James Went To Luxembourg

The final adventure on my rail tour of Europe took me to Luxembourg.

By this point I was pretty tired, and wondered why I hadn’t booked a holiday to Spain or something, but hey, there was a new country to go to – the closest country to the UK that I had yet to visit.

After a pretty un-scenic train journey of around 50 minutes from Metz, I arrived in Luxembourg – I decided that I’d be a proper tourist and do one of those “free” walking tours.

Which was a wise choice, except for all the further walking I had to do on my blistered right foot.

I got to see the changing of the guards, learn about the proper Luxembourg flag, loads of history that I forgot by the next day and get some of the more scenic views.

Luxembourg (city) is pretty stunning.

I had a beer for lunch.

Believe it or not, that wasn’t me pouring it.

I also found a traditional Luxembourgan restaurant, Café-Restaurant Um Dierfgen, where I had some kind of cordon-blue dish with a mound of mushroom sauce.

Yeah, it looks like vomit but it was one of the tastiest things of the holiday. Quite why they were so bad on presenting things, I have no idea. They also sold horse…of which I didn’t dare. Would you judge me if I did?

There wasn’t much else to do, at least not left in my budget – whilst not as expensive as Switzerland, Luxembourg certainly was pricey – some of the chocolate in the artisan chocolate shops were like €9 for a tiny bar – a size which makes Cadbury’s look generous.

But there was time to go for a scenic walk along the river, and find a craft beer place, called The Store, and have a beer in the sunshine.

Ahhhh.

Would I Travel By Train Through Europe Again?

I loved my train adventure through Europe but it was knackering. I came back shattered – and needing a holiday.

I think I could have planned it better. I should have stayed in Strasbourg for 3 nights and not gone to Metz – not that that would have reduced tiredness much, but Strasbourg was way cooler, and it was a comfortable hotel.

I also could have stayed in nicer places, especially the Metz hotel. For some reason, I am quite happy to buy the most expensive beer, but for hotels I still have the mode of finding the cheapest half-decent place, instead of maybe spending a bit more to have something more comfortable.

Yet I have vague plans for more train journeys.

One is quite simple – from Oslo to Bergen, over the Norwegian mountains. It looks STUNNING.

Another is along the coast in Italy, from Rome, through Naples, perhaps stopping in Salerno or somewhere further down the coast – arriving into Sicily. I’d have to split the journey up into 3 or 4 parts, but the tickets still total around £60 or so, which is a bargain – plus the train goes onto a boat from Italy to Sicily – how cool is that?

Anyway. Luxembourg is cool – it’s worth a day trip for sure, maybe an overnight stay if you can cope with those hotel prices.