Le weekend dans Luxembourg

Well the weekend started out a little disappointed over the way the French played against the Netherlands, and if you watched it you would know what I'm talking about. 4-1 was the final, with the Netherlands scoring in the final minute to crush all hopes of any French comeback. Also, it was a bit of a special night for us etudiants, because we had just finished our first exam and it was sort of a celebration night. I only had about 4 beers, but thats because I am a bit more modest than some of the others, who were taking shots with some French people who were getting just a bit drunk because of the way the French played that night. Basically, in the end I was a sort of a babysitter, mostly because the cultural differences between talking to someone in a bar.. here it means you are possibly to go home with that person, where as in America, its more of a flirtatious action that does not always result in that consequence.

Enough of Friday, Saturday a portion of the group tripped to Luxembourg, however we all went at different time intervals because the train there runs just about every hour. However, since Luxembourg is a tiny city we ran into everyone from our group at least once. Anyway, the trip to Luxembourg from Metz is approximately 50 minutes by TGV, so not far at all and for only 15 euros round trip.

Wake up in the residence at 6:30ish to be at the Gare (train station) by at least 7:45 because Riad didn't have a ticket for Luxembourg. For the trip to Luxembourg we thought it was just Riad, Justin, Alex, and myself, however at the station about 6 other Americans showed up for the ride.

So when we arrived, I noticed immediately the Veloh, which is basically a rental bike station located throughout the city. All you have to do is pay 1 euro for the day and every half hour is free if you turn your bike in at another station. If you go an extra hour it's a euro more and so on. Therefore, Justin, Riad, and myself went biking throughout Luxembourg and exchanged bikes every 30 minutes and saw practically the whole city by bike. Highly recommended if you come here and have the option of renting the bikes, it makes traveling around the cities much easier and faster. I know off the top of my head they are in Paris, and Amsterdam, but not in Metz unfortunately. A few of the stops we made in included were the Cathedral Notre Dame (yes another one), a WWI and II memorial, Parc Public (public park), shopping district, ruins of the old city called, Casements, and some residential neighborhoods.

the velohs!

Courtyard of the Cathedral Notre Dame
the Cathedral!

Riad


WW memorial.

The Cathedral was nice, but not as impressive as the others I have visited, it was a bit more modern, but still had the Gothic features. I'd say the greatest feature Luxembourg had to offer were the ancient ruins, with the walls still intact, forts, and underground passages. Very middle age-esque architecture which surrounded most of the city. Most of our time was spent in the shopping district where all the bourgeois of Luxembourg was seen. So much money could been perceived by just the way people carried themselves and also by all the Porsche's', Alfa Romero's, and Ferrari's, etc. I purchased some clothes at the H&M there, included were a beret, sunglasses (because the ones I brought were broken in travel), and some articles of clothing. The veloh bikes made the whole trip a lot of fun (because if you know my previous history, I do love the bicycles) and we saw more of the city than I think the majority of the people who went that day saw. We ate lunch at the Quick (French fast-food joint) and I got a mix-match burger, which had 2 types of buns on it and 2 different burgers in it. It sounded great when I ordered it, but turned out to be just ehhh. Also, in case you were not aware the meals you can get at a fast-food place here includes either a soda or beer, which I think America should get on the ball with that one. Some of the other stores of interest, were a Sushi restaurant that was a 'Hello Kitty' theme, so basically everything in the store was cute and adorable. A sort of trendy hip-hop store with tons of books on art and graffiti, cool clothes, and other accessories, the only problem with the store was a t-shirt ranged from 40 euros to 75 euros and up, but it was still a nice store to spend some time in. Everything in Luxembourg is a bit more expensive than it is in France, but a few items which the French travel there for because they are cheaper via VAT-taxes (petro, booze, and cigarettes). Although, none were purchased because of my petite budget that I'm doing as best I can to follow.


parts of the old city.


if you look closely at the the person in red and the girl next to him, they are part of the ICN group.
A beautiful Cathedral that I did not visit because we didn't know how to get down there, but when we saw it their bells were going off and was a nice little addition.

some new get up.
nice public park.
Justin on the veloh.



Well I think thats all I can say on Luxembourg.. Sunday I spent recuperating from the biking and just hung out around the residence. There was an inauguration for the public skate park here with DJs all day and people skating as well. So went to check that out and it was pretty interesting to see 8 year olds skating and doing tricks with what seemed to be 30 year olds skating as well. Watched 2 movies during the day (City of God, and The Darjeeling Limited), so just taking it easy and not spending cash.

Today, I just had my French class and learned how to conjugate pronouns and adjectives and implement them in sentences with the proper masculine or feminine endings. Now I've got about another 45 minutes until lunch and then we are visiting a local company, that if I'm correct specializes in auto parts and check out their management procedures. So the day will be finished for me at school at 6:15 today, then some more food and possibly some futbal.

Anyway, how is everyone doing?!?! I want to hear how the etats-unis (United States) are! How's the new addition Talpins? Comments are very welcome to the blog, so don't hold back! Oh yeah speaking about America, two of the students from the trip were in Paris this weekend and saw Bush in his limo riding up the Champs-Elyees. Anyway, hope all is well and Happy late Father's Day.