This morning I got up at 5.30 (yuck!), packed up and walked to the station. It was really dark and there was a very thick fog over Bayeux so it was really eerie, but I was ok.
Got my first train and changed at Paris. Unfortunately I arrived at Gare St Lazare but my next train left from Gare de l'Est. But that's ok, I walked the 30 minutes in the sun and arrived in plenty of time. Even had a look in the shops and 8 months on replaced the cardigan I lost in Poland last year! Those who are close to me know what a big deal this is - I have never been so devastated about losing an item of clothing as I was about that cardigan haha!!
Got on my next train. Sat there for a little while and a message came over the speakers in French. Everyone around me let out a groan in unison and I knew it was bad news. Thankfully the lady next to me spoke English and told me that we would be delayed by 30 minutes due to an accident on the line ahead. This was a bummer because I only had 15 minutes between my next change of trains. Two years ago this would've stressed me out, but travelling has taught me you've absolutely zero control over these things so you must take them as they come. So I passed the time by talking to the lady, turned out she works at the Louvre!
We set off 25 minutes later than expected. At this point I was super impressed with the service on the train. A conductor came along shortly after we left and the lady next to me said he was looking for people who would miss their trains. He spoke perfect English and told me not to worry, that trains to Luxembourg left every 30 minutes from Metz (where I was changing). Made it even more stress free!!
So I changed in Metz. As you can guess from the name it's really close to the border of Germany. The lady from the train told me to look in the street outside and see the difference in architecture and it looked very different to me! Funny how everything differs in such short distances over here.
The train ride to Luxembourg took just under an hour and I was in country #43 - woohoo! I basically came to Luxembourg because it's so close to France and Belgium that I couldn't resist. Before last night's google search I didn't even know what language they spoke or what currency they used here!
Walked from the station to my hostel. Want to get fit? Come to Luxembourg City. Oh. My. God. Most European cities aren't suitcase friendly already due to cobblestones. Throw in the steepest footpaths I've ever seen and a 20kg suitcase and you're in for super fun times. Today was also the "hottest" day I've had since in Europe, a whopping 19 degrees! ;) But being in direct sunlight climbing hills with a case tired me very quickly. But I found the hostel and all was ok.
I set off walking. Can't really give you much history yet apart from the town was founded in 963, I'm doing some walking tours in the the next two days so should be able to then. All the historical signs are in French and German but not English. Still confused about what language is spoken here. It must be a variation of German because some of the words the people say I've never heard at all. Everyone is really friendly and speaks English though so it's fine!!
I basically spent the afternoon wandering. Went to tourist info and got a map, walked around some squares, shopping streets etc. Then I got to a huge viaduct and the views over the valley below the city were so beautiful! Tried three people with photos of me and the view - all terrible. Mum, where are you?! Haha. But it was so pretty I just stood and admired for a while.
I then walked back down to the hostel and up the hill called Kerchberg. It's so beautiful here! And spring makes it even more gorgeous. Birds chirping, flowers starting to show. I walked around the fortress type buildings up there and then headed back down.
As you know if you've been reading I've just had ten nights in hotels so completely by myself. Now I'm back in a hostel and was just starting to give myself a hard time about not meeting anyone when I was asking the receptionist something and a girl next to me said "where in Australia are you from?". Bam. Instant friends, hostel life is so funny! You go from a solo traveller to a pair or group in an instant. We chatted so fast in "Australian" according to the man on reception that he couldn't understand our English haha.
The girl's name is Lisa and she's from Devonport in Tassie but has been living and working in the UK for 2.5 years. Boy do we both have a lot in common! We both travel solo lots, write a blog and heaps more! We had a great couple of hours walking around town as the sun went down. We walked so long that all the shops closed so guess what we had for dinner....3 scoop ice creams! Oops.
We came back and I had a shower, now we are downstairs blogging and cooking the only food Lisa has - cous cous - and eating my muesli bars! Tomorrow we are going to go to a supermarket and have bread and cheese and wine for dinner up in the fortress I was at before!!
Apart from Lisa I've now met three German girls too who I'm sharing my dorm with. They're from Nuremburg and are all lovely too :) Don't know why I have myself a hard time earlier, I'm settling back into hostel life just fine!!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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