Sugary Donuts and Cheesy Royals

One of the great things about living in a European city is that other European cities, as well as countries, are so close. In the time it would normally take to drive to say, Horsham, you can be in another country like Holland, Germany or Luxembourg. With that in mind, Miss K and I jumped on a train last weekend and headed out for Luxembourg city, which is not like Horsham one little bit.
So, a bit of history: If you're after a bit of a medieval experience that goes beyond Kryal Castle then you could do worse than Luxembourg, which began life as a castle on top of an escarpment overlooking a long valley. Over the years the castle became one of the biggest and most forbidding in Europe, before being comprehensively conquered and made even bigger. The town now spreads out into the valley and surrounding area but there is still quite a bit of the castle remaining. A lot of the original walls loom impressively above the floor of the valley. No doubt if I had've been an invader to the old town of Luxembourg, I would have taken one look at those walls and said, 'Well that's that then, let's go and invade Provence, before the English start buying all the property and building holiday villas.' These days the only invaders to Luxembourg, or L'bourg as the locals call it (possibly) are tourists and Miss K and I were no exception.
Luxembourg's one hostel was full of students and backpackers enjoying the simple comforts of an eight bed dorm, likewise many of L'bourg's many hotels were crowded with Germans looking for cheap booze and cigarettes, of which Luxembourg is renowned. Fortunately we managed to score a deal at the Novotel, which for the uninitiated is a large hotel chain that caters to business folk who have a meal allowance and are just in town to move some units, make some deals and press the flesh. We decided to wander through town and take in the sights on our way to the hotel. 'It can't be more than a kilometre,' I said optimistically. Of course not only could it be further, but inevitably it was. Our 'stroll' started out OK, we got a bit lost and Miss K needed to make a base camp for a while so she could stop for rations of goods from a bakery. Eventually we reached a stage where we did only have about a kilometre to go, which happened to be through a park. Sounds nice, sounds simple, sounds, in fact, like a walk in the park. Unfortunately it was more of a trudge up a steep dirt track from the bottom of the valley to the top, where the Novotel was cunningly hidden away in the business district with barely a sign to reveal its presence. Needless to say when we arrived there we were beyond disheveled, we were beyond being any kind of sheveled. They treated us with disdain, looking at my small day pack and Miss K's trolley case which had just survived some serious 4X4 action. We were backpackers on the cheap rate. To make matters worse we had to pass through a bunch of business folk who were milling in the foyer on a break from their conference on better ways to sell two and a half inch hose bits. We looked on with envious eyes as they snacked on plates brimming with cakes and donuts and other sugary things. Especially Miss K who was getting to the stage where she was ready to bite someones head off, if only to satisfy her hunger. Thankfully the gods of travel were smiling at us because after showering and appropriating all the toiletries we struck out for the city renewed. In the foyer an employee was straightening up the afternoon tea. Cakes and donuts were still in much abundance and the nice man noticed our plight, offering us a pick from the leftovers. So it was we made our way into the streets of Luxembourg with a spring in our step from handfuls of calorie laden delights we dubbed 'Foyer Donuts'.
Our remaining time in L'bourg was spent exploring the city, which is really quite spectacular. We explored the rambling foundations of the castle which extended deep into the earth and wandered for kilometres through the city and the valley below, enjoying the sunshine, the amazing architecture and landscapes. Of course we did the typical tourist thing and bought postcards which were of various city-scapes and sights. Probably my favourites though were the postcards featuring various members of the Royal family in differing states of repose and dress. Here they are in the park in white sweaters and casual pants, there they are in suits and dresses and now yet again in full military regalia. Apparently they love their royal family in L'bourg, but I'm not sure how influential they are in relation to the rest of the world. I mean have any of the young sons been on Australian Princess? Until that day comes I'll reserve judgement.
That's it for now. I'll leave you with a common expression from Luxembourg.
'Sorry, I speak only French.'