"But if the streams and clouds keep travelling, travelling, the mountains look like the hulls of capsized ships, slime-hung and barnacled."
--Elizabeth Bishop
https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/questions-of-travel/
After a chill morning during which Anna made me unbelievable blueberry oatmeal, we went out to explore the city. We participated in many expected activities--such as sight-seeing and selfie-taking--as well as many unexpected activities--such as pillow fighting in the square to support Parkinson's and sewing aprons and ties into handbags to support conservation of clothing (or something?). (Pillow fight and bag I made are pictured above). Our food intake during the day included mango smoothies and ice cream, so we were very thankful for a gorgeous home-cooked meal served to us by Anna's lovely parents: René and James.
What I learned about Luxembourg Today:
1. The people LOVE their country. Everywhere you look there are signs about how to support the city. The state built a small tram that goes twenty meters up a hill, and the government was so proud that they distributed postcards at local stores with a (pretty ugly) picture of the tram on them.
2. Luxembourg LOVES its people. The government pays you money when you go to college, when you graduate, and when you write literature. Everyone has free health care, and new labs, libraries, and museums are being built in every corner. Luxembourg wants so badly for its neighborhoods to look nice that the city pays you to repaint your house if you paint it a color that doesn't match the warm shades of town.
3. Luxembourg is so cloudy that its citizens are often vitamin-D deficient.
4. There are so many languages spoken in Luxembourg that there are actual married couples who do not speak even a bit of the same language as one another. Anna told me about her friend whose mom speaks Thai and whose dad speaks English and German. Apparently they communicate through hand motions and through their daughter, Nat, who speaks both.
Question of the day: Would you ever marry someone who spoke a different language and refused to learn yours? Would you learn theirs or would you gesture forever like Nat's parents?