The country has a reputation of being a tax haven which is the reason why it is rich in the first place.
Now, many people who come to visit the Grand Duchy find themselves wondering where to go, what to see and what to do here other than shopping. Shopping in Luxembourg is definitely better than PC Hooftstraat in Amsterdam, and that is if you are into signature labels. But other than that, in order to enjoy this city, you really need to know where to go.
The easiest resource in order to get to know the city would be Luxemburg Tourism’s website and of course some intensive googling, which is the reason why I blog my travels in detail; experience by experience and bit by bit. It is my way of giving back to the travel world for all the great advice I received online.
Nevertheless, I was planning to do some art viewing but realised I was too lazy to stare at other people’s works so I stuck to my fall back plan—go slow, walk around, do nothing, just be free. I need this wandering aimlessly to de-stress and recharge myself. It helps empty my mind when I do not have a plan and when I do not think of serious stuff, like work.
Well I did went to the Grund as planned but other than this, I just went with the flow. Here’s what I did.
First thing that I did was to check in to my hotel, Le Place d’Armes Hotel on Place d’Armes. I have a very strategic home base to explore the city. Place d’Armes is the heart of Luxembourg City.
Then I chilled out at Cafe de Paris located just beside the hotel with a glass of port and did my favourite pastime, people watching. The city and women are quite fashionable, just my kind of style--classy, with taste. Of course expensive, but not show off.
Checked out the Grand Ducal Palace along the way of course.
When I am wandering around aimlessly, I love to look at delicatessen and bakery shops. Sometimes I buy something, sometimes not, but it gives me warmth to see the lovely delights on the window display. It was Three Kings when I was there and this deli-patisserie shop and restaurant called Kaempff-Kohlercomes highly recommended. Amust visit if you are a foodie.
Place Guillaume is a big square you will not miss.
Another square you will not miss, Place de Clairefontaine. The Notre Dame Cathedral is located just beside this square.
I was curious of the cathedral of course so I went inside to take a peek. Majority of Luxemburgers are Roman Catholics including the royal family.
Then I went to visit the Grund. I wanted to book my dinner reservation at Mosconi and have pre-dinner drinks at Scott’s Pub. It turned out that Mosconi was closed so I just walked around the little commune and consoled myself at Scott’s with a glass of sparkling wine. Dinner will have to be somewhere else.
Then I went back to the city centre and passed by Place de Clairefontaine again. The squares here in Luxemburg city are very bright and sparkling at night.
My wandering led me to the shopping lanes and surprisingly there were still shops open. What happened? Naturally I shopped. I am an accidental shopper; I only shop when the opportunity is in front of me. I bought stuff at Vicomte A and Massimo Duti, two of the very few shops that were open late.
I was debating with myself if I should just eat at my hotel’s restaurant, La Cristallerie or look somewhere else, when I saw La Lorraine on Place d’Armes. The restaurant looks inviting from the outside and there were many people dining already which is positive. In addition, the French menu didn’t sound shabby at all. This will do.
Delicious pumpkin soup.
Escargot! Garlic buttered snails. They are so delectable. I can do another serving really.
My main: Salmon with sea snails, cooked egg and vegetables. This was nice except for the vegetables--dry and overcooked.
No desserts for the evening but a little cup of espresso. Service at La Lorraine is top comparable to real fine dining restaurants.
Place d’Armes at night. A quick stroll on the square after dinner.
Then it is time to call it a night, and go back to my hotel. I will be pampering myself with a nice hot bath.
Cycling through the city yesterday, I almost felt as if I was being shown one of those videos of "How Boston 
Passing through a stretch of the Charles River trail, it seemed that almost everyone sitting by the water had arrived there by bicycle. And the majority of the bikes looked to be personalised and well-ridden - rather than the sort of bicycle that is either a rental, or ridden once in a while on a sunny weekend. The velo-atmosphere is distinctly different from last summer.
