Knowing we were on a short visit we were up early and ready to go. We walked into town and went to a patisserie we had eyed the night before, but it wasn't open on a Monday! We found another one and had coffees and the most delicious croissants. My body was aching and waiting for the drugs to kick in, so we decided to do a hop on hop off bus tour, €14 for me and €12 for the student. We got front seats up top of the open top bus and plugged in our headphones. It was already warm.
The tour was pretty good and gave us a grand tour from the centre, to the business district and all the banks and UN buildings, back around the Gare centre and and back to the start . We stayed on as we had made a plan by then, starting at the interesting looking Philharmonie Concert Hall.
It was even more interesting once we were walking around it. It is surrounded by pairs of columns that you can walk through. It is really beautiful and definitely an interactive space.
We then found ourselves at the MUDAM, a modern art gallery and it was open! Much of Luxembourg appears to be closed on a Monday. We paid our €7 each. The student is too old to qualify for the discount here! The gallery is celebrating 10 years and has an exhibition by artist Wim Delvoye. His work is varied, but most of it is really cool.
There were crucifixes twisted into odd, but beautiful shapes, cement trucks made out of beautiful lattice metal work, indicative of religious buildings, and some truck tyres delicately carved in lace patterns. The gallery was a great space, designed by the same architect that created the Pyramid at the Louvre. There weren't many people visiting so we received a little too much attention from the security staff . Obviously they have nothing much to do.
We continued our whirlwind tour of Luxembourg, walking down into the old town. We descened a little dirt track through lush greenery and trees, stepping over the roots and rocks. We found ourselves on a road that zig zagged down the hill. The views were really beautiful, looking back over the city, the three spires of Notre Dame looking like a castle surrounded by a green forest. There were a few cars speeding around the road and a few crazy people jogging up and down the steep incline.
We decided to eat in the Clausen area (though we thought we were in Grund) and found an eating area. It looked pretty quiet, a lot of the restaurants were closed. We sat outside in a place called Maria Bonita. We hadn't seen a menu, but it looked OK. We ordered beers and then discovered we were in a Spanish buffet place. I had the one meat, 2 hot sides and salad deal and Ken had the weigh your plate and pay by the grams. Mine was €12.50, his was €16.90, but when we left we realised he had paid the whole €19.50 for as much as you want. Not the greatest meal, but we were sitting by the river out of the sun in a nice setting.
We continued to walk towards the old Abbaye in Neimenster. This was being set up for a concert, but you could see how lovely it was. We walked along a ridge, overlooking the Abbaye and down from the city centre, such a picturesque setting. We finally found ourselves at Grund and the elevator that takes you all the way back up into the city . What a bonus!
We ended back near the law courts and after a wander through the the streets again we stopped at a bar for another beer. It was so hot! Ken did a bit of sketching, I chatted online to Talia and we toasted Simon for his birthday. A lovely little bit of relaxation, sitting at an outside table, watching the world go by and admiring the architecture of the city.
We walked though the shopping area back to the hotel, stopping to buy an Amarino icecream, where we freshened up, repacked and rested before dinner.
We had checked out an area I had seen online while we were out earlier called Ilôt Gastronomique , a little corridor in town where there are different restaurants tucked into spaces. We went into the Italian one, Come Prima. It had low ceilings with wooden beams and old rock walls. The menu sounded fantastic and we were looking forward to a great meal. My entree was a celebration of tomatoes, with a tomato tartare, a tomato brûlée (with burnt sugar topping), a cheese stuffed cherry tomato and a tomato and basil sorbet. Yum. Ken had a tasty rolled pasta thing but mine was better!
Main was a seared tuna and roasted potatoes. Ken had a duck and cherry sauce. His was probably nicer, but they were both pretty good. Too stuffed to fit in dessert (what?) we had coffees which were delivered with little chocolate cornflake crackle sort of things. A really delicious meal. Best meal of the trip? Maybe.
We waddled back home through the City Gardens park opposite our hotel.
A great day in Luxembourg. We didn't see it all, but we gave it a good go!

Steps 21,097
Kms walked 16.4