Luxembourg City is indeed a place of precarious geography.  And so these spheres, from my perch above on the Adolphus bridge, seemed a perfect representation of the country and the feeling that overtakes one upon entering it: that often in this city, things that shouldn’t exist are possible.

Geographically the impossibility of Luxembourg is represented by its perilous location in Western Europe, nestled between Germany, France and Belgium.

For the next hundred years, that neutrality would serve them well as the country dutifully survived two German invasions and the wars that came with them. That was no small feet, especially fo such a small country.

These facets of Luxembourg’s modern society also bring a certain progressive attitude to the inhabitants of its capitol city. Walking down the street through a preponderance of cafes, international shops, luxury boutiques and hotels it’s striking to see most signs in four different languages, and even more amazing to discover that the a majority of employees and proprietors are fluent in all of them.

Like the rivers rushing below, a confluence of culture, language and history flow into and out of Luxembourg City. At Peche Mignon of the winding Rue de St. Esprit, a Spanish bartender mentioned she came to Luxembourg to study at its renowned school of language.

If this is true, it’s just one of the many examples of Luxembourg’s history of necessity. If necessity is the mother of all invention that necessity’s father is survival, and Luxembourg has survived to become one of the most successful and powerful cities in modern Europe. This small country, this infinitesimal capitol city is starkly international, cosmopolitan and sophisticated despite a large geographic circumference of bucolic countryside. It’s the center of the European Investment Bank as well as the European Criminal court. It is the poster child for the idea that great things come in small packages. 

But despite it’s grandeur amongst its far larger neighbors, its success both past and future, it was the country’s motto that struck me as I looked out over the giant red spheres and the lush valley below: Mir welle bleiwe wat mir sin, ”we want to remain what we are.”

I walked along through the park and towards the spheres with this motto in mind, the jagged, jutting rocks providing a fairytale ambiance to the city above me.