Where is luxembourg

i found out recently that my great grandma is from luxembourg. where is luxembourg located and what are typical characteristics of people from there?

 The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg, French: Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, German: Großherzogtum Luxemburg), archaically spelled Luxemburg, is a small landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. Luxembourg has a population of under half a million people in an area of approximately 2,585 square kilometres (998 sq mi).

Luxembourg is a parliamentary representative democracy with a constitutional monarchy, ruled by a Grand Duke. It is the world's only sovereign Grand Duchy. The country has a highly developed economy, with the highest Gross Domestic Product per capita in the world. Luxembourg is a founding member of the European Union, NATO, the United Nations, Benelux, and the Western European Union, reflecting the political consensus in favour of economic, political, and military integration. The city of Luxembourg, the capital and largest city, is the seat of several institutions and agencies of the European Union.

Luxembourg lies on the cultural divide between Romance Europe and Germanic Europe, borrowing customs from each of the distinct traditions. Luxembourg is a trilingual country; French, German, and Luxembourgish are official languages. Although a secular state, Luxembourg is predominantly Roman Catholic.

Geography and climate
Luxembourg is one of the smallest countries in Europe, and ranked 175th in size of all the 194 independent countries of the world; the country is about 2,586 square kilometres (999 sq mi) in size, and measures 82 km (51 miles) long and 57 km (35 miles) wide. To the east, Luxembourg borders the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, and, to the south, it borders the French région of Lorraine. The Grand Duchy borders the Belgian Walloon Region, in particular the latter's provinces of Luxembourg and Liège to the west and to the north respectively.

The northern third of the country is known as the 'Oesling', and forms part of the Ardennes. It is dominated by hills and low mountains, including the Kneiff, which is the highest point, at 560 metres (1,837 ft). The region is sparsely populated, with only one town (Wiltz) with a population of more than two thousand people.

The southern two-thirds of the country is called the "Gutland", and is more densely populated than the Oesling. It is also more diverse, and can be divided into five geographic sub-regions. The Luxembourg plateau, in south-central Luxembourg, is a large, flat, sandstone formation, and the site of the city of Luxembourg. Little Switzerland, in the east of Luxembourg, has craggy terrain and thick forests. The Moselle valley is the lowest-lying region, running along the south-eastern border. The Red Lands, in the far south and southwest, are Luxembourg's industrial heartland and home to many of Luxembourg's largest towns.

The border between Luxembourg and Germany is formed by three rivers: the Moselle, the Sauer, and the Our. Other major rivers are the Alzette, the Attert, the Clerve, and the Wiltz. The valleys of the mid-Sauer and Attert form the border between the Gutland and the Oesling.

Luxembourg is divided into three districts, which are further divided into twelve cantons and then 116 communes. Twelve of the communes have city status, of which the city of Luxembourg is the largest.

Luxembourg has a marine west coast climate (Köppen: Cfb), marked by high precipitation, particularly in late summer.


IANAL (I am not a Luxembourger) but it is a small country south of Belgium and east of France. Germany borders it on the east. I believe people there are mostly of French ethnicity but there is a strong German influence. If you are from the US you might know Luxembourg as part of the Ardennes battlefield, aka the Battle of the Bulge

Actually, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a small country (about the size of Rhode Island) located in a triangle at the southern boundary of Belgium, the eastern boundary of France, and the western boundary of Germany. The people are primarily German if I remember, and there is considerable commerce and manufacture done in the Country.

Just returned about 2 weeks ago.
People are friendly. It's a modern country with old-world charm, particularly outside of the capital. Fascinating history - it used to be about 2x its current size but since 1500's they've lost parts to France, Belgium, and Germany.

Luxembourg City has some impressive fortifications, but that's only 10% of what used to be there in the 16th century. The other major European powers of the day forced them to tear them down in return for independence - the city is so naturally defendable anyway with the forst they built it was totally imp[regnable - which made them a threat to all theri neighbors.

It was also the site of much of the Battle of the Bulge in WW2.


This is why they invented atlases. To find places you have just heard about. They are great things.

As for characteristics of people, they vary in any country as much as in your homeland. The all encompassing characteristics are bipedal, erect, with ocular, olfactory and auditory sensors clustered at the top of the body.

