The discreet charm of Luxembourg City (by kerouac2)
Jul 22, 2015 14:05:28 GMT
Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2015 14:05:28 GMT
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg elicits extremely conflicting opinions from its closest neighbours and blank stares from just about everybody else in the world. My French family lived in a village just 45 kilometres from the border of Luxembourg and has probably had more contact with the country than most, even though it was often for the purpose of buying cheaper alcohol and petrol, which are still cheaper there than in France in the year 2015 albeit not as dramatically cheaper as they used to be. Quite a few of the childhood trips to Luxembourg lasted a grand total of about 45 minutes. Tobacco has alays been a big draw as well, but it must be admitted that these things contribute only very marginally to the economy of the country, which is based on banking and international institutions.
The national population is fewer than 600,000 people, and only half of them are from Luxembourg. The largest resident group of foreigners is from Portugal (almost 100,000) followed by the French (35,000). However, an additional 100,000 French cross the border every day to work there as well as many thousand Belgians and Germans. I don't know about those last two nationalities, but French workers in Luxembourg earn about double what they would earn in France. According the the IMF, the GDP of Luxembourg is the highest in the world.
So why is the place so boring and insignificant? Well, it isn't, really. It just likes to keep a low profile. Anyway, even though I have been there dozens of times since my childhood and had even spent the night there a few times, I had never really spent a full day in Luxembourg City just to look at it. I decided that it was high time to take corrective action. The city is by no means a hot spot, of course -- the population is just over 110,000.
We always used to arrive in the area of the train station, which is at the far end from the "banking" side. I feel more at home there, so that's where I chose to book a hotel, even though it is the last somewhat sleazy area of the city. The hotels (most of them) are not sleazy, the station itself is not sleazy, and the buildings are changing fast, but train stations always attract transients, ladies and men of the night and certain establishments that cater to people in search of anonymous pleasures, not to mention greasy kebabs.
The national population is fewer than 600,000 people, and only half of them are from Luxembourg. The largest resident group of foreigners is from Portugal (almost 100,000) followed by the French (35,000). However, an additional 100,000 French cross the border every day to work there as well as many thousand Belgians and Germans. I don't know about those last two nationalities, but French workers in Luxembourg earn about double what they would earn in France. According the the IMF, the GDP of Luxembourg is the highest in the world.
So why is the place so boring and insignificant? Well, it isn't, really. It just likes to keep a low profile. Anyway, even though I have been there dozens of times since my childhood and had even spent the night there a few times, I had never really spent a full day in Luxembourg City just to look at it. I decided that it was high time to take corrective action. The city is by no means a hot spot, of course -- the population is just over 110,000.
We always used to arrive in the area of the train station, which is at the far end from the "banking" side. I feel more at home there, so that's where I chose to book a hotel, even though it is the last somewhat sleazy area of the city. The hotels (most of them) are not sleazy, the station itself is not sleazy, and the buildings are changing fast, but train stations always attract transients, ladies and men of the night and certain establishments that cater to people in search of anonymous pleasures, not to mention greasy kebabs.
So to start, here is the train station. It has recently been expanded with a glass addition.
The technique used was exactly the same as was done in Strasaboug -- wrap a glass bubble over existing buildings.
The historic part of the station (a miniature copy of the Metz station) still looks the same.
Unlike Paris, Luxembourg still has lots of pissotières right in the middle of things.
The Paul fast food place at the station would probably put most other Paul shops to shame.
The technique used was exactly the same as was done in Strasaboug -- wrap a glass bubble over existing buildings.
The historic part of the station (a miniature copy of the Metz station) still looks the same.
Unlike Paris, Luxembourg still has lots of pissotières right in the middle of things.
The Paul fast food place at the station would probably put most other Paul shops to shame.