As a field trip for my Economics of European Integration class, we visited the Banque Centrale Du Luxembourg. Luxembourg as we have learned is the richest country in the EU and considered to be a micro state. Since it is so expensive to live in, many people who work in Luxembourg city live in bordering countries and then commute everyday. The national language spoken there is Luxembourgish but since it borders both Germany and France, both languages are widely spoken there as well.
We took a 3 hour bus from Maastricht to Luxembourg city where a representative from the Central Bank greeted us and gave us a lecture. His lecture centered around the purpose of the central bank which is to decide on the key interest rate. He touched on how inflation and deflation affect the economy and historic trends. Overall, his lecture was too surface level and stuff for the most part we had already covered. I thought a tour of the bank would be included but it was just a short lecture. I wouldn’t say it was worth driving all the way down for.
Our professor jokes that you can see all of Luxembourg twice in an hour. I had done some research about places to see but for the most part everything was in the city center. Since we only had an hour, we did not go into anything but merely passed by. My favorite place we saw was the Palais Grand-Ducal, which is the residence of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg. The palace was guarded by two guards and I had fun trying to see if I could get them to laugh. I successfully made one grin so big and then decided I would probably need to leave before causing anymore trouble.
We passed by Notre Dame Cathedral which was a large gothic cathedral and then ended up at Constitution square. Constitution Square was a large area dedicated to the soldiers who fought in WWII and overlooked a large forest. From the overlook you could also see the Pont Adolphe which was a large stone-arch bridge that looked very picturesque against the scenery. I think I would have to agree with my professor that there wasn’t too much to see in Luxembourg as the city and country is very tiny.
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