Day #205 - Luxembourg - France - Switzerland - Germany

Basel, Switzerland

Nancy, France

Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Tuesday, October 5th

Today was a bit agressive. I was bound and determined that I was going to see the country of Luxembourg - so I went for a little train ride (or 6).

When I got up - I found my way to the central train station in Baden-Baden. I planned out a circular route of 4 countries. Going in, this wasn't my plan - but currently, there is some kind of construction going on with the rails between Germany and France. This meant that I either needed to take a lengthy bus ride and transfer trains a few times or loop around it. I opted for the loop.

I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. I decided to head to Luxembourg - for no other reason than - I can. After a few hours I arrived in the city of Luxembourg, Luxembourg. It's this small country that's surrounded by Beligium on the west, France on the south, and Germany on the east.

It's a "tweener" if there ever was such a place. It has a population of 1/2 million people. It has a highly developed economy - with the highest Gross Domestic Product per capita in the world. It's a mixed bag of all kinds of people. They speak French, German, or Luxembourgish. I asked this girl at a cafe in the train station what language she spoke at home. She said: "English, German, French". I then asked: "When you wake up in the morning, what language do you speak in your house". She said: "English, German, French" I'm thinking she didn't get what I was asking. Maybe folks ARE completely flexible. Maybe they like to spice things up a bit. Keep it interesting by going in and out of 3 languages pending the mood.

My trip in Luxembourg was very uneventful. It has a very German city flavor. I walked around the place for a short period of time - then boarded my next train - for Nancy, France. This move was solely the result of my book research. It mentioned this small town as a place to see. It was on the way - so I stopped in.

Nancy is this smaller town with a population of just over 100,000 people in the city proper. It's located in the northeast corner of France. The site to see here is the Place Stanislas - the large city square. It's made up of all these buildings of rococo architecture. It was built between 1751-1760. I again spent very little time in the city - just a few pictures and I was off to my next destination - Basel, Switzerland.

I rolled into Basel around 10:30pm. I didn't know what country I was in. I thought Basel was in Switzerland. Well, it is, but my train stopped in France and I walked over the border. I asked the guards: Where's Germany?" He pointed: "Just a few 100 yards over that way". Nice, so Basel is at the corner of 3 countries - France, Switzerland, and Germany.

I had 1-1/2 hours in Basel. I walked around the place in the dark. I found my way to this street famous for some nice restaraunts. My book mentioned a placed called Restaurant Bruderholz. Fancy. I walked back to the train station and got into Baden-Baden at 1:15am.

Today was all about quantity - not about quality. Every now and again you need a day like today to bring areas into persepctive.