Discovery
was the goal of my European trips this year, and the next place to discover was
yet another small country – Luxembourg. We headed straight for the capital, and
it was bustling. Walking through the shopping streets in the centre, there were
people milling about everywhere – eating at the open air restaurants, pouring
in and out of shops – and it was only mid-week!
As
always, our adventures began at the tourist office, picking up a self-guided
tour, and off we went. We found the reasonably modest and yet still beautiful
Town Hall in the Place Guillaume II, and then walked down to the Place to la
Constitution, right at the edge of the city and with a large golden statue
overlooking the valley and faraway castle.
Next
to this area was Notre Dame Cathedrale, not quite as impressive as its Parisian
or Strasbourg counterparts, but still an impressive one nonetheless with its
central green spire. The next part was easily my favourite – we moved away from
the busy streets to the quiet and calm Corniche, also known as the most
beautiful balcony in Europe.
This
long street stretches high above the valley and offers lovely views of the area
below – the Neimenster cultural centre, Pont du Stierchen bridge, and the aqueduct-like
Pont du Chateau bridge behind it. Not only is this area home to such lovely
buildings, but it is full of greenery with a river flowing through the middle –
absolutely delightful.
The
end of the street brought us into the older side of Luxembourg, past St Michael’s
Church and into a pleasant square with eateries and small hotels. Arriving in
the middle of Luxembourg’s hustle and bustle earlier had been quite the culture
shock, but here, I was at home.
Just
around the corner, and you’ll find the Grand Ducal Palace, the residence of the
Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and a building I sure wouldn’t mind staying in. Right
next door, we found out eatery for the evening – Les Copains d’Abord, a lovely
restaurant with outdoor seating and, IMHO, in a much nicer location than those
in the centre of the city.
We
finished the day with a nighttime walk back along the Corniche, enjoying the quiet
hum of people enjoying the pleasant evening. We’d opted not to stay in
Luxembourg’s pricey centre, instead choosing a very reasonable Hilton Double
Tree a few miles away, but with the thirty minute bus journey to-and-fro free,
sure, was no trouble at all.
Tips
for visiting Luxembourg:
-Honestly, I’d say avoid the city centre!
Especially for someone having spent the last year and a half pretty much in
social isolation, to be thrust right into crowds and business was a bit
overwhelming, especially with the hindsight knowledge that there is such a
lovely, calm area just around the corner
-Make sure the Corniche is on your list of
places to go. This is Luxembourg at its best, and gives you many options for
where to go next – towards the quiet part of town and Grand Ducal Palace, down
to the underground passages that form the Bock Casements, or into the pretty
Grund suburb
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Every
morning when travelling in France should start with croissants. As such, we
started our down at Atelier 116, a boulangerie right in the heart of the town,
for croissants and freshly squeezed orange juice. Then, we began our walking
tour which began right alongside the Danube. One of our first stops was the
covered bridges, where you can head upstairs and actually walk along the terrace
on top of the bridge – very cool.
We
followed the brick streets to ‘Petite France’, a very picturesque area with
quintessential Alsatian design and the homes of fishermen, millers, and
tanners. This area is home to the Maison des Tanneurs, built in 1572, and
apparently the most beautiful building in Strasbourg!
The
highlight of our walk was undoubtedly the Notre-Dame de Strasbourg cathedral,
an imposing structure situated in the central square. There seemed to be no
better way to see the city than from its spire, so we paid our 8 Euros and
begin the climb. Three hundred plus steps later (with beautiful views all the
way up) and we’d reached the viewing platform just below the main tower.
I
loved how this area was set up – you walk through a small museum explaining the
construction of the cathedral (there were originally meant to be two towers!)
and then out into the open air. There is fairly open fencing surrounding this
area for safety reasons, but you can still get an excellent vantage point. I
particularly enjoyed the cones that dotted the fences which, when looked
through, pointed out some of the most important buildings in Strasbourg. Well
worth a visit.
Back
on ground level, we checked out the equally impressive inside of the cathedral.
Next to sunsets, my favourite thing of beauty has to be stained glass windows,
and the Notre Dame had them in spades (little did I know one of them would
appear later!) The cathedral is vast and glorious, and brought back sweet
memories of another of my favourite buildings in the world, Durham Cathedral.
As well as the stained glass windows, you must make sure to check out the
organ, without a doubt the largest I’d ever seen. The cathedral is open to
visitors, but ensure you don’t go at lunchtime when it’s shut!
Speaking
of lunch, it was about time to get something to eat, and what better to eat
than macarons. Right next to the cathedral, you’ll find Le Lautrec and its vast
array of flavours. I took my time choosing, eventually settling on mango,
passionfruit & raspberry; sakura & cherry; vanilla, caramel &
pecan, and pear & combawa. All utterly delicious, and quite frankly better
than those I’d had in Paris!
