Brandie in Luxembourg

I (Brandie) spent the night in Luxembourg this last weekend. I took the train up Friday afternoon, stayed in the Youth Hostel in Luxembourg City that night, then spent Saturday sight-seeing, and came back to Antwerp that evening. The train was a bit hard to maneuver, even with a printed schedule from the station clerk, but definitely manageable. 
Because of other plans falling through, I decided to do my own thing this weekend. I've heard how beautiful Luxembourg is, and our RA, Alex, told me I would be safe traveling alone in Luxembourg, so I made arrangements. He recommended the Youth Hostel and the accommodations were fine. It was definitely a place where I could feel comfortable while traveling alone. 
I picked up a city map from the train station, which proved to be more helpful than anything else I did. That map had a list of all the things to see and had them marked on the map, along with photos of many of the places. I took that map with me on the city bus tour Saturday morning. This is a hop-on hop-off deal. I rode the bus through it's entire loop, which only lasted about an hour. I also noted one of the handful of stops was the train station, so this would be my mode of transport when it was time to catch my train that afternoon. On that bus tour I realized everything I wanted to see was in walking distance of the city center. So I found a bench, sat down, and mapped out a course to see what I wanted.
Luxembourg is where much of Europe's wealth is located. The landscape is beautiful, but not real touristy (lower right). Which is fine, but I was, in fact, a tourist, and I would've enjoyed some touristy things to see and do. But one day ended up being plenty of time to get a good look around Luxembourg City. Some of the high-traffic locations include Constitution Square (above left), William Square (top right), Place d'Armes, and the Petrusse Valley. The valley runs through the city with a stream running down the middle. Between the lowest point of the valley and the highest point in the city are many levels in between. Pretty much that translates to lots of ups and downs. Whether on the streets or on stairs I was constantly walking up or down to get to my next destination. I definitely earned my bus ride back to the train station. 
Another neat thing I saw was the Casemates. These are underground caverns in the face of the cliff above the valley. For 3 euros you can go inside. I don't know what they looked like originally, but they've been modernized with hand rails, safety lighting in the floor, and cages across the openings in the cliff. I'm sure, too, that they've been hollowed out some since they were originally created. Some of the doorways were narrow, as were a couple of staircases, but most of the caverns were spacy and ventilated. But it was definitely neat to walk through them. While there I also saw the changing of the guard in front of the Palace of the Grand Dukes and had my photo in front of the Adolphe Bridge (bottom) from one of the many scenic levels between the city center and the valley. I didn't walk around the new city because the modern buildings didn't interest me as much as the older ones around the city center. I saw the new city on the bus tour and that was good enough for me.
All in all it was a pleasant trip for me. Like I said, it was easy to see what I wanted in one day. The train ride is anywhere from 4-6 hours, depending on stops, so it would've been hard to travel there and back in one day since so much time is spent traveling. I like that I spent one night there, giving myself an entire day to see the city before returning. It worked out well. Even though I walked a lot, it turned into a relaxing and low-key way to spend a free weekend.