touch his clothes myself to give us the all clear to put our stuff in. He stayed THE WHOLE TIME we dried our clothes and was EXTREMELY friendly because we are white… he was wicked racist. And at first I was like translation issue? No.
There is a black man in his room and he is very unhappy about this “this man is very unsafe, very dangerous”
He has made sure all his possessions are locked away because of the bad black man.
Has HE actually done anything to you for you to vehemently distrust him more than anyone else in the room..? or just his existence is enough?
Also recommended cities because all white or dont go there because all black.
Crickey.
Made worse by his bluntness and lack of communication skills.
Very uncomfortable cause you can’t correct him or clarify because of his English but also because a lot of black people are staying here I was so on edge - I am so thankful none of them came to the laundry area to hear him. Very ballsy of him.

He would not leave.

Will currently napping. We are going to go to the oldest pub in Luxembourg shortly.

Jokes no we didn’t. He wanted a burger.

Found a good spot and actually turned out to be great food and live entertainment. Apparently the whole of Luxembourg (or what felt like it) were doing a running race tonight through the city. Started with 2 sprinting men. I said to Will as they pass I wonder which one is the athlete and which one has the ego problem cause they were RUNNING.
A gazillion people then passed a few minutes later.
Lap 2 and man #2 was nowhere to be seen. 😆😆

One dude was enticed by men at the pub, chugged down a beer then kept running. I feel he will have regrets later hahah.
Once dude was in a wheelchair good for him hahah.
I wasn’t paying attention to numbers but 1297 was the number the winner was wearing so at least that many competitors.
It looked fun.
Walked home and have been talking to dolton about doing a hike together tomorrow.
If not we will go to the museum.En savoir plus