Luxembourg: the Singapore of Europe

As you have hopefully inferred from the title, I have come to the shocking realisation that Europe is playing host to a city-state bizarrely akin to the one in which I spent my formative years. This is, in a word, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. I've spent a fair amount of time missing the quirks of my seemingly unique (closest thing to) home, so imagine my surprise and excitement at finding something remarkably similar and significantly closer to my current place of residence. But of course, let me justify my claim, as on the surface Singapore and Luxembourg may not seem so comparable. Of course, they are both city-states, conveniently situated in their respective continents to maximise trade and business and thus bring in a lot of wealth and wealthy people. Both have high expatriot populations, because of international businesses and governments and because they are both flanked by multiple countries. The result is the delightful ability to walk down any street at any time of the day and be able to hear at least 4 different languages being spoken within a space of 3 blocks. I love that. Both countries are ruled by monarchical families, Luxembourg by an actual royal family and Singapore under the guise of extremely nepotistic democracy. Despite whatever qualms your may have about these political systems, both countries are extremely stable and extremely safe. Charming as they may be, there is relatively little to do in either country tourist-wise, but have the air gemütlichkeit for actual residents. Hopefully one day I'll be able to compare the two as a resident of both. After the 110% humidity and fantastic Indian food, my comparisons are exhausted, but hopefully I make a pretty convincing point.

Tragically, the one thing that Singapore and Luxembourg don't have in common is Christmas markets. What I would have given to have had that experience as a child. Being able to walk around in the crisp air ("nice and chilly"), moseying from quaint stall to quaint stall, sipping hot drinks and singing along to Christmas carols with someone you love; it was amazing. And I was so lucky to have the chance to go to my first Christmas market with my wonderful boyfriend. It sounds sappy, but being able to share that moment, the first real, perfect moment of Christmas, with someone I love that much, was such a gift. For that moment, I forgot about all the loneliness and the homesickness and the stress and could just be. So thank you, those moments are rare for me. I get a little lost in my own world sometimes. Anyways...Merry Beginning of the Christmas Season Everybody! Hurray for Luxembourg.