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.
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