"Imagine there's no countries," sang John Lennon, referring to the ease of cross border train travel in continental Europe. It turns out that, after the madness of our Brexit-fueled visa bureaucracy, its easy to jump on a train in Brussels and go anywhere you want.
Taking advantage, we stuck a pin into a map. It landed in the middle of the ocean, which wasn't much help. After several more attempts, it stuck in Luxembourg!
I've never been to Luxembourg, but it's conveniently south of Belgium and - more importantly - a return train ticket is only €20. They speak French, and also Luxembourgish which amazingly is available on Google Translate. It's a country that has always punched above its weight, even ruling the Holy Roman Empire for a bit, and it now houses several EU institutions. In short, the capital Luxembourg City is the perfect destination for a weekend jaunt.
First impressions were of a compact but standard European capital: old buildings, free trams, nice food, clean streets, clueless tourists wandering around taking photos. But further exploration revealed that the place has some crazy geography, the city built around a vertiginous ravine full of staircases, bridges, and ancient fortifications. It's like wandering around an Escher painting; you can see where you want to go, but have no idea how to get there. They also have various lifts and funiculars to help out and further confuse the weary.
Of more interest to Pete was the best donut shop he's encountered outside of Houston, and a cat cafe where semi-feral felines beg for the crumbs off your plate. One vomited on Pete, so he got his hot chocolate for free.
Soon we were back on the train, chugging home to Brussels as the landscape flattened to green fields. Like a slightly less violent game of Risk, we're slowly conquering one European country at a time. "Ech hätt gär zwee Béier an e Pak Erdnuss, wann ech glift," as they say in Luxembourgish.