Having crossed the BU Bridge, which is now under construction, I then looked at it from the trail and thought about the Charles River Bridge Campaign that I had mentioned in a previous post. This campaign aims to ensure that along with the scheduled repairs to the bridges, practical improvements will also be made that will make the bridges more walkable, more cyclable, and generally more enjoyable. The possibility of benches and shady promenades was mentioned.
Can the huge, dangerous bridges over the 
And Utopia is not necessarily impossible.
At least the bicycles of Boston are hopeful.
At this point some of you know that my new fixed gear bike is a Mercian. It was meant to be part of a "his and hers" pair, and I tried to postpone writing about it until the Co-Habitant's bike was set up. But it looks like that won't be happening for a bit, and hiding mine in the meantime felt wrong. So here is a less dramatic introduction that will hopefully still be informative for those curious about this legendary manufacturer.
In the Fall of we began talking about getting the Co-Habitant a nice touring frame, and at the same time I started looking for a fixed gear frame for myself to replace my vintage conversion. After considering the kinds of bikes we wanted (lugged steel, comfortable, fast, fairly lightweight) Mercian was one option we gravitated towards. A small manufacturer in Derby, England, Mercian has been building custom frames since 1949. With pricing for a lugged steel frame made with Reynolds tubing starting at under $1,000, the value is hard to beat. And their waiting times were not absurd. I happened to know a handful of Mercian owners who were experienced cyclists and whose tastes I respected, and they all raved about the bikes - some being repeat customers. Finally, it appealed to us that Mercian Cycles are made in England, toward which we both feel some personal attachment. We considered other manufacturers and custom builders, but found that they were either unaffordable or did not offer quite what we wanted. After several months of research, contemplation and budgeting, we placed an order with Mercian in Winter .
The way the order process works, is that they send you a form to fill out that is similar to their online framebuilder(warning: use at your own risk; has been known to result in frame purchase). You then submit it along with a deposit and get in the queue. When it comes time for the frame to be made, they confirm the specs and proceed. Afterwards the frame waits for paint (two tone liquid coat and lug lining are included in the price), and when everything is done you pay the remainder of your balance and the frame is shipped to you. When we were placing our order, it was estimated that the frames would be ready by summer. The actual time of completion ended up being in autumn. There was a small adventure with US Customs, but that was soon resolved and the frames arrived at our door in the end of September.
While allowing for custom geometry specifications, Mercian offers more than half a dozen lugged frame models, each in a choice of several different tubesets. From the beginning, we both knew that we wanted the Vincitore Special model, because of its distinct handmade lugwork.
We were less sure about the tubing, but after speaking to several Mercianowners settled on the 631 - the modern version of Reynolds 531.
I wanted my bicycle to be a comfortable and versatile single speed/ fixed gear, not a track bike. So I asked for the "Sportive" (sports touring) geometry with track ends. This is an entirely normal request for Mercian, as almost any model can be built as a fixed gear- they just need to tweak it to make the bottom bracket higher. I also asked for braze-ons for fenders just in case I'd want to use them in future.
There was a myriad of other choices, such asthreaded vs threadless steerer (threaded),maximum tire size (32mm), where to route the brake cable (braze-ons are along the top), how many bottle cage bosses (just 1), and whether to drill for brakes front and rear (yes to both).Aside from this, the only real custom thing I asked for was making sure there was no toe overlap - which caused them to make the top tube longer than they normally would on a frame this size.
After agonising about the paint colour, I finally settled on a subdued lilac with white panels and white lug outlining. I wanted to make sure that the colour came out subtle, and not like a garish purple. I sent Mercian pictures with a description of what I wanted it to look like, and the result is pretty much spot on.
The one thing I would have done differently here, is not use black lining where the lugs meet the white head tube panel (black is so harsh,why not gold?) - but this is stylistically typical for Mercianand ultimately fine with me. Sadly, there is no space on the headtube for a headbadge emblem, due to my small frame size. Maybe later I can get a miniature one made.
