Finding Hygge in Luxembourg
Luxembourg City is one of our favorite places to visit. It's probably not the first place (or second or third, for that matter) that you might think of when considering locations where hygge vibes may be strong, but at the end of the day, hygge can be anywhere in the world you are able to create and enjoy feelings of warmth and joy with friends and family. For Lesley and I, Luxembourg means exactly those things. Home to my cousin Alexandra (Ola), her husband Krzysiek (Kris) and their extremely cute toddler-son Maksimillian (Maks), Luxembourg always means a happy hygge fuelled time of Lesley talking fashion and home decor with her favorite cousin-in-law, and me enjoying the intense, gin fuelled car and real estate conversations with Krys. This time we were joined by my cousin's older brother Maciek (also obviously my cousin) and his wife Marta, and their two sons Leo and Milan.
Luxembourg as a city gives off a calm and tranquil energy with gorgeous, historic architecture providing the perfect backdrop for hygge-licious moments. The city itself and its beautiful buildings, bridges, and streets are incredibly clean and well maintained, something that one would expect for a country with the second-highest GDP in the world while having a population of only 116 thousand or so people. Luxembourg has also been ranked the safest place in the world to live, which makes the feelings of tranquility and peace you feel when spending time there make a lot of sense.
After a very late initial evening with the cousins, we went off to do some sight seeing in Luxembourg. Despite having already visited the city a few times, we always like to venture out on the town, find something new we haven't seen before as well as have lunch or dinner out. Something a lot of North Americans don't understand about Europeans, and especially Polish people, is that they don't seem to have the ability to get tired when spending fun times with friends or family, especially when these events are accompanied by alcohol. We were, therefore, feeling quite tired from the night before, but it was nothing a quick glass of Rose or cold German beer on a patio couldn't fix. After strolling around downtown, we settled down for a lunch in the middle of the main old town square, where I had the best and largest beef tartare meal I have had in my life.
The next day we opted to venture out into the Luxembourgish countryside, somewhere we had never had the time to visit before and where my cousin and her husband were in the process of building a new house. After taking a look at the build site it was time to hit some wineries. Once again, the feeling exuded by this place was the feeling of absolute serenity and security. Having been based out of Victoria, BC, Canada on Vancouver Island, many of our family and friends back home like to brag about how Victoria is the 'best place in the world' as well as the safest, and how lucky we are to live in such a perfect place. These trips of ours to Europe and especially to places like Positano and here in Luxembourg always put this bias to the test. After a cheerfully wonderful afternoon of winery hopping and walking along the grape vine fields stretching out to the river that separates Luxembourg from Germany, which is actually the Moselle River, we settled for dinner at a beautiful hotel. After an incredibly delicious dinner with it starting to get late, my cousin Maciek and his family who had been planning on driving back to Poland that night (an 8 plus hour drive) opted instead to stay the night a the hotel where we were having dinner. Despite it being an absolutely gorgeous and brand new four star hotel, they were able to get a premium room for only 208 Euros. Comparing this to prices back home in Victoria and Vancouver for comparable hotels makes it seem like life is, in fact, much better for people living in the European Union.
Our peaceful visit to Luxembourg came to an end that evening as Lesley and I were leaving to travel to Florence, Italy the next morning, but we were confident that we had accomplished our goal for the quick family reunion. We most definitely found Hygge in Luxembourg.