Luxembourg days five and six

I'm mixing the two days in together because of 2 reasons: the last day included our lunch-time departure and there are no interesting photos from our last day so I couldn't really make a post out of that one.
No harm done because day five was pretty cool too.
It started quite promising with what must be the best five euros I have ever spent : buying the French duck at a stand at the Easter Day antiques fair. It was so lively and full of people, as if all of Luxembourg suddenly decided to take to the streets. You could find everything there, including some amazing necklaces priced at 'just' 160 euros, which I would have bought were it not for my previous purchase (joking obviously).

Our next thing on our touristy-list was the train station where we were scheduled for the 11:15 train to Trier in Germany. We decided to go get our passports from the hotel some 20 minutes before the train left the station...turns out we wouldn't need it. Great exercise though.

Our journey there was so comfortable, we had one of those new double decked trains that seem to run on air. I love trains for the fact that you can just enjoy the scenery and I guess there's just something really romantic about trains, my brain makes strange Charlotte Bronte connections here with the landscape.
Once arrived we discovered that the city centre of Trier is quite compact, all interest points being relatively close to one another. We started with the Roman vestiges and made our way up to main square and then the Cathedral, which is a must see. It's huge and I also think it's interesting how they kept the Romanesque architecture instead of making in Gothic or Baroque but in this sense it matches the medieval feel of the centre.

Because all shops were closed, I could do nothing more than stare and sigh. I do however recommend that you go in at dm (Drogeriemarkt) for all things bath related -they smell sooo good- and Kennel & Schmenger for cute looking flats. Oh and also eat at Nordsee, it's the best food you can get and I can't wait to have some when I'll be in Romania in two weeks' time. Just before we had to go back to Luxembourg I stopped at Coffee Fellows to get some waffles, which were tasty, and a hot ice cream shake, which was not. Sadly, our train back was...let's just say 'not modern'. Anyhow, it was two carriages long and it did the job.

On our last day, we left our luggage at the hotel reception and went for a final stroll around the city. We got breakfast on the street from this charcuterie whose name I cannot remember, a massive sandwich with literally everything in it. I wrote it down as having a dark green name plate and it being on the intersection between Rue Genistre and Rue Philippe II. We then killed some time at the Musee du Luxembourg which is by the way huge. On 5 levels huge, I mean. Towards the top levels, they had quite a good impressionist collection of landscapes and some sketches by Victor Hugo. Lunch consisted in a quiche and chicory salad at Chocolate House, the oldest house in Luxembourg dating from the 16th history (I think). To make the imminent parting less painful, I got a tartelette au citron and a daquois cake from Kaempff-Koheller to eat on the airport. That's me, numbing sadness with food :).

Luxembourg day four

Easter Sunday...and all the shops closed. Yes, this is the day we chose for our second trip outside of Luxembourg, to Nancy.
Also known as the birthplace of Art Deco, the city apparently has the most impressive royal square according to our Michelin guide. It certainly was very pretty, the architecture similar to what I would envisage St. Petersburg to have. That is perhaps mirrored in the name too, Place Stanislas.

Because it was already 1.30 pm when we arrived there (sorry, not sorry for sleeping in) we were really hungry so we stopped at -the only- restaurant open in the area, Les Beaux Arts on Rue Stanislas where I had delicious oysters in Munster sauce. In my opinion, a trip to France is just not complete without either duck breast (magret de canard confit) or clams in sauce (moules a la creme), or both.  La Bouche a Oreille next door also boasted a lovely menu but, surprise surprise, it was closed.

After we were fed and content, albeit very cold, we took to Musee de Nancy for shelter. They obviously had a large collection of Art Deco artifacts, but I enjoyed a number of paintings by Frantisek Kupka, Emile Friant, Armand Point and Victor Prouve. Most of them are at the bottom floor or second floor. I really recommend visiting the museum, I was pleasantly surprised by the collection they had.

