Today we’re visiting the last new country of our trip (not new for us to visit though as we were in the country a couple of years ago but further north).

The first struggle we encountered was finding somewhere to park, we couldn’t be bothered to work out the park and ride so wanted to be central. The open air car park only allowed 2 hrs and the underground car parks had a 2m height limit. Eventually we found one that said 2.1m and we knew from the start of the trip we’d just squeezed in the car park that was 2.05m. It was therefore very disconcerting when we drove in and heard a faint tap on the roof as we drove up to the barrier. We had cars lined up behind us and nowhere to go but forwards. I got out of the van and we did have a small amount of space between us and the roof and followed the van around whilst Al found a spot then took a huge sigh of relief. At least with the new motorhome measuring 3.1m we know we’ll just have to plan more in advance and use the park and rides.

As we headed to the centre we walked past a free art museum showing photos of animals in Luxembourg. It was very interesting and the kids really enjoyed the pictures (sadly no photos allowed though). It showed pictures by themes so animals being used as transport, those for entertainment in the days of the circus, animals and their owners, or animals as food.

During the planning for the trip I had read that there are six weeks during the summer when you can visit the royal palace. This is because the grand duke is on holiday and not at work. You need to book months in advance to get a ticket and as we arrived at the tourist office there were crowds of disappointed people finding out that the tours were full for the whole season.

Our tour was 1hr15 with the first 30 mins being the walk to the palace and the history of Luxembourg and how its been owned by nearly every neighbouring country. It was given as a gift to the king of the Netherlands before becoming independent and the fortress was destroyed in peace times to stop countries invading to get the fortress which was described as in penetrable. Luxembourg is the only remaining country to be a royal duchy which is in regal terms just below a kingdom which itself is below having an emperor. We also got to learn about when and why the duke gave up power over the law to have the government take over and this was because it was voted to allow euthanasia which the duke, as a Catholic, could not approve and so overnight he gave power to the parliament.

Unfortunately inside the palace you aren’t allowed to take photos but I would highly recommend the visit to anyone. It didn’t feel overly opulent or large but the rooms were well decorated with timeless pieces each with a fascinating story behind them. We were also fortunate to see the guest wing where visiting people of status stay, usually this is closed to the public but as some renovations are going on in another room they chose to open this area instead.

After the tour we needed lunch, I had heard the place to visit was the chocolate shop right opposite the palace. They served many flavours of hot chocolate along with enormous cakes. Of course the kids thought this was a perfect idea for lunch and we all chose our favourite drink and shared a couple of cakes, much to the horror of the children who wanted one each! Thankfully I made them share as after a couple of bites they realised ‘mother knows best’ (sung to the tangled tune) and they were now suffering from a major case of sugar overload. Even with me helping we could not finish the cake.

The kids then popped into a souvenir store to spend some of their money and we got a sticker for the new motorhome since we already have a Luxembourg one. It was then the rain set in so we found shelter in the cathedral.

We also visited the church around the corner which is the oldest in all Luxembourg.

To learn some more about the country we then headed to the luxembourg city museum which itself was in a beautiful building and had 3 floors dedicated to the history of the country and 2 were temporary exhibitions. There was loads to see starting with the history and then moving forward to the present day looking at how the country has changed, how many people live here, how many commute across the border.

Dotted around there were also various pieces of art from local artists.

There was also a display from a Ukrainian artist along with words about the impact of war on art. Liliya was very sad to see a blown up house thinking it was from the olden days when in fact it was from just months earlier. She cheered up though when we told her that’s why her Auntie RaeRae was in Ukraine to help fix everything.

The temporary exhibition at the moment was dedicated to posters. A judging panel from Luxembourg had been brought together to choose the best 100 posters from over the years. The kids loved this section and after walking around them all they chose their favourites.

There was one final must do on my list which was go in the panoramic lift. It was a steep trek down to the bottom of the town and so we were very glad we found it so we could take it back up otherwise that would have been a hard climb back to the top.

Originally we were going to eat out but the kids both needed a reasonable bedtime and turns out the price of food is really high so instead we picked the kids up some sushi from the supermarket so they were super pleased with that.

We’re back on track with the original plan now and booked into a lovely campsite for the penultimate sleep in the van! I’ve discovered a really nice play park so that should speed the kids along with getting up and having breakfast in the morning.