Luxembourg and Paris

Luxembourg and Paris.

The trip from Zurich to Luxembourg was my longest on a train so far, six hours on one train and two on another. Luckily for me, I prefer train travel to anything else so I was terribly comfortable and content to alternate staring out the window, sleeping, reading and drawing in my sketchbook.

My train came into Luxembourg just after 9pm and my friend Katrin was there to pick me up.

Katrin was my student at Alpha Martial Arts once upon a time. She worked and lived in Seattle for a few years before coming back to Europe. We made friends when she attended Alpha and offered to host me when I traveled through her neck of the continent.

I was a little surprised to be picked up in a car for the first time since I arrived in Europe. Luxembourg is one of the few countries where public transportation is a little lacking and mostly everyone drives. Also, many people commute into Luxembourg City from France, Belgium and Germany. The official language Luxembourgish is a mix of Flemish, French and German.

Katrin owns a beautiful house in a suburb of Luxembourg City and the drive into town is wonderful, crossing through green pastures and forests, up and over hills and along valleys with steep cliff faces on either side. The next morning we came into town together and she went to work while I started the uphill climb into the city.

Luxembourg is a city on a ravine, the older buildings on the highest parts connected by tall arched aqueduct bridges. It's a beautiful and dramatic view. I visited the Casemates, tunnels in the cliffs that have been used for everything from food storage to siege protection. The first tunnels are spacious and we'll lit with large arched openings on either side open to the air beyond, but as I went further and further into the earth the tunnels get tighter, damper and more silent. I'm not claustrophobic but I started to feel the squeeze before too long.

I did what I do best and wandered all morning and afternoon, finding Luxembourg City to be charming in the way that old cities with pedestrian only streets are. One of the squares was in the middle of the weekly market and I admired the flowers, produce, bread and meats for sale. It's a stone city that manages to also be aware of its nature, finding views to the river below, terraced gardens, and green treetops is easy.

That evening we had dinner with some friends of Katrin's, spending a few hours laughing, sipping beers, eating a Luxembourgish cheeseburger followed by chocolate mousse.

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The following day I was supposed to be up and on my way to Brussels but Katrin had planted an idea the day before that rung in my head through the day, refusing to be ignored. "You know." she had said. "Paris is only a two hour train ride from here. You could be there and back in one day, and you only live once."

So to Paris I went, a the frightfully early time of 7:55 I hopped a high speed TVG train and was in the Gare d'Est by 10:30. I grabbed a map from an info desk and walked out into what was turning out to be a beautiful day in the Parisian streets.

I've been to Paris before, but in a similar capacity where I only had a day, or less than a day to explore as much as I could. I knew I couldn't do the Louvre with my measly 8 hours in the city and decided this would primarily be an outdoor exploring adventure. Walking through the city to see the major outdoor attractions as well as getting a feel for some of the neighborhoods and the city in general.

First things first though, breakfast. Due to the early train there hadn't been time so I walked as far away from the station as I could before finding a promising cafe and sat down to an exquisite quiche Lorraine.

After breakfast I headed in a generally Northwest direction, following the map at times and my nose the rest. Soon I was in the artsy Montmartre neighborhood and saw the beacon of the Sacré-Cœur Cathedral rising above the rooftops. Approaching it the ambiance of the city changed immediately, from homey and artsy into tourism central. I observed a ball and cups game in a crosswalk for a few minutes where some serious cash was being passed around. Once at the foot of the hill where Sacré-Cœur is the cherry on top- the number of people, tourists and people preying on tourists skyrocketed to a level I've never seen before in person.

Sacré-Cœur's position on the top of the hill and the various zig-zagging staircases up to it beg to be climbed and explored. I started up, eyes on the prize and also on my bag. On the way up I was approached by several groups of people, the first saying they were taking signatures for a petition and we're obviously no. The second were men selling string bracelets where one reached to hold my arm to tie it on. Several serious "No"s worked just fine and they left me alone, but I was amazed to see how many others were taken in.

At the top I entered the multi-domed Sacré-Cœur and was momentarily stunned by the beautiful building, the aisles circle a large central dome with arches and statues of angels at the corner pillars appearing to be holding the dome in flight. The church is filled with paintings as well as "hush" signs. When I entered there was a service going on, about a hundred people sat in the pews while thousands meandered through the outer aisles in a stream of constant humanity. I sat for a bit and sketched while communion ended and the nuns circled the altar and began to sing. An ethereal call and response that echoed off the walls and covered the constant murmur of the tourists like a blanket, shushing them all.

I've had the chance to observe a fair share of cathedrals in the last few weeks and I always wonder how they manage the fact that the building is a place of worship, yes, but also a serious attraction. People want to see it and generally the cathedrals find a way to deal with us. Some have posted services where sight-seeing is absolutely not allowed, some continue on as usual, ignoring the tourists and hoping they will be polite like in Sacré-Cœur. The sheer size of the Dom in Cologne manages to eat the tourist's noise, enveloping it into the stones, losing it in the soaring arches. Some of the churches are silent, even with hundreds of people and others have been noisy and bustling . I'm not sure what the deciding variable is.

Upon exiting the Cathedral the city of Paris spread out before me to the south. I looked for the Eiffel Tower in the distance but couldn't pick it out. I sat down with my map in a less busy corner and re-evaluated.

I wanted to walk as much as I could, but knew I would have to cheat and use the metro to avoid getting exhausted before my remaining six hours were up. It had taken me about twenty-five minutes to walk from the Gare d'Est to Sacré-Cœur and based on that distance on the map walking to the main sights on the river wouldn't be reasonable. So I caught the metro to the west side of the Eiffel Tower, emerging with a crowd of commuters under the iconic piece of architecture.

I went up the tower last time I visited Paris and waiting in the snaking line to go up again was not tempting. I passed under the tower, admiring it's fine arches through to the park on the other side. I hung a left and walked over the river to the large and small palaces that I believe are now museums. On the other side of them was the Champs Elysee, perhaps the most famous street in the world, mostly it's a very wide road with rows of trees on either side. One can see all the way from the Louvre past the obelisk Napoleon took from Egypt all the way to to the Arc de Triomphe. That the axis and the view is so major and unencumbered is probably why it's famous.

I planned badly and by the time I was walking through the Tuileries Garden to the Louvre I was starving and not willing to put the normal plan into action of walking as far away from the major attraction as possible before buying food. I stupidly fell into the first cafe I could find and ate a good but extraordinarily overpriced meal. Always bring snacks, especially if your "last straw" is hunger. Silly.

Quickly though, the cafe was behind me and the Louvre was in front. I admired the buildings and the pyramid fountains, dipping my hand into the water before heading still further East out the back gate.

By then it was 4 and I had just enough to walk a bit further along the river, cross to the island and visit Notre Dame, perhaps the most famous Cathedral in the world. I can only describe it as startlingly beautiful, I was almost creeped out it was so gorgeous. Large chandeliers hang between the arches, and uplighting illuminates the upper braces and keyhole arches, making the main aisle look visible and also mysterious. At some point a very clever lighting designer was on the payroll at Notre Dame.

Again I wandered through with the flow of people through the secondary aisles. Notre Dame has managed to combine its religious purpose with its tourist destination reality very well. It's part museum, info center, and active place of worship.

Upon exiting the Cathedral it was time to make my way back to the train. My feet sore but my self very happy to have been able to swing a visit. Paris is its very unique, the feel of the city is different than any other I've visited. I definitely hope to go back.