A Hidden Favourite

I can't remember what first made me want to go to Luxembourg, but I'm so grateful that I! Actually! Went! I've said before that I'm not a city person, but I loved this place so much! For a start, Luxembourg has one of the highest GDPs per person in the world, and all public transport across the country (buses, trams and second-class trains) is free, which saved us the fares. We rode the trams and buses, and they were comfortable, with a really high-tech design. Best of all, they were spotless: being free hasn't turned them into a free-for-all. What impressed me most was the suspended cycle and walking path under the Adolphe Bridge, linking the new town with the old town. The design is really fresh, and because it hangs open beneath the bridge, you can take in the valley below as you cross. The city is full of greenery, and the population density feels just right: never crowded, and lovely and quiet. In the end we simply nicknamed it the Land of Class!

Luxembourg is the only grand duchy in the world, so our first stop was the Grand Ducal Palace (yep, that's really what it's called). The Grand Duke's family still lives there, so it isn't open to visitors! Next we reached Luxembourg's Old Town, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. The landscape makes the whole city so much fun: it's built into gorges and clinging to cliffs, and the famous Adolphe Bridge links the new and old towns. Seen from a distance, its piers and arches seem to stretch the whole valley out, and it's the highlight of the Old Town. The Grund sits down in the valley, and it was only on our second day, after all that climbing up and down, that we discovered there's a public lift that goes straight to the bottom! Still, walking rewarded us with lots of beautiful views, and there are cafés and little shops where you can rest and enjoy the scenery. We sat in a café gazing at the view until we nodded off?!

In the city, the Casemates du Bock were one of the places Tien and I loved most. Built into the rock of the Bock promontory and wrapped by the Alzette River, it's a spot that's easy to defend and hard to attack. As it happens, we both love this kind of ruin, and from every cave in the rock face the Grund below looked different. Add a city designed in shades of black and grey, and it all felt especially stylish. The paths inside the fortress wind like a maze, so it really feels like you're on an adventure. Notre-Dame Cathedral also stands in the city, a Gothic building that looks simple yet timeless. We were short on time, so we didn't go in. Instead we went back to the deck chairs near the Grund, ordered a drink and soaked up the sun we'd missed for so long in Ireland. Time slowing down like that was pure bliss. The valley even has outdoor exercise equipment and a children's playground, a real bonus for its public spaces. I also really want to share the restaurant Tien and I found for dinner, Bistrot de La Presse. We chose it for its traditional Luxembourgish food and had a lovely dinner. The potato fritters (Gromperekichelcher) and the dumplings with bacon (Kniddelen mat speck) were easy for an Asian stomach to love. Gromperekichelcher are a traditional snack of grated potato mixed with onion and seasoning, then deep-fried, and Kniddelen are Luxembourg's traditional dumplings, served with a white sauce and bits of bacon. Amazing, though they got a little heavy towards the end!

Luxembourg feels modern and forward-looking while keeping its old-world charm, and the city is neither dirty nor chaotic. I quietly fell for this country, and then found out that Taiwanese citizens can apply for a Luxembourg working holiday visa until they turn 35! It's a very advanced-level working holiday destination, but it really is a place worth living in. Instead of being held back by its terrain, the city blends into the forest perfectly, which is very me. Most of the so-called limits in life come from our own mindset and from how society sees us. I hope we can all set fewer limits on ourselves; we might see a much wider world, or a different side of ourselves, and sometimes even a small change is wonderful. Last month I read about the "stretch zone" in a Taiwanese book on contextual wisdom (情境智慧): a place with a bit of challenge and tension, but still well within what you can handle. I hope everyone finds their own stretch zone.