April 2023
This trip took place as part of the Benelux birthday eurotour, during which I visited:
Sinsheim - Karlsruhe - Ausfahrt - Luxembourg - Namur - Liège - Brussels - Dunkirk - Antwerp - Leidschendam - The Hague
Luxembourg was one of the main goals of the trip. First, all IT people in Europe know they pay a lot there. Second, it's one of the most expensive countries in Europe.
I was interested to find out:
1) is there work there
2) can you live there if anything
3) will I have enough money to at least eat
First thing you need to know: going there by car - total happiness. Gas here is one of the cheapest in Europe, lol. Park and ride is free and not far from center. Public transport is absolutely free. You can walk around the whole city on foot.
We arrived at a parking lot with the romantic name "bouillon"
Turns out everything in Luxembourg is in French
On the internets they wrote that there's also Luxembourgish and German here, but locals don't give a shit about this opinion from a high bell tower
Trash bins
City is being built and renovated
In the park people run during the day. This one - pure Prague
Free bus
Local traffic light call button (minimal cars around, but we wanted to be well-behaved)
Different model. In other countries, for example Belgium, the inscription is duplicated in another language of the country. Here, I remind you, nobody gives a shit
How you should treat drivers: you overtake, fart in front of them, and they must endure
Prague on max settings, in short
Park is awesome. Here we bought a croissant each. Croissant - shit, prices - OK, nothing terrible. Salaries are a thousand times higher, prices - maybe one and a half times max
Entering the center
Tram (free), bridges
Flags
Main square under euro-renovation, we're in the European Union
Luxembourg, by the way, is not a microscopic country. There are other cities here too
Old town
Very old town
The new one is visible too
Impression of the day - public elevator
Free
With free toilet and view
By the end of the day I was tired from Luxembourg's hopelessness - here everything is free and beautiful, but nobody knows about it
The only broken place
Suddenly - Czech embassy, in the most prime location
Unusual picture for those not in the know. Seems like "Luxembourgers are pigs", but in reality it's "today we're throwing out plastic"
The city has one problem that locals themselves note
And it's not that the whole city is under renovation
Apartments here can easily cost under a million euros, locals complain that this is the biggest chunk of expenses
Spoiler alert - that's what they think in all cities visited on this trip. The truth in 2023 is that a Luxembourger will spend about 70% of their monthly salary on a mortgage for a FUCKING EXPENSIVE UNAVAILABLE apartment. In affordable Prague I'll spend just 165%. This is just to say, never believe the whining of Western Europeans. Housing affordability here is times better than any of us are used to
New new city
Got here, by the way, on the free tram. Plans are made very crookedly. The tram line is only one, but we got on in the wrong direction and for a long time couldn't understand where we even were. The announcer in the tram chewed hard in French, apparently mocking German speakers and other expats
In short, everything's OK in Luxembourg
Bridges with bike lanes
Apartment rentals in CALL ME CALL ME form
Beautiful houses
Parks, water
New buildings
Airplanes
By the way, on Thursday Luxembourgers were sitting in the office, I saw it myself
On the way out of the city total ass, of course, everything is made for cars
And all because, perhaps, two thirds of workers in Luxembourg live in nearby cities of Belgium, France and Germany
And we reached bouillon and are going to Belgium
Conclusion about Luxembourg: a bit soulless city, but if you move and live right here, and not be in the meat grinder of daily commutes from Belgium and back, the city is top. Beautiful, cheap (ironically) and French language, which any fool knows