There
is so much fantastic architecture in Strasbourg, and you could easily spend a
day just hopping from one beautiful building to the next. For us, however, that
evening was spent hopping from restaurant to restaurant, because they all
seemed full! Everywhere we went, we were told there was no space, and had
walked 3.5km before we finally found one that was a) good and b) had available
seats.
Our
choice: Le Bistrot Des Cocottes. The menu was large, but not particularly
vegetarian friendly, so I ended up having a starter as my main - vegetable
ravioli with ‘perfectly cooked eggs’ in a saffron sauce. But guess this: it was
big, and it was delicious. I was perfectly happy with that as my main course,
and couldn’t even bring myself to look at the dessert list, I was so full!
Last
on our checklist – a place to stay. Was I expecting something amazing from the
Best Western Monopole Metropole? No. Did I get it? Yes. The hotel was a
pinnacle of modern design. Sleek, expertly lit corridors leading you to
upmarket hotel rooms a dash more exciting than your average white-walled room.
I honestly think I must have had the best room in the whole hotel – the entire wall
behind my bed was taken up by a huge lightbox illuminating one of the stained
glass windows from the cathedral. Strasbourg through and through.
Tips
from visiting Strasbourg:
-Come on an empty stomach. As far as I’m aware,
Strasbourg isn’t necessarily known as a ‘food capital’, but I think it should
be. We sampled a tiny selection of what the city had to offer, but had we had
more time there, you’d best believe I would have been trying anywhere and
everywhere.
-On the topic of food, book a restaurant! We
were there mid-week, off-season, and still struggled to find somewhere to eat.
Bearing in mind we had to walk 3.5km and check out probably a dozen restaurants
before we found one, save yourself the trouble and reserve a table at one you’d
like.
-Work off all that food by walking up the
cathedral. If you don’t have time to do full walking tours of the city, this is
also a great way to see everything you need to all at once, and also get a
unique view of the cathedral itself that many others would miss out on.
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The world
is slowly but surely getting back to normal, and we got loads of new music this
month. Life is good. September heralded the release of albums from some of my
favourite artists, and introduced me to some new ones who I’m sure will be
future favourites. You can check out my full 40+ song playlist from this month,
and read on for the songs I’ve really been loving. In no particular order…
Over You Is You – Tenille Arts, Matt Stell
These two
ought to be some of the biggest names in country over the next decade.
Listeners of my show will already have heard Tenille Arts as my featured female artist earlier this year, and Matt Stell often makes an appearance during my
end of the month round-up shows (as he will again this month!) Given my love
for both these artists, you can imagine my excitement when I heard they were
releasing a song together. Over You Is
You is in a sub-genre I just love – the ‘can’t quite get closure’ side.
Here’s a country-rock song about trying to move on from someone you loved, but
not doing a great job as “Baby, you’re my go-to I go to, I can’t find the ‘move
on with someone new’, no matter what I do, ‘over you’ is you comin’ over.” The
voices work, the song works – a success in my book.
If you’re
a fan of some of the female-led pop songs that I’ve featured in previous
round-ups from the likes of Delaney Jane,Blu Eyes, and Brynn Cartelli, I can
tell you that this one is bound to be right up your street too. In this
indie-pop song, Leah Sykes sings about the situation we’re all nosy enough to
observe but would hate to be a part of – a public disagreement with a partner.
Here we’re presented with one side of the couple who’s tired of holding back
their argument for so long, and the other who’s more concerned with the
opinions of those around them: “If I start crying, you ask for the check and we
dip, say I’m too sensitive, you say sorry to the waitress. Horrified and
awkward glances from the patrons, care more about these strangers, you say
sorry to the waitress.” It’s a sad track set to a pretty catchy tune – what
more could you want?
New artist
alert! I had not one, but two Carter Faith tracks on my September playlist
(check out the full playlist here), but this one hooked me in from the first
note. This is a song that I’m sure we could all definitely have used a time or
too – about that person whose goal in life just seems to be to bring others
down: “We all came here to have a good time, ain’t no one gonna make it out of
life alive, would it kill you to not be such a buzzkiller? Why do you care
who’s kissin’ on who? Who’s findin’ their high in the back bathroom? You sound
bitter, why you gotta be…a buzzkiller?” Also contains one of my favourite lines:
“Why you always got such a bad attitude? It’s Friday night, baby, no one’s mad
at you,” (say it louder for the people in the back!) It’s a really well
produced upbeat song with beautiful vocals, and if you’re not holding your
breath at the beatdrop, you’re doing it wrong.
https://www.shazam.com/track/577119564/buzzkilla
Cherry Blossom – Kacey Musgraves
Is Golden Hour the best record of the past
decade? Yes. Is Kacey Musgraves one of the best artists of all time? Also yes.