We had a wonder round, visited the Cathedral which has a beautiful organ, and then rewarded ourselves with coffee and ice cream from Amorino.

When in Nancy however, when the shops are closed off course, you should do a trail of the most beautiful Art Deco buildings that are scattered around the city, remnants of a bygone era that I think I'd gladly prefer to my own. We started on Rue Saint-Dizier and walked up to Hall de Livres (another amazing bookshop from which it's impossible to come out empty-handed), then on Rue Saint-Georges, Rue Saint-Jean, Avenue Foch and Rue de Goncourt. I'll try and do a map so all these street names actually make some visual sense.
Our day ended at a local fair/circus thing which was such a vintage touch to an already enchanting city!

Luxembourg day three

This one didn't get to a very smooth start. We were planning to driving to Metz and since that takes about two hours, we were meant to wake up earlier to get there before 12am. Yeah...that didn't happen. Our feet were so soar after the museum night that we slept in and got to the airport to get our car at 11am. Not quite on schedule.
It is however a holiday so no harm done. When we arrived in Metz we parked at the Opera (weirdly enough, it smelled so nice in that car park, I don't know if they used perfume or whatever but just putting it out there in case anyone's interested - right, let's move on) and we were in front of the Metz Cathedral in 2 minutes. Across from it is a French farmer's market with such amazing products, it just made you want to buy all types of cheeses and oysters and fruit whilst devising a gym plan at the same time.

Keeping on the theme of food, I really recommend 'Aux Merveilleux' which sell amazing -hence the title- meringue based deserts, just mouthwatering.

My dad wanted to do some sort of itinerary, I'm not very sure, but we ended up following the dragon path, which is signaled on the streets and they have different paths to visit different parts of the city. Place Saint-Louis was very interesting because of its medieval arcades, quite unusual I think. After a wandering around, we ended up walking through Centre Commercial Saint-Jacques (horrible, don't even think of going in there) and onto Rue Serpenoise also known as where-all-the-shops-are street. At the end of it is Arsenal Museum and I was hoping to get to see the Antimafia exhibition they had on but thanks to it being the day before Easter it was closed by the time I got there -sad face. 

Dinner consisted in traditional tartiflette followed by a super-tasty cafe liegeois and then a late night trip to the local Carrefour which might well be one of my favourite things about France.

Luxembourg day two

The second day started in full force with a walk down Avenue de la Liberte. It is part of the more business/financial neighbourhood of the city and, for me, one of the most beautiful. I loved the slight Parisian boulevard feel of the place, mainly given off by the cast iron balconies and architecture, most flamboyant in the Acelor-Mittal building.

Crossing the bridge, we took a left at the Place de la Republique, the one with the golden obelisk surmounting the Casemates de la Petrusse. A labyrinth of small, commercial streets unfolded with unique, boutique shops. I would recommend the L'Adresse restaurant, the Orfeo art gallery and Honey/Mustard concept store from where I got a lovely pair of Vagabond black pistol boots.

We walked through the 'fishmarket' as the oldest part of the city is known to reach another section of the Casemates. We also went on the tour but the 'trenches' or battle stations carved in the rock weren't spectacular at all. It did however have lovely views over the Natural Museum and the river.

This walking tour-de-force called for a stop at our hotel, to rest our poor feet...and also to add some more layers on. By this point I think it was actually snowing which I don't really mind as long as I can still feel my toes.
Towards the evening, we took the 13 bus to Mudam, Luxembourg's contemporary art museum. I wasn't particularly intrigued because I'm not big on modern art but I am ashamed to say my preconceptions got the best of me. In the end, it was one of the highlights of our trip there and I can't recommend it enough. The main building in these exterior shots is the Philharmonic hall - interested to see if the inside matches the shell.

I will let the photos speak for themselves but I will just name a few of my favourite displays: Dunkerque sand, L'origine de la source I and II, John Stezaker's photos and Su-Mei Tse's ink fountain.

'Till next time,

Ana