Luxembourg

Sunday October 11th

AEGEE (also an international student organization) planned a group trip to Luxembourg, which is the capital city of the country with the same name. Luxembourg is a small land locked country sharing its borders with France, Belgium, and Germany. Being surrounded by such large and well known countries, it is easy to tour Europe and leave it unnoticed. However, if able to visit, one should definitely take the opportunity. One would also expect that in a tiny country it would be difficult to communicate with the locals, but it is quite the opposite. French is the official language but most people speak German or English as well. In fact, the city is one of the three official capitals of the European Union and home to the European Court of Justice. Because the city also has one of the highest ranking per capita income in the world, it happens to be a huge finance and banking hub.

Unfortunately for us, we went on a Sunday, when most of these places were closed. However, the weather was sunny and there was fireman's parade so the streets were busy.

Here the firefighters were performing a street comedy show in their mini fire truck.

Technically a Grand Duchy and not a kingdom, this is the home of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Henri, and his family.

Not complete without a royal guard of course (bottom left)

The highlight of the day trip was the old town. Enclosed in a fortifying wall with the Alzette river running through, it truly is a breathtaking view, which I do not believe this picture does justice to.