The morning after the long day in the Belgium countryside, I waited as long as I could before heading to the tour office so that I could get in a little more sleep. I had gotten back to my flat a little later than planned the prior night because I took a couple wrong turns in Brussels’ lively night scene. Those streets look entirely different with the lack of natural light and the addition of several hundred people spilling out of the drinking establishments and onto the street. When I walked back to the tour office the next morning, I marveled at the near emptiness of the streets as well as the Grand-Place. Both mornings so far found less than five people, including myself, in the square, while the previous evening, the square held more people than I could count.
Once at the tour office, I presented my voucher and received a different colored wristband. Unlike the day before, I saw plenty of other people with the same color band which made me start to wonder about the capacity of the bus. Then when two guides, one speaking English and one speaking Spanish, called over their groups with their two different band colors to the same location, I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. So far, I had avoided the uncomfortable closeness of sitting directly next to a stranger on the bus. I power-walked to the front of the group in a vain attempt to secure at least a chance at a solo seat. At first, once on the bus, I thought I might have a chance but then we waited and kept waiting past the point when everyone from the initial two groups finished boarding. Finally, two more groups boarded, one was a large Spanish family – the teenage son ended up sitting next to me – while the other was a group of five blonde, early 20-something girls who looked rather put out at the lack of ability to select their seats.
We had a few hours on the bus before we arrived in Luxembourg. After an initial half hour or so of information about Brussels given in both English and Spanish, the guides gave us a respite and turned off the microphone. Most everyone chose to sleep or silently gaze at the sights out the window. I attempted to catch up on journaling but the antics of the girls who arrived last kept distracting me. One sat on the seat directly across the aisle. She kept reaching her phone up to the row in front of her where another member of her group sat to take selfies or show her some picture from social media. They chatted loudly, in a language I did not recognize, amongst all in their group even though they sat spread out amongst other travelers, a few of whom looked like they wanted to sleep but could not because of the girls’ chatter. I will admit now that this behavior started to rub me the wrong way, to annoy me in an outsized fashion, not my best moment.
Once in the city, the English-speaking guide led us to a public restroom before beginning the tour. Those girls, who I later ascribed the moniker “Charlie’s Angels” after witnessing their attempt towards the end of the tour to reenact the pose even if they had too many people, joined the English tour.
While waiting for the others in line behind me to finish, I wandered around the immediate area taking plenty of pictures of a grand statue as well as a panoramic gorge formed long ago by the river at its depth. This geologic formation, I later learned, provided a natural defense for three sides of the centuries old city.
The tour itself lasted a perfect amount of time with our guide leading us from one site to the next at quick yet perfectly spaced intervals.
We saw Luxembourg’s cathedral, a quite young cathedral, built upon the independence of the grand duchy since it no longer had another within its borders.
We walked past St. Michael’s Church, the oldest church in the city, first built in 987 although rebuilt many times since then with the current structure dating back to the late 1600s and located on the crossroads of two ancient Roman roads.
Then we stopped on the ruins of the defensive wall, fortifications first built in the 12th century, where I got chastised by one of the firefighters engaged in some sort of rappelling drills for inadvertently stepping too close to one of their lines. Aside from this awkwardness, I found this part the most fascinating. Luxembourg used to have the most elaborate fortifications, making the city completely impenetrable and the most desired pawn in imperial negotiations. The city kept getting passed from one empire to the next without attempts to attach the city militarily since all such attempts would fail fantastically. When Luxembourg finally gained a de facto independence with the Treaty of London in 1867, the negotiating powers forced the city to dismantle its intricate wall fortifications for a reason that I cannot remember. This destruction took 16 years! When our guide mentioned that a small portion of the wall fortifications remained and could be toured, my heart jumped at the chance. Alas, I did not have enough time after the official tour to come back to that point so I must visit again.
We finished our tour in a small square with a prominent statue of Duchess Charlotte. This much beloved princess won her people’s hearts when she refused to give in to the Nazis unlike her sister Marie-Adelaide seen as friendly to the Germans during their First World War occupation. Instead of accepting limited power from the Nazis who occupied the Grand Duchy, she fled to England and vigorously campaigned for her country against the Nazis. What a fantastic story to end the tour with.
We had about an hour before we had to return to the meet up point by the cathedral. SInce we also needed to get lunch during this time, that limited the on your own sightseeing radius. I tried to find a Starbucks so I could purchase a demitasse mug, but alas, either Luxembourg has none or they lay outside my limited radius.
I ended up getting a burger at a fast food place called Quick. (Yes, I got a little chuckle out of that.)
Afterwards, I had enough time to walk back down to the river and to the two-leveled bridge. I crossed over on the lower level before returning on the upper. Of course, I took plenty of pictures.
Once back on the bus and in my original seat, the customary behavior, I noticed that Charlie’s Angels had rearranged themselves on the bus and ended up forcing a family to split up and find new seats. This did not enhance my opinion of them.
Before arriving at the second and final extended stop on the tour, the Belgian city of Dinant, we stopped beside the most storybook castle I have ever seen, the Castle of Vêves. Seriously, if you look up “storybook castle” in the dictionary, you will see a picture of this castle beside it. Of course, I wanted to get closer, to tour the castle, but we did not have time so back to the bus we went. The previously displaced family boarded before Charlie’s Angles and assumed their former seats. Charlie’s Angels chose different seats, yet again, this time including mine. I walked back, saw her in my seat and told her that that was my seat. She said something about it not mattering and that I could find another. I told her firmly that I would like my seat back. She took a deep breath, rolled her eyes and moved. Honestly, I did not need to pick that battle but they had already annoyed me and I lost my patience. Again. Not my best moment.
Once everyone returned to the bus, we had about an hour drive until we reached Dinant. Unexpectedly, I enjoyed this beautiful little city far more than Luxembourg.
Our guide gave us another short tour before giving us about half an hour on our own.
We saw a statue of Charles de Gaulle who earned renown for his help with the liberation of the city during the First World War before crossing a bridge, one of my weaknesses, that possessed many multicolored, variously designed giant saxophones, each dedicated to or by another city in the world.
We then toured an incredibly interesting cathedral, a dark, backwards facing church built into the mountain before finishing our tour in the front room of a small museum dedicated to Alfred Sax, the inventor of the saxophone.
Although he lived most of his life elsewhere, Sax claimed Dinant as his birthplace, thus also explaining the giant saxophones on the bridge.
I smiled when I boarded the bus a final time; Dinant provided unexpected pleasure. I had delicious food to eat thanks to a stop in a bakery just about to close and Charlie’s Angels had avoided my seat even though they had changed seats a third time. I relaxed on the hour drive back to Brussels, choosing to enjoy my dinner in my tiny but adorable little flat while I uploaded pictures and prepared for the next day. This time, I did not get lost on the return journey from the tour office and had plenty of time to get in a good night’s sleep before the next adventure.