Day 4 (July 3, 2025): “I’m in Luxembourg. Now I’m in Germany! Now I’m in Luxembourg.”

As with yesterday, we were up at 7:30AM, satisfied by another excellent hotel breakfast buffet, and out the door at 9:45AM. The plan for today was quite basic: take a bus to the eastern part of the country, on the border with Germany, and explore the town of Echternach. Then, return to Luxembourg City, find a place to change Canadian money into Euros, and then visit the American Military Cemetery. And that is pretty well how the day unfolded.

Why Echternach? Well, as the oldest town in Luxembourg, it seemed like a good place to go! Plus, being in the extreme east of the country, we figured the journey there would give us a good idea of the topography of Luxembourg. As an added note, the Sure River separates it from Germany, so the idea of jumping back and forth between two countries was intriguing! (And yes, that moment did come to pass and is captured on video.) The town has a population of 20,000, and its Benedictine Abbey, founded in 698, has been the town’s focal point from its earliest days. 

Temperature-wise, compared to yesterday’s heat wave in the mid-to-high 30s, today was an incredibly pleasant and comfortable 24C. What a change!

Before we get into the pictures, just to provide some additional population statistics, further to those provided in yesterday’s blog. Luxembourg City has a population of 136,208 (2024 figures), while the entire country’s population is 672,050. 313,000 (47.3%) of these are foreigners, with the largest group coming from Portugal. 

The country comprises 2,586 square kilometres. From north to south, it is 82km long, and from east to west, it is 57 kilometres wide.  Belgium, Germany and France are its border-mates.

We will be sad to leave Luxembourg tomorrow, as it has been a simply wonderful place to visit.

Our hotel is in the Moxy chain, which is the funkiest chain in the Marriott family of hotels. It is definitely geared to the younger set, but we enjoyed its amenities, all the same. Here, Pam is having a post-breakfast moment in the hotel’s ’egg chair’!  Oh, and yes, it did turn out to be a good day!

We are still trying to process the fact that all buses, trams, and trains in the country are 100% free!  Even to visitors. And what impeccable, modern equipment comprises the transit network!  We took a bus to the eastern part of the country and back, and it didn’t cost us a cent. All of the buses that we have seen are either 100% electric or are hybrid. This was our bus to Echternach.

This road-side chapel caught our attention, about 10km from the airport.

Here are some scenes showing the topography of Luxembourg - at least, from the city to Echternach. We were amazed at how advanced the crops are here, compared to Nova Scotia. The corn looks ready to harvest, as do the grain crops. 







The tourist bureau in Echternach has a large panorama photo of Echternach, which we copied for this blog. The largest building you see — towards the left — is the Abbey.


This is Place du marche, or Market Square, in Echternach, the town’s main meeting place.

This is the Criox de Justice (‘Justice Cross’). In the Middle Ages, it was hated, because it was from its nine-steps that justice pronouncements were made. Echternach’s Justice Cross dates back to 1236, when Countess Ermesinde issued a charter of freedom to the town and its councillors. French revolutionary troops destroyed it in 1794.  In 1939, it was reconstructed, when the original cross was found in a garden. In 1944, it was destroyed as part of the War’s general destruction on the town. It was rebuilt in 1982.

This is Echternach’s former court house, which dates back to 1344. It was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1444. It was destroyed in World War II and rebuilt.

This is the town hall.

A fountain in the Market Square.

Echternach has so many incredible flowers!

The Abbey of Echternach, founded by Saint Willibrord in the seventh century.

The accommodations part of the abbey, adjacent to the church, is now used as a high school.


Interior of the church.

In the church’s crypt, there is a spring, called the Willibrord Well. It is rumoured that the water can heal skin diseases.

We found this sculpture of the Crucified Christ in the church very moving.

When we arrived in town, we learned there would be a concert in the church at noon… the following day! We were so disappointed.  However, as we were leaving the church, music started wafting from the organ. And then a saxophonist joined in!  It was the organ-saxophone duo for tomorrow’s concert, doing a practice. What beautiful music! It turns out the saxophonist was Sigurdur Flosasan from Iceland.

The church, as viewed from the back, with a statue of Saint Willibrord.


Rue de la Gare is a pedestrian street lined with shops and cafes. Pam bought shoes! 

Along the Sure River, Echternach’s Stadt Park features the Rokoko Pavillon, shown above.

The buildings across the river are in Germany!

Le pont frontalier (‘border bridge’) connects Luxembourg to Germany. It was in the centre of this bridge that I did a little to-ing and fro-ing — sort of like a dance!  It was captured on video for Facebook and shows me jumping backward, saying, “I’m in Germany!”  Then jumping forward, saying, “Now I’m in Luxembourg!”  And this repeated itself.  I think Pam was quite mortified.

After the bridge dance, we had a wonderful lunch near the church.

The town’s war memorial.

The Church of Saints Peter and Paul.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog entry, Luxembourg is spotlessly clean. This guy was walking around Echternach today sucking up everything that might tarnish the country’s spic ‘n span image!

Arriving back in Luxembourg City just before 3PM, we made our way to the train station, which was a beautiful structure in its own right.

The ceiling of the station is a bit of a masterpiece, too.


To end the day, we visited the American Military Cemetery, which was a huge investment in bussing and walking to and from!

As you may be feeling, too, we are angry with America and, frankly, we want nothing to do with America until such a time as the regime there changes and the country can hopefully be placed back on track. As a result, we contemplated whether we should visit the cemetery or not. We decided, however, that sacrifice is sacrifice and needs to be acknowledged. And, despite Trump’s arrogant rhetoric about America having won World War II for the world, we do acknowledge that American sacrifice did play an important role in freeing the world from Naziism. For that, we are eternally grateful.  In any case, this is the only American cemetery in Luxembourg. 5076 soldiers from World War II are buried here. Most died in the fighting north of Luxembourg City, and eastward to the Rhine River, during the winter of 1944 and spring of 1945.

371 soldiers were never identified or recovered, and their names are inscribed on the monument above.


The cemetery is 55 acres in area and is managed by the American Battle Monuments Commission. The land was granted in perpetuity by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

Each cross (or Star of David marker, for Jewish soldiers) shows the name, regimental information, home state, and date of death. This is a random sample from among the markers, showing a soldier from North Dakota, who died in 1945.

It was fitting that, as we were visiting, the caretakers of the cemetery were taking down the flag and folding it, to mark the end of the day.