Sav: Guess what. You’ll never guess. We had toast for breakfast! Meaghan’s favourite! No just kidding f* that. I mean I know it’s free, but still…

The whole reason we even put Luxembourg on the list is because my family has this book at home that I read through a long time ago. The book is massive (needs your whole lap size) and has one page for every country in the world. The Luxembourg page has a photo on it of a view of Bock and the Bock Casemates that I was determined to find while we are here, so that was priority number one today. Mission accepted. After some quick research and a chat with the hostel owners we walked up the steep valley hill towards the view, labelled “Europe’s most beautiful balcony.”

If you’ve been following along you’ll know we have a thing for balconies…

M: Yes, we are on the hunt for the perfect balcony. Sidenote here – Spain has the best balconies, with Venice at a close second.

Anyways, back to Luxembourg! Turns out we were just around the corner from the view, so up the hill we went et voilà! Savanna’s excitement meant she was walking uncharacteristically fast and for once I was the one lagging behind. We stopped along the way to read a few interpretive panels and to huff and puff before finally arriving at the view. A river running through the valley led up to a series of small, green, tiered gardens, sitting at the base of the tall old castle walls from the 10th century. We looked down on this view from above on ‘Europe’s most beautiful balcony’. There’s something about taking big gulps of cold air on a bright sunny day that really makes you feel alive. Filling our lungs with the crisp air on our hike up, combined with Sav’s enthusiasm made this a really special moment.

Once we were done with this view, we walked through the streets of Luxembourg’s old city and found a beautiful café. It was more or less my eight year old self’s fantasy. The walls were pink, there was a giant chandelier and fancy table settings. Naturally, we had to sit down for some macaroons and coffee to fulfill my inner child’s dreams. We also needed our advent calendar treat for the day, so this was killing two birds with one stone. It felt like being in a doll house for a tea party and I was strangely giddy the entire time. We chose blackcurrant violet and rose petal macaroons to accompany our café viennois. Everything about this country has been lovely.

S: It really has been lovely, almost like a Disney fairytale town come to life. It was quite cold out with a harsh wind so we decided to scurry over to the castle for a tour. Turns out they don’t actually do tours and you just walk around the outside gates. Guards marching around combined with the frosty wind meant we didn’t stay long to look, however beautiful the whole thing was. Instead we went over to a museum we had seen earlier saying that entry was free. Free? Yes! In an expensive town that’s just what we love to hear.

I’m really glad it was free in the end because we walked in, went to start at the top floor… And realized it was a lot of modern art. We walked through slowly, staring confusedly at paintings of nothing and giant faces in what can only be described as ‘5 year old style.’ We got to the next floor which was all religious paintings…. And then another floor where landscapes and paintings were made of cut outs from magazines. Oh and then just thrown in there for good measure was a Picasso.

It was really confusing, to say the least. After 3 floors Meaghan finally looks at me and goes: “I hate to say it but I’m actually looking at the frames now instead of the art….” (M: for the record, the frames were all gold and very elaborate). We left the other 3 floors to our imaginations and instead opted to hunt for some hot choky.

M: We found another Christmas market! There was some really pretty jewelry and our favourite – food! (S: food in general is our favourite now I guess.) Sav had a hankering for currywurst so we indulged in that. This market had a Ferris wheel and merry-go-round too. They really have this whole Christmas thing figured out in Europe.

By now though the wind had gotten quite nippy so we headed back to the hostel to warm up. We played a few rounds of cards and I redeemed myself after getting skunked a couple times on the train the other day, even though Sav got a 22-point hand. (S: if you know crib at all, you’ll know I was pretty proud of that one).

We returned to the first market for the evening. The wind had died down and the market was even more lively. The atmosphere is so jolly, it’s fun to just hang out here. We shared some raclette, mini pirogies and a big ball of something filled with nougat. We wanted to end with a warm dessert so decided to try a crêpe Napoleon, not knowing what it was. Turns out it is a crèêe sprinkled with sugar and doused in Grand Marnier! We took our first bite and Savanna was not a fan, making a similar face to the one I make when I have cough syrup. I took a bite too, but sadly I can’t have alcohol with my medication right now and this thing was soaked in it. At least we know what it is now!

S: I barely even read the menu, thinking it said Neapolitan – as in crème and chocolate. But no, Napoleon. Burnt my mouth with that one, I did. We decided after trying almost every single food there that it was time to stop the gluttony train and head back to the hostel for a movie. Meaghan sang me an unforgettable rendition of ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’ before we settled in to watch the movie ‘Love, Rosie.’

Such a great day together.

S&M