August 23, 2011 -- Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

The weather forecast for Luxembourg calls for thunderstorms today and tomorrow and rain through the weekend. It's cloudy at the moment (8 a.m. Luxembourg time) with fog on the hills above us.

Yesterday in the early morning I went to the German Military Cemetery, which is only a few hundred meters from the youth hostel. German soldiers who died in both World Wars are buried there. I remember it from when I lived in Europe in my youth and used to visit Luxembourg City. A large group of us would usually go out for a few beers in the evening, and I would usually convince one of the young ladies to visit the cemetery on the way back to the hostel. The cemetery was dark and shielded from public view, of course.

I spent the time from mid-morning until mid-afternoon in the city seeing such sights as the cathedral, the Grand Duke's Palace, where the Grand Duke of Luxembourg conducts official business and receives visiting heads of state. Although the weather had been slightly overcast in the morning, by mid-afternoon the sky had become very black, and it started raining, so I took a bus back to the youth hostel.

Here is a picture of the Palace, which like everything in that part of the city, is crowded in by the surrounding buildings. The palace is the brown building more or less in the center of the photo.