Technical glitches solved ... for now at least. So let's get back to being walk-about in Europe.
After the day wandering in Brussels, I went on an all-day (about 13 hours total time) bus/coach trip to Luxembourg (City) and Dinant.
Some facts about Luxembourg:
* It's landlocked by Belgium, Germany and France and is one of the smallest countries in the world.
it's capital city (Luxembourg City) is one of the four institutional seats of the EU, along with Strasbourg, Frankfurt, and Brussels.
* Luxembourg is one of the world's best performers in environmental protection, ranking 4th out of 132 assessed countries around 2010 and 2nd out of 180 countries in 2020.
* Luxembourg is a representative democracy headed by a constitutional monarch, Grand Duke Henri, making it the world's only remaining sovereign grand duchy.
* It has the highest per capita GDP of any country in the world.
The Fortress of Luxembourg is still there - well some of it anyway. Walking across the bridge to the main part of the city, we were able to see the outlines of the fortress. The city itself if quite beautiful. You will see that most of the fortress is below the city level, and that whole area is also a park.
The first group of pictures below show things at street level. The second are from the street looking down into the lower level. Unfortunately, I ran out of battery and didn't get any pictures from the park itself, but I think you can see how beautiful it is!
I have tried to pick some of the best pictures - there isn't room for all of them!
After Luxembourg we went on to Dinant (Belgium). I knew nothing about it other than that it is on the Meuse River, but as usual in this region, expected a fortress or citadel (it has the latter) and of course a church. What I learned is that the dominant stained glass window in the church is said to be one of the largest in Europe. What I also learned is that Adolphe Sax - who invented the saxaphone - was from Dinant. There is a small museum, said to be on the site of his home (which was destroyed) that I went into. Also, note the light pole on the street!
One nice touch - as we walked across into the town proper there were trombone sculptures from different countries. Also, outside the Sax museum, sit on a bench with Adolphe!
Tomorrow is a travel day, from Brussels to Bilzen. I am meeting a friend (one I have known for a couple of years, but only on Zoom) and enjoying some time in a small town.
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