Luxembourg Journal

The first place we traveled to is Luxembourg. We arrived there at 11:37. Just in time for lunch. We ate at Restaurant Mousel’s Cantine and tried some of their famous cuisine. We ordered Judd mat Gaardebounen and Träipen. Judd mat Gaardebounen is also known as Smoked Collar of Pork with Broad Beans. We asked the chef in German on how to make it. He seemed confused. We realized that he speaks French not German. We asked it in French this time and he kindly told us how to make it. He said, “The pork collar has to be soaked overnight and cooked with leeks, carrots, celery, and cloves for 2 hours. The sauce for the beans are made from chopped onions, bacon cubes, and flour added in meat stock.” The dish is very savory and delicious. We also asked how to make Träipen. The chef said, “The sausage is made from pork, pig’s blood, cabbage, onions, spices, and honey. It is served with homemade applesauce.” We were afraid to try the Träipen at first, but we ordered it because the waitress recommended it to us. To our surprise, the flavor is excellent. Don’t judge food by what it’s made of!

After lunch we decided to go to the national stadium called Stade Josy Barthel. We arrived there at 13:00. It is about 2.7 kilometers from Restaurant Mousel’s Cantine. Stade Josy Barthel is the country’s largest stadium, located in Western Luxembourg city. We wanted to go see a game, but there weren’t any. We got some information from a worker there. The worker there told us the history on how the stadium got its name. The worker explained, “This stadium is named after Josy Barthel. The country’s only official Olympic gold medalist of men’s 1500 meter. Sports in Luxembourg aren’t focused on one, national sport. It encompasses a variety of sports. Some famous athletes are: Marc Girardelli, an alpine skier, who won World cup champion five times between 1985 to 1993, Sylvie Hülsemann, the world’s water skiing champion in 1961, Nicholas Frantz, a cyclist, winner of the 1927 and 1928 Tours de France.” After the short lecture, we went to Hôtel Le Place d'Armes and checked in. That hotel is a 4.5 star hotel. It is very luxurious.

We are at the hotel when we heard a language that we never heard before. We ask the clerk in German and he said that this language is called Luxembourgish. It is a Franconian language. Countries that lies beside them, like, Belgium, France, and Germany also use this language. The clerk also said that Luxembourgish is mainly spoken, not a written language. French is the written language, and German is usually the first language taught in school.The 3 official languages in Luxembourg are French, German, and Luxembourgish. We learned Luxembourgish quite easily. Since we already knew German, French, Finnish, Greek, Russian, English, Mandarin, and Italian, it wasn’t that hard to learn a new language.