Day #: 6-9

Dates:  02MAY – 05MAY2025

Location(s) Visited: Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

Overall Impression of Location(s): 4

4 -added to our favorite list and we would return again
3 – a great place to visit
2 – OK for one visit, but we would not return again
1 – we wish we hadn’t wasted our time here  

Distance Driven on Leg/Trip (km): 163

Weather/Temperature (°F): The heat wave is over and we had more typical temperatures while in Luxembourg. Daytime highs around 65-70 °F and overnight around 40 °F. One day there was a forecasted severe storm beginning around 5 PM, but it turned out to be minimal at best and lasted only a few hours.

Road Conditions: Roads are similar to those experienced in Germany and Switzerland. Buttery smooth, wide and well-signed.

Chickpea Mechanical Status:

• Our propane tank is still chugging along (probably on fumes at this point) and our fingers continued to be crossed it lasts a few more days when we go back to France and can get it exchanged for a new cylinder. European countries have different propane fittings so it is not always practical to switch out the tank which is why still have our original tank from the day we purchased our van a year ago.

• The cap to our external fresh water tank won’t lock tight and appears the ratchetting system is broken. After 10 minutes and attempts by multiple fellow campers to get it working, we finally got it securely attached however it needs replacement ASAP.

Highlights:

• Free public transport on all buses, trains and trams always gets high marks from us. We used all of the public transport forms and found their public transport system to be superb. Why can’t we have something like this in the US?
• The bike infrastructure was amazing and we travelled all over the city mostly on paved dedicated bike paths.  Bikes are also allowed on all public transport so we brought them on there, too, to extend our travel reach.
• Luxembourg reminds us of Switzerland, but more relaxed and less pretentious.  The city was clean and organized. There was a lot of interesting old world architecture, lovely parks (closed to cars) and also a new corporate city center named Kirchberg which reminded us of our time living in downtown Bellevue, WA. This is a city we could definitely live in but getting a visa/residency verges on near impossible for us.
• Our Brompton e-bikes received a solid workout with multiple daily excursions. On our last day, we rode them to the grocery store and then flew back to the campground at maximum pedal assist power in 15 minutes all on dedicated bike paths.
• Most Luxembourgers speak their native Luxembourgish (just don’t call it German as that will not be looked kindly on) but also are taught and fluent in German, French and English. Additionally, the country has a large Portuguese population so most people also speak Portuguese. Luxembourgers  seemingly move back and forth across these 5 languages with ease. Due to their English fluency, it was easy for us to navigate in restaurants and shops.

Lowlights:

• There were lots of tourists in Old Town Luxembourg City including many organized tour groups from the river cruises, bike tours, trolley tours and mass walking tours. We are still technically in the shoulder season for travel and we were a bit surprised by the size of the tourist crowds. We hope this is not a sign of how busy it is going to be over in the EU/UK this summer.
• Tony has been a bit under the weather with either a cold or a sinus infection. He has been sleeping more, including going to bed at 6 PM one evening, but is hanging in there and getting better. He has been able to do all of our activities with the help of pharmaceuticals. So far Tracey is asymptomatic.

Up Next: TDM Loisirs in Cornmeilles-en-Vexin, France for our annual watertight inspection to maintain our Hymer warranty. This is the same location where we bought our van just over 1 year ago.

Onwards! Vorwärts immer, rückwärts nimmer! Allez on y va!