Luxembourg am Hierscht 1 - The City
We have been in Luxembourg recently. The small but beautiful country was adorned with the fall colors to be more romantic! On Day 1, we walked into the city center via a very high bridge called La Passerelle (the Luxembourg Viaduct) and looking for a place for breakfast as usual.
Getting close to Cathédrale Notre-Dame, the only cathedral in Luxembourg today!
The originally early 18th century Jesuit church became Norte-Dame in 1848 and a cathedral when the country became a bishopric in 1870. The Neo-Gothic style architecture was one of many features to see!
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the patron saint of the city as well as the country of Luxembourg. We have seen many figures of her during the trip.
We were getting really hungry...
We visited brasserie called Hertz Pop/Up since they were open at that time and seemed like serving some hot meals in the morning.
The cakes looked nice. I was thinking of having a banana bread or carrot cake... but unexpectedly I couldn't get either! Well, our waiter got our drink orders (tea for me and cappuccino with oat milk for J). Our drinks came. Our waiter didn't come back again. Of course, we could have called her and ordered foods. However, J decided not to eat there but wait for lunch. The menu didn't really include hot breakfast that J loves anyway. How about my cake?! It was a little sad moment...
The city is basically divided into two parts: upper town and lower town. The upper town sits on the top of the steep cliffs. The rock walls shaped the city's famous fortifications. Some of them from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries still hold the city tight!
The lower town is located at the bottom of the deep valley. We explored a quarter of the lower section, called the Grunt, one of the oldest parts of the city. It's located right below of the center of the upper town and on the banks of the river Alzette. It was a great walk to see how high and steep the city's rocky walls were!
Finally the lunch time came! We chose a very popular and highly reviewed Japanese restaurant, Kamakura, located at the end of the iconic bridge in the Grunt. Without a reservation, we entered the restaurant at 12 o'clock sharp, the earliest time for lunch and luckily we got a table! A Japanese gentleman who kindly greeted us and offered the table was the founder and owner of the restaurant since 1988, who received the Award for Overseas Promotion of Japanese Food in 2009, and then to be appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador of Japanese culinary culture by the Japanese ministry of agriculture in 2017. Wow!
I forgot the name of J's Sake... was it Zen? It was fruity and smooth. First the bottle looked big and J told me that I would have to help him. Shortly after then I found the bottle was empty.
The appetizer was tasty!
I had a Chirashi sushi set. So delicious and satisfied!
J ordered a deluxe version of mine, which included Tempura instead of salad. He finished it up!
After the special lunch, we walked up to the upper town. The vertical setting of the city challenged us with many slopes and steps. That means we got free exercise and great views!
While we walked around the upper town, we stopped by at St Michael's Church, the oldest church in the city - way back to the 10th century.
Then, we took a break at a delicatessen called Kaempff-Kohler. There was a cafe space to eat their sweet or savory (i.e. Pâté au Riesling!) foods from the showcase. Of course, I chose sweet, especially my favorite chestnut cake, Mon Blanc. It's popular in France and Italy (also Japan!) and I was very happy to find it in Luxembourg!
Honestly it was ok but not the best. I think J's éclair wasn't "wow" according to his face expression. Oh well, we have been spoiled with excellent desserts in Harrogate and Wiesbaden as well as all places we travelled.
The upper city center was actually small and we walked almost all streets quickly. J picked up a well-rated bakery outside of the city center on the google map and we walked toward the shop. In that way, we could explore the new area and get treats!
Eventually we reached the bakery, Boulangerie Pâtisserie Pascal. Their cakes looked very nice although we had sweets not so long time ago. We bought two croissants for the next day's breakfast. The lady at the store said something in French (I guess) to us. I didn't understand it but assumed that she said those croissants were small so she gave us three. Later when I checked the paper bag, there were three croissants. My guess wasn't too bad.
To be continued...
