Luxembourg? How lovely!

This past weekend, the weather forecast was calling for rain, but I didn't want to waste a weekend in my room. I was itching to catch a train out of Strasbourg and see something new. En route to my last class of the week (Friday, 4-6pm!), I thought through some possible Saturday day trips: Basel? Paris? Metz? Nancy? Frankfurt? Luxembourg City? YES! The capital city of this tiny country (less than 500,000!) has intrigued me for some time and this would be the perfect opportunity to check it out. Unfortunately, none of my international friends were free for the weekend to "play tourist", but I still enjoyed exploring Luxembourg City all on my own. With the absolutely perfect weather and gorgeous display of fall colors, I spent the day and a half wandering around the streets and cobblestone paths of the city.






Since Luxembourg is such a tiny country, it is heavily influenced by the surrounding countries and all of the tourists passing through. I noticed restaurant and shop signs in English, German, French, Italian and Japanese. Many waiters changed easily from French to English to German to Dutch. Upon entering a busy square, I nearly died when I saw a ChiChi's Mexican Restaurant right next to a Pizza Hut! (Thank you America...)




After a noisy night in a cheap but charming hotel, I devoured a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast (not to be found in France!) and tried to avoid the chain smokers in a café. A self-guided walking tour showed me around the city sights and I spent most of the afternoon rambling through a historic neighborhood nestled between the city's orginal walls.





But I think the trees were my favorite. I'm just crazy about autumn!



And then Lassie just happened to run by...


And before heading out of town, I spotted a prime example of mullet preservation in full force. I actually followed this guy into the cathedral just to get a good look. (Oh and the cathedral pretty cool too...)