100_2697Luxembourg. It’s a curious place. I was there one December having a nosey and found the place intriguing and a little confusing too. A few people who I know who have visited the country’s capital (Luxembourg) have all said the same thing – it’s a beautiful city, but it’s also a bit weird. After my jaunt, I agree. I don’t have anything against the place, but I don’t have anything to rave about either. However…

After getting off the train, I checked into my hotel. The owner, 100_2707who was sitting behind a little desk in the hallway, asked for my passport and studied it for quite some time. He made some notes in a book, studied my passport some more and then handed it back. He didn’t say much, but he did give me a room key and pointed up the stairs. I thanked him (although I’m not sure what for) and headed up to my room. I wasn’t filled with confidence when I approached the door and found the door number was attached via a post-it note. Inside was like stepping into the 1900s with well worn furniture scattered around accompanied by a well worn carpet. I popped my head into the communal shower and decided that a wash could wait until I got to my next destination in Paris the next day.

I went for a walkabout, and the charming thing about Luxembourg is that every street could feature on a postcard. The architecture is beautiful and is a mixture of various European styles, probably due to being invaded by several European countries who, over the years, have stamped their own mark on the city and then moved on. Luxembourg isn’t very big and I quickly reached the edge of town. That’s when I stumbled across Fort Thüngen.

The Fort is on the edge of a park and I remember there being lots of trees around. I went to investigate. After twenty minutes of looking around, I realised I’d not seen anybody in that time. In fact, I’d not seen anyone in about an hour. I continued snooping when I heard a noise. It sounded like an opera singer. Curious, I headed off in search of what was making the noise. As I ventured on, I heard some spitting noises and something that sounded like a troll gargling bees. Now, a normal person would have thought ‘hmm, it’s getting dark and I’m miles from my hotel, maybe I should turn back and ignore these strange noises’. However, I wanted to know what was going on.

Fort Thungen

As I walked forwards, the noises got louder and I discovered what was making them. There was a raised area which looked like it used to have a moat around it. On it were several horn-like speakers on poles with sensors on them. As soon as I got close enough they turned to face me and started making spitting noises again. I decided to walk around and film it (this was the days before smart-phones so I used an actual video recorder). I’ve uploaded it to YouTube, the quality isn’t brilliant, but then neither was the camera I used! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFzG7U4ht_k

100_2693I didn’t get as far as the dark room at the end of the video. If I’d have had some company, I would have made them go first. I later found out that Fort Thüngen is now a modern art museum, the Mudam. I’m not a big fan on modern art, I find most of it boring and sometimes the artist’s explanation of their creation doesn’t match my interpretation. Afterwards, when I was poking around the tourist shops, I saw plenty of postcards with the museum and the fort on, but there were none featuring the art itself. Maybe there wasn’t enough room on the back of them to explain what the art represented. Who knows?

I bought a fridge magnet instead.