Stad Lëtzebuerg (18th April 2014)

Stad Lëtzebuerg (The City of Luxembourg) is the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg).

The World Bank lists Luxembourg as a developed country with GDP per capita inferior to only first-placed Qatar. It's strategic location has made it crucial to the Roman Empire among many others. (Strategic location... that sounds so Singapore...)

Today, it is also the judiciary and financial capital of the European Union. That's also the reason why many of the French are travelling into Luxembourg daily to work, before heading back in the evening. It is after all, only a 1 hour train ride from Metz.

Luxembourg is officially trilingual, where they learn both Luxembourgish and German in primary school before switching to French in secondary school. Apparently, they are required to have proficiency in all 3 languages to graduate from secondary school. (If they were to enforce this in Singapore, our poor students are going to suffer. 讲华语 is so frowned upon by fellow classmates these days, it's just appalling and I am very put off by Chinese Singaporeans people who say "I hate Chinese".)

*Breathe...

The city still retains its culture and heritage, as evident from the Casemates etc. All in all, a very nice city to visit for the day, also because not too many tourists would come here ;)

Kathedral Notre-Dame (Notre-Dame Cathedral, Luxembourg) is the only cathedral in Luxembourg. Another Baroque-styled, it was further expanded and enlarged during the late 1930s.

The Gëlle Fra monument. In commemoration of the volunteers for the Allies during WWI.

Spuerkeess, the Luxembourg bank established and owned by the Luxembourg government. When you're the 2nd highest in the world in terms of GDP per capita, you can definitely have a fairytale-like building for your bank.

Adolphe-Bréck (Adolphe Bridge) is perhaps one of Luxembourg City's main tourist attractions and also an unofficial symbol of the city. It is now undergoing major renovation works as you can see from the blue things below it.

Cercle-Cité (Cercle Municipal) at Place d'Armes. It is on this square that Luxembourg welcomed its liberators on 10th September 1944.

Hôtel de Ville of Luxembourg. It's puny compared to the massive one in Nancy, that's for sure.

The Grand Ducal Palace, home to the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, with incoming rainclouds.

Grund, in the valley below the city on the banks of the Alzette River, with St John's church taking a big part of this photo. Wasn't anything spectacular though.

The view from the Casemates of St Michael's Church.

From within the Bock (Casemates), out of the darkness within and into the light!

The Fortress of Luxembourg was known as the "Gibraltar of the North" because it was almost impregnable. This it just outside the remaining fortress walls. Most of it has already been demolished, hence leaving behind what is known today as the Casemates.

Down at the Grund among very pretty flowers. Oh... the colours :D

The Three Towers are isolated away from the Casemates and seem rather insignificant today. It was part of a defensive fortress and a prison in the past though and once you go past them, you'll have been considered as outside of the city.

The modern section of the city where the financial district and the European Union buildings are all at. Taken with the maximum zoom possible.

Court of Justice in Luxembourg. While anything to do with the European Union is located away from the city centre, most of the government buildings, including the Courts are located within close proximity of each other and close to the city centre. Town planning of a different kind then...

Gare Lëtzebuerg (Luxembourg Railway Station), built in the traditional Moselle Baroque Revival style, in the evening sun with a CargoLux plane flying by.

Luxembourg, as depicted on a stained glass inside the railway station. Came in from Metz in the morning and as we headed back, we saw some of the same few people who took the morning train with us. In their suits, ties and office attire, I'm guessing they probably live in Metz but they travel up to Luxembourg everyday just for work.

Nancy: Non inultus premor (16th-17th April 2014)

Non inultus premor (Latin for "I shall not return unavenged") is the motto for the city of Nancy ("Non-see") which is a reference to the thistle (Lorraine's symbol).

Like most French cities, Nancy has a very rich culture, which is evident from its massive collection in its Fine Arts Museum (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy) as well as the fact that multiple buildings at Place Stanislas (Nancy's central square) have "World Heritage" status. While it is clearly obvious that the sun was blazing strong, there was a slight breeze that kept the city cool.

A number of iconic buildings were under construction, one of which was the Nancy Central Station, which was a real pity, because it is in itself a key attraction. I reckon just a full day of walking around the city would be perfect!

(Written on 2nd July 2014)

Place Stanislas, the main square of Nancy is among one of the few squares in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list (as a single entry with Place de la Carriere and Place d'Alliance). It's surrounded by City Hall (South), the Fine Arts Museum (West) and the Opera Theatre (East). The North side of the square has buildings which are slightly "shorter" than the other sides to allow for "crossfire between Vaudemont and Haussonville bastions".

Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l'Annonciation de Nancy (Nancy Cathedral) houses what has been known as the Great Organ of the Cathedral of Nancy. It is located away from the main square and is in what is considered the New Town instead.

Back at Place Stanislas facing the North side with the Saint-Epvre Basilica in the background. The fact that the square had so much gold/yellow colour meant I just had to take this photo with the effects and all.

Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) in the morning sun. This massive building makes up the entire South side of Place Stanislas and houses the Tourism office in the corner.

Place de la Carrière (2nd of the single entry in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list). The gold and yellow give off a very hot and warm feel but as you can see, it clearly was cold... The huge row of trees lined up along the square seems to lead you towards Palais du Gouvernement, as seen in the background.

Pretty in Pink at the Parc de la Pépinière. Located in the city centre just beside the Palais du Gouvernement, this park is half the size of Pooh bear's home and also houses a small little zoo and a puppet theatre.

Admiring beautiful peacocks in the Parc de la Pépinière zoo...

La Porte de la Craffe, Grand Rue. It's actually a gate built in the 14th century at Vieille Ville. Looks a lot like some part of a Disney or fairy castle though :)

The majestic Neo-Gothic Saint-Epvre Basilica. It's massive size probably gives you the impression that it's one of the oldest churches in Nancy, but it's actually one of the newer ones.

At the back courtyard of the Saint-Epvre Basilica. It was funded by donations from Austria and Poland back during its construction.

Are those hounds or wolves? Whatever they are, they're guardians of this little mansion.

Back at Hôtel de Ville in the late afternoon sun to head to the Musée des Beaux Arts (Fine Arts Museum)

The Musée des Beaux Arts was so good and while it was all in French, the beautiful art works were amazing! Just back out to get some of the sun again.

There's something about Nancy's Hôtel de Ville that makes me so intrigued by it... Maybe it's the gold!

The Baroque-styled Église Saint-Sébastien as the sun sets... I've realized one thing about Nancy... She loves telling the time! There are clocks on almost every single main building...

Straßburg: Carrefour de L’Europe (16th April 2014)

Carrefour de L’Europe (Crossroads of Europe) or Capital of Europe to be more exact. Strasbourg is the home of the European Parliament and is therefore the democratic and legislative capital of Europe.

Both French and German culture can be seen throughout the city, largely because of its close proximity to Germany. It was therefore not much of a surprise to hear people speaking Deutsch along the way. (Also the reason why the title is both German and French :P)

While the European Parliament is one of the city’s key features, it is the Grande Ale, (Grand Island) that is historically and culturally synonymous with Strasbourg. 

These are the short stories while spending a day at the Crossroads of Europe...

(Written on 1st June 2014)

Crossing the bridge to Grande Île (Grand Island), which is on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The island has a handful of old churches and is also home to Place Kléber, the central square of Strasbourg city. St Thomas' Church was supposed to be next, but most of it was under maintenance.

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg (Strasbourg Cathedral): A mix of Romanesque and Gothic architecture, this "gigantic and delicate marvel" (Victor Hugo) was for a few hundred years the world's tallest building! Like the Frauenkirche in München, this cathedral has a Legend involving the Devil, which again is a story for another day.

Palais Rohan lies along the Ill River and houses 3 museums: Fine Arts, Archaeological and Decorative Arts. The Palace is listed by France's Ministry of Culture as a National Heritage Site.

Walking along the Ill River with Église Saint-Guillaume (St William's Church) on the opposite side of the river. Sunny it may be, but it was really rather windy and cold.

 

Taking in the warmth of the sun with Église Saint-Paul de Strasbourg (St Paul's Church) in the background and the Ill River.

Église Saint-Paul de Strasbourg (St Paul's Church): Also listed by France's Ministry of Culture as a National Heritage Site. It's prime location and twin spires mean that it can be spotted from afar (as can be seen in the previous).

Make a guess what this building is? Except for the fact that it's an EU building, it's hard to tell what it is. Found out after that it is the supra-national European Court of Human Rights...

The European Parliament: The city of Strasbourg is the official seat of the European Parliament. It also has a name, i.e. The Louise Weiss Building.

With the Louise Weiss Building behind me, it was really interesting for me to come here especially having just finished my EU Law course back then. The recently concluded EU Parliament elections, it has to be said for sure that the EU will remain the only supra-national organisation for quite a long while more. ASEAN will most certainly not be following in its footsteps anytime soon.

As much as it was nice to go all the way to the EU Parliament, it meant that we had to come back the same way we came from. That said, it also meant capturing the other side of St. Paul's.

Palais du Rhin is in the German section of Strasbourg. It's much larger than it seems here and is said to be the largest 19th century Prussian architecture that was fully preserved. It takes up most of Place de la République (Republic Square) which is now a garden with lots of pretty flowers. The Strasbourg Monument aux Morts, built to remember the children who lost their lives in WWI, is located close by,

Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire (National University Library) is directly opposite the Palais du Rhin. It is said to home to the second-largest collection of volumes (around 3 million).

Strasbourg was a nice and pretty city to take a stroll around. Just a day trip there was just about right. Had my first taste of delightful French food though. More to come then... Au Revior Strasbourg and Bonsiour Nancy!

Enjoying a nice evening in the Place de la République. The adorable baby here just can't help smiling :)