We found ourselves looking out to the city view and reading about the World Heritage Site commemoration. The fortifications of Luxembourg are regarded as one is the most impressive in Europe. They became a World Heritage Site in 1994.
In the city museum, we had the opportunity to understand the evolution of the fortifications and development in the city. Luxembourg with its topography was destined to be one of the greatest walled cities in Europe. Popular among tourist, the beautiful views will take your breath away.
Later in the day we visited the Notre-Dame cathedral where the royal crypt hidden underneath the church, flanked by two lions in bronze with the Luxembourg coat of arms. In there, it rests the Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg as well as other members of the Ducal family.
Tomorrow we will go to the national museum of history and art of Luxembourg and we will say goodbye to our stay here.
On my way to Luxembourg spontaneously stopped in Brussels for a short stop. The capital of Belgium was a bit of a shock for me. Never have i ever traveled for so long alone and after staying in Bruges, Lille, Brest, Nantes and La Rochelle, i think i was used to small and/or quite cities. Even the bigger cities like Budapest and Bordeaux could not compare to this city. The feeling was totally different. I stayed in a youth hostel in the turkish quarter. I visited all the big places i could fit into my small time frame: Grand Place, Royal Palace, Bourse, Art Nouveau Quarter, the Atom, the Cathedral and the Mont des Arts.
If New York is the city that never sleeps, than Brussels for me is the city that never passes up the chance to celebrate something. In the one and an half days i stayed there they had a free comic festival, a free electronic music festival, a beer fest, a stage at the Grand Place with traditional music and many markets like a flee market and a turkish market. Tom, a local, told me himself that Brussels can be overwhelming, weird and confusing at 
first and that is the way i felt half of the time i stayed there. The wild mix of architecture, from decorative, golden guild houses to big, glass office buildings in the next street. But i also learned to love the people in and their mentality. Tom told me a lot of funny but untrue tales and the special ways the people of Brussels dealt with problems. For example they just covered the river Zenne in the late 19th century with earth instead of cleaning it up. It had become a health hazard because everybody used it as their trash can.
There are more than one origin story of the Manneken Pis statue. The most common one, at least of that i know, is about a little peasant boy. The little boy wandered around out side the city gates as he heard enemies forces approaching and he hid. He saw how they buried dynamite underneath the gates to blow up the city gates and walls. He did not quite understand all the enemies whispered to each other but he knew it was not something good. The boy did’t not know what to do. There was no time to get a adult or warn someone so he got to the end of the fuse and urinated on it. And so a little peasant boy put out the dynamite and saved Brussels.
Other stories take about the little Duke Godfrey III of Leuven, a two-year old that was hung in a basket from a tree to bring the troops luck during a battle in Ransbeke. From high up he urinated on the enemies and they lost the battle. Another legend speaks of the son of a noble man, who left a procession to urinate on the wall of a witch’s house. Furiously the witch transformed him into the statue.
I shared the news with my friends and got asked over and over again, what the OWHC actually is and what it has to do with UNESCO. I myself was not sure about all the right answers to those questions and therefore went to meet with Melissa and Zabeth, the ladies from 
Till this day it is rumoured that you can see at night in the moonlight, a shining golden hand, in which a golden eel twists, rising from the water at where the fisherman vanished. It is as if the devil himself wants to warn the fishermen to stop fishing for eels. Luckily this is not possible, since that day all eels disappeared from the “Reien” (the canals running trough the city) and they never returned.
Bruges is a beautiful city. The old town really looks like a postcard. But because of the exceptional big amount of preserved historic buildings, it’s very attractive for tourists. And too many of them are coming to Bruges. Since 2016 the visitor numbers have risen almost a million per year. In 2018 there were 8.3 million visitors compared to 20000 residents in the Unesco protected city center. Because of the rising numbers Buges doesn’t even promote itself anymore. From the 8.3 million visitors 6 million are day trippers, meaning that they don’t stay overnight. They spend only half of the money that regular tourists spend on their trip. Were other cities are campaigning for more visitors to bring revenue to the tourist sector, Bruges is drowning in them. But sadly it’s not the right kind of tourists.
One day doesn’t do Bruges justice. Outside the busy old town i found many gems. I went to the Volkskundemuseum “De zwarte Kat” (The black cat) and lost myself in the oldtimey rooms. I especially liked the pharmacy, the full functioning confectionery and folkloric games. Speaking of cats Bruges has also a cat cafe called Puss and Books, were you also can adopt cats. Near the cafe you can find a neighborhood guerrilla gardening project. 
My real highlight was kind of a suprise find. The Heilige Magdalenakerk church behind the Konigin Astridpark. The YOT hosts exhibitions, plays and concerts there. But even without a event the transformed church is worth a visit. I relaxed on the big swing that hangs from the painted high ceiling and enjoyed the original glass windows. 
In Bruges I met up with Minou Esquenet and Leentje Gunst in Bruges to talk about the World Heritage, tourism and how both affect the city and it’s locals. Because I had the chance to talk to a city official in Bordeaux too, i now could ask question to compare World Heritage Citys from an other standpoint. On of the my questions was about ecotourism because it was so clear to me that Bruges is swamped by tourists. We also talked about the brand new four-leafed clover plan, which is a concept to chance tourism and it’s effects on Bruges. There are four pillars to ensure the plan works: the balanced, connected, attractive and enterprising city.
By 2024 the city wants tourists that stay longer, have more sustainable and accessible tourism and locals that love to live in the city and don’t feel stressed by the tourists. Even though most of the locals support tourism and for some their income depends on it, one third sees the rising numbers as a threat to livability and one fourth thinks tourists are causing everyday inconvenience.
I also had the chance to visit the new Gruuthusemuseum and talk to Leentje, a city architect, about the architecture of Bruges. Everybody talks about the new pavilion you see in the picture right here. It was built on to the estate as a information and ticket center. Compared to the surrounding buildings the pavilion looks quite abstract and new. The sharp roofs are inspired by the classic Bruges house. Many locals protest that the pavilion does not fit in and want it removed. It is important to keep in mind that Unesco does not only stand for preserving, we can and should change things , else we have no world heritage to give and future generation will live in a museum. Bruges city center is so well preserved and so it seems that for some locals this little pavilion is to much change.