After such a phenomenal third album, I’ll admit I didn’t know whether Kacey could
even reach the bar she’d previously set with new album star-crossed. I think it’s fair to say that I’ll always have my
favourites on Golden Hour, but I
think this new album might herald a few favourites too, including Cherry Blossom. Given that this album is
colloquially known as Kacey’s ‘divorce album’, I think it’s fitting that she’s
used the imagery of cherry blossoms to represent something which is utterly
beautiful, but ultimately short-lived: “We happened quickly, as humans do.
Summer was coming, and change was too. Look at me now, I’m fallin’ at your
feet, I’m your cherry blossom, baby, don’t let me blow away.” I love this song
because, like she often does, Kacey has made country different. She incorporated Japanese sounds and imagery, blurred
the line between country and pop, used synths and beats that are utterly
unusual in this genre. Job well done. P.S. Simple
Times is also brilliant!
Like the
previous entry, this one is pretty much my way of encouraging you to listen to
the entire album. This month, the hideously-underrated should-be-country-star Lauren Alaina released her third album Sitting
Pretty On Top Of The World. Again, there are loads of fantastic songs that
I could mention here (and indeed previously have), but Written In The Bar was just one that really resonated with me. Here
we have the story of two people finding a love not written in the stars, but
written in the bar: “We were last call fallin’, two hearts tequila talkin’. We
found each other in the dark, numbers on Friday night napkins, a different kind
of bound to happen. No, we weren’t written in the stars, we were written in the
bar.” If you’ve ever connected with someone in a bar, this is the song to make
you reminisce about it all. Please, listen to this song, listen to Lauren’s entire discography, and you’ll see why she deserves so much more than she has.
Male
country bands have a lot going for them, and yet I feel like we don’t really
hear enough about them (with the rare exception *cough* Zac Brown Band *cough).
Parmalee, Eli Young Band, James Barker Band – all well deserving to be Main
Stage acts, and I’ll certainly be adding LANCO to that list. Save Me is the latest track from the
five-piece band, a plea from a guy to a girl who could help to get him onto the
straight and narrow: “Don’t you know that I saw you walk in this place?
Devilish grin and an angel face, you could be my saving grace. So, baby please,
come a little bit closer til the space between is gone and the night is over,
I’ve been lost but I found you, you could be the someone to pull me close
tonight, make me believe, that you could save me.” It’s simple and fun, and
definitely a good track to save you from musical monotony.
Taylor Swift, is that you? If you’d told me this was an unreleased Fearless vault
track, I’d believe you. Alana has the T-Swift vibes down pat, from the voice to
the imagery – “Take me to the water tower, run that red light flashing, can we
turn the stars up louder? Kiss me, breathless, faster, cause tonight is magic,
our lips like magnets.” This is a song about that first love feeling, when it’s
probably not love, but you don’t know any better: “Pullin the driveway, kiss on the porch, saying
goodnight and it’s 5 in the morning, make my upstairs, stare at the ceiling,
smiling and dreaming, this feeling is real.” I really think Alana has a lot
going for her – I’ve loved previous tracks like California and Trying Not To
because they really do evoke that early 2010s era of country pop I fell in love
with. I’m excited for what’s next!
Obviously
September was a month for reminiscing about years gone by. You can tell this
song is going to be cute from the get-go with that soft, groovy guitar intro.
This song has such a lovely nostalgic message about no matter how many years go
by, and how much a person changes, they’ll always be that person you knew at
that point in time: “You’ll always have long blonde hair, you’ll always be
Memphis queen, you’ll always be my first time in New Orleans.” It got me
thinking about those people who were my 17, 21, and 23, and if you’ve got
people you remember from various years throughout your life, you’ll definitely
connect with this one too. “No matter where I go, no matter what I do, I’ll
never be 23 with anyone but you. You can marry who you want, go back to
Tennessee, but you’ll never be 23 with anyone but me.” Sam really proves his versatility on this one – he can do party anthems, he can do sexy songs, and hecan do sweet ones too. I approve.
Where does
the time go? I hope you enjoyed reading my Top 8 this month – you can check out
all of my favourite songs right here: Ciara's Country Spotify,and I’d love to know what songs you’ve
been loving recently, drop me a message on Twitter @CiarasCountry! You can also
join me ever Friday GMT 5-8pm on www.ukcountryradio.com for three hours of great country music just like this – I
hope you’ll join me! Thanks so much for reading!
