Day 28 Saturday, September 27, 2025
We drive a half hour to a free parking lot on the outskirts of Luxembourg city, then catch a bus to the downtown area. We should have realized something was wrong when we passed this interesting looking tower…we saw it when we drove to the parking lot. So…we caught the bus going the wrong way and ended up at different parking lot on the outskirts of the city! The bus driver told us where to get the tram we now need to use to get into the city. Luckily all the public transportation in Luxembourg is free!
We pass this renovation site on the way to downtown. I am impressed that buildings are almost always repaired, not demolished.
Walking downtown we pass a Cartier store. The necklace is ‘only’ 191,000€, the two bracelets are 26,900€ and 36,200€ and the ring is 113,000€…just a wee bit out of my price range!
We find a Post Office to buy stamps. While we are writing on the postcards, my purse falls down between the counter and the wall…a narrow space less than a foot wide! I have to ask the security guard to come help. Even though his arms are much longer than mine he is just barely able to reach my purse. My phone fell out when he pulled my purse up but luckily it is on a cord attached to my purse so it didn’t fall to the bottom of the space behind the counter!
There is a big park downtown, at the base of high cliffs.
Yes, another church! The cathedral “Notre-Dame” of Luxembourg was built between 1613 and 1621 by the Jesuits. The stained glass windows make a stunning backdrop for the altar.
There are many paintings and tapestries in this cathedral, and the stone pillars are decorated with intricate carving.
I look up and there are paintings on the ceiling high above the nave.
We pass the National Monument in Memory of the Victims of the Shoah in Luxembourg (1940-1945). The monument was inaugurated on 17 June 2018. It is named after the Kaddish, one of the most famous Jewish prayers recited as part of mourning rituals in Judaism.
Luxembourg City has an upper plateau, which contains the historic Old Town, and a lower valley known as Grund. This area is home to some of the oldest and most picturesque buildings in the city, dating back to the 14th century. Take notice of the suspended platform on the right of this photo.
People are dining in the sky! I am not sure why anyone would want to do this. It does not appeal to me in the least, but for 325€ per person you can have lunch prepared by Michelin chefs 50 meters high above the ground!
We were in Luxembourg 46 years ago, but all I can remember is looking down from high walls onto the city, like we are doing here.
We take an elevator down to the lower part of town and cross a bridge on our way to the Natural History Museum.
I would not want to be a bus driver here, the streets are very narrow. 
We see our first halloween decorations.
The current St. John the Baptist church dates back to the 17″ century. Its rich Baroque furnishings are not its original ones, they were taken from other churches during the period after the French Revolution!
In the valley looking up at the upper city.
As we enter the Natural History Museum I am startled by the man sitting on the red couch. From a distance I thought he was a real person.
It isn’t a big museum and after a quick look around I find a spot with a chair to sit and draw while Bob explores the rest of the museum.
This room is a hodge lodge of stuffed animals…some look old and a bit worse for wear. 
Bob discovered an interesting fact about hedge hogs. “The European hedgehog is a nocturnal animal that is easy to recognize by its many spines. When faced with danger, it can curl up and form a “prickly ball”. Its luxembourgish name”Keisécker” (“cow sucker”) originates from a legend that hedgehogs sucked milk during the night from cow udders. Obviously this is not true as hedgehogs suffer from a lactose intolerance.”
On our walk to the bus we stop for another look down into one of the garden areas below the walls.
We caught the right bus back to our car but getting out of the parking lot was another thing! Thank heavens for Google maps! We might still be driving in circles trying to get back onto the highway!
We see four nuclear power plants on the way home. They always give me an eerie feeling. I wouldn’t want to be living anywhere near one of these.
It is getting dark on the drive home but we are treated to a lovely sunset.
All too soon it is time to climb down. This was such fun.
Downstairs is an exhibit of Ukrainian Icons. Today the term «icon» refers primarily to paintings made with tempera (egg-bound pigments) on a prepared wood panel. Icons are also characterised by the use of gold leaf. Museums around the world are safekeeping artwork from the Uraine until the war ends. The Louvre-Lens has four of Ukraine’s Icon paintings on display. This is The Last Judgement by Theodore Poulakis, 1661.
The main exhibit at the museum is The Gallery of Time.
And here, in no particular order, are a few of the pieces that we found especially interesting.
Egyptian Tomb Portrait of a Woman c. 150 AD. I love these tomb paintings. We saw several of them years ago when we visited Egypt. 
Pieter Boel, c.1669-1671 Triple study of an Ostrich. 
I asked how big the tea was and was assured that it was very big…well, this rather ‘very large” cup of tea was €5.50! Bob finds a spot to read and I go back to the gallery to do some sketching. They aren’t the best sketches but I had such an enjoyable time doing them. Two people asked if they could take a photo…people are always interested in what I am drawing.
We drive to Arras tomorrow so tonight we pack and tidy up. It was great being able to attend three life drawing sessions in three days but it was a bit tiring too. I don’t think I will find many more life drawing groups for a while.
The Medici Fountain is a monumental fountain in the Jardin de Luxembourg that was built in 1630. 
I do not miss eating out in Paris. Sitting check by jowl beside smokers is not my idea of fun. I much prefer the meals we prepare at home in our bnb’s.
Sue loved this interesting flower and wanted a closer look.
I like to use a Bic Fine Ballpoint pen for these subway drawings. A pen forces me to commit to what I put down, no erasing makes it challenging.
We saw these Trabants on the way to the DDR museum. While there Bob discovered that the cars’ bodies were made from a material called Duroplast. This was a composite material made from cotton fleece and granulated phenol, which was heated under pressure and formed into a rigid component for use on the exteriors of the cars.
While walking to a nearby park to draw I passed this store dedicated to the Ampelmann, the little character that lets pedestrians know when it is safe to walk.
While I sat drawing the church I watched these young ladies walk out onto the nearby fountain for some photos. I quickly got my camera out because I knew what was going to happen next.
Surprise!! I laughed so hard, as did all their friends!
We had a picnic lunch and then headed to the Stasi Museum. This museum is located on the former grounds of the headquarters of the GDR State Security. We had a two hour tour that talked about how the lives of the East Germans were controlled, manipulated and repressed by the political police system of the former East Germany. Seems like everyone was spying and informing on everyone else, and almost every aspect of people’s lives was controlled by the state. It must have been impossible to trust anyone. Most of the exhibits were like this office room below, not very interesting I thought, but our guide’s talk was very interesting. He told us anecdotes about his life as well as his parents and grandparents lives during this time.
I hung out at the back of our tour group and did some sketching of people in the tour while I listened.
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