My frame came out as I specified. It fits me well and there is no toe overlap with the 28mm Panaracer Paselas (more like 30mm in actuality) that I now have it fitted with. But it's close, so if I install fenders in future, I will have to consider my tire and fender choice carefully. When I mentioned earlier that the Co-Habitant's frame is not ready, it is because the one he received did have overlap despite its large size and his request for no TCO. He has spoken with Mercian about it, and they have agreed to resolve it. Once his frame is ready and he wishes to review it, I will write more about his experience; until then I will stick to discussing my own bike. 
When it comes to construction, the main gist of my first impression is that theMercianVincitore frame is strikingly "different" from other currently made lugged frames I have seen. I don't mean the shape of the lugwork, but the craftsmanship itself. Different how... All right, the best way I can describe it is that it looks like a vintage frame in mint condition and not like a currently made lugged frame. In fact, every single (knowledgeable) person who's seen the bike in person so far was certain it was an older frame until I'd point out the Reynolds 631 decals. It's difficult to pinpoint what exactly creates the vintage impression, but it's everything from the finishing to the close-up look of the paint and outlining. Mercian's production methods for their classic frames have remained unchanged for decades, and that is probably what we are seeing. It's quite uncanny actually, and when we first received the frames we kept staring at them and running our fingers along the tubes and edges of the lugwork in disbelief. You really have to examine this bike next to, say, a Rivendellto see what I mean.
We built the bike up with a medley of mostly high-end, gently used components that I either already had or managed to get a good deal on. I am still not sure what's staying and what will ultimately be changed, so I will include the component list when I write a proper review at a later stage.
I have the bars about 2" below the saddle at the moment - which may ultimately be too extreme for me, but feels surprisingly okay for now. Initially the bike had 49x16 gearing due to the wheels and crankset I ended up with, but from the very beginning I intended to change it. After absorbing a great deal of advice, I decided to switch the rear cog to a 19t. The gearing now is quite low, and hopefully the spinning will keep me in shape during the colder season. 
Having only ridden the Mercian a few times so far, it is much too early for anything resembling a review. But I can say a few things: The ride is not harsh at all - which was a top concern for me, as harshness causes me a great deal of pain. I also like the "feel" of the tubing, in the sense that it's just the right amount of flex for my taste. On the 20-30 mile rides I've taken so far, I've experienced less fatigue on this bike than on other fixed gear bicycles I've ridden, which may be related to both of the above points. One thing to be aware of, is that the 631 frame is not spectacularly "lightweight" by contemporary standards, and part of me now wonders whether I should have paid more and gotten lighter tubing. But would I get the same ride quality with the lighter tubing? In a fictional dream-world I would be able to try an identical bike with 725 or 853 tubing, then decide. Until then, if I am happy with how the bike feels, it seems silly to wonder about different tubing options. [Edited to add: We've weighed this bicycle and it's 22lb with the build shown, not including saddlebag.]
Well, that is all I have for now. Despite our early snowfall, I hope to have much more time with this bicycle before winter really hits. It is basically my roadbike for the rest of the year: With the shorter days, I no longer have time for long rides and for me a fixed gear is ideal for 20-30 mile jaunts. The bicycle is of course beautiful, and I am looking forward to getting to know it better. If you are looking for a traditionally made steel frame with custom geometry at a reasonable price, Mercian Cycles are worth exploring.
We headed back to the Outdoor World in Williamsburg today. This is the first and only Outdoor World we have visited so far. We think it's a very nice park. There is not much activity in the park, but it makes for a very peaceful experience.
Gary is the manager of this park and he seems very on top of things and very nice. There was not a pickleball court here, and I guess Diane talked to him about putting one in. I can't imagine anyone saying no to Diane, so thanks to her there is one here now. On top of him putting in the court, Gary has also become a fellow player and will come join us if we are playing!
We like it here. We're hoping this is a sign that we will enjoy Outdoor World parks as much as Thousand Trails.
Oh, to have the energy of an 8 month old kitten.