After a 43-minute train trip from Trier, costing €10.40 each for a return ticket, we arrived in Luxembourg. The weather was perfect. We did not know what we wanted to see, but we strolled around for several hours and participated in one tour of the Casements (a UNESCO heritage listed site). The Casements provided Luxembourg with a fabulous fortress to protect its residents.

The interesting difference between Germany and Luxembourg was not the change to speaking in French (because we expected this), although we did expect a little more German to be spoken as it too is a recognised language of this small country. No, the difference was the ‘style’ of many of the women and man, and the increased quality in fashion shops. I have included a photo of a dress I really liked although I was a little taken back by its price of €3,950. It is the one on the LHS of the photo.

There were not many people around when we first arrived, with the exception of the bus loads of Japanese tourists, so we had the place to ourselves. Note the photo of me on the steps of the Town Hall and then Michael with the marching guard outside the Palace. Michael is also posing in front of a statue using the pose we have seen many Japanese women use. We smile in our photos, but they seem to want to look sexy with a pout.

I have included some photos of views of the old town from the Casements.

We were advised not to go on the tour if we suffered from claustrophobia and after getting lost a few times in small tunnels well beneath the fortress, we realised why. We enjoyed the tour, but we were pleased to get back out into the open air.