If its worldwide recession how come Japan's unemployment is 5% and Australia unemployment 4%?

but US unemployment 17% (taking into account those who are unemployed but given up hunting because they are discouraged)?

 Australia spent their stimulus package on infrastructure .... a 'ginormous' rebuilding of schools all over the country which kept people in employment everywhere ... the elderly and families were given money to spend ... and this kept the money in circulation stimulating small business and giving the consumers confidence not to sit on their funds ... and there has been a great flow on effect ... therefore no recession ... therefore no great job cuts ... and the beauty of this spending is that there is something good to show for it ... the money hasn't all disappeared into the ether ...

Australia has a pop. of 20 million and as far as I can see has a sound economy yes yes to that one. Japan's economy however is probably the most unstable in the whole world - yes even more unstable than Greece. Greece has the backing of the whole European Union. Japan had a "lost decade" in the 90s due to deflation and before the recession it was ok now it is ready to implode again. I would rather America's economy over Japans anyday even with the high unemployment. also Japan does not have any welfare so if you are unemployed you are f'u'c'k'e'd

Plus Canada was not even affected by the recession but they still have around 8% unemployment. As told by their government.

Its very complicated


Australia has mineral wealth which we sell to China -
along with
the other things we used to sell for a lot money that gave rise to employment
wool- gone
wheat - gone
beef -gone
manufacturing?
coal - labor and the greens will make that a thing of the past


Japan does a lot of ''feather bedding'' They keep on employees even if they ae not needed
Australia supplies China with material so their mines would keep on working

what is a binman

What is a Binman?

These were vastly overpaid council employees who came around with a big smelly truck once a week, and emptied the big tin dustbins people used to use. In the days when coal fires were more common, these often contained ashes as well as other waste. Every now and again, the bin men would go on strike. Sometimes they went on strike for more money for themselves, sometimes they went on strike in support of some other bunch who were asking for more money - but when they did it caused a lot of problems. The garbage would build up and streets would become clogged with rat infested piles of insanitary rubbish. 

A splendid confidence trick was played on these half wits by successive socialist and conservative governments who wished to castrate their union. They were led to believe that in the interests of 'saving the planet', the public would be required to sort their garbage into 3 categories, and to put these into separate bags. Food waste would go into small degradable bags, which could be safely left in rat-proof locked boxes awaiting collection. So-called 'recyclable' waste - (in fact, as the CEO of Sainsbury's supermarket chain gave away in a TV debate with a disgraced former minister, only the big plastic drinks bottles are recycled) - would be rinsed and placed in a see-through bag. This would then contain the majority of household waste, which is card, plastic and cans and will not cause a health hazard. The remainder would go into black plastic bags for collection once per fortnight. 

The percentage of waste which would cause a public nuisance in the event of a strike was thus vastly reduced, and could be easily handled by small teams of management or external contractors in the event of a protracted strike. 

The silly bin-men failed to spot this, and took the opportunity to be bloody-minded in many cases, chasing householders up for not properly sorting their refuse etc. They happily co-operated in their own redundancy.

A "Binman" is a refuse collector. In American terms, a garbageman. They deal with weekly rubbish collection. It is often regarded as a low class and menial job.

Waste collection worker, sanitation worker or as he is more commonly referred to....the garbageman. 
They make good money, and I don't see why they are 'looked down on' by some people after all, they perform an essential service!

In America you call your food waste garbage, and the containers you throw your garbage into are called trash cans. Am i right? 

Well in England we call our food waste rubbish and we throw it away into ''Bins''. And 'binmen' are the people who come to collest our bins. Just like your garbagemen. 

the great people who collect your house hold rubbish once a week good money if you can get it .

As an Australian, have you ever come across people less competent than you getting promotions

Let's just say one of your fellow colleagues was promoted to a higher paying position within that industry when you have been more hard working, competent and experienced than the work colleague who talks more and does less work. 


It's stupidity like this from managers that really boils my blood. The one who deserves the promotion is denied of it while the one less deserving gets it.

Look Yoshi, it's happen to me and another colleague. But I saw it this way, if they want the clown so much, they can have him/her, less stupid meetings I have to attend. 

When the clown keeps screwing up, then he/she will be out the door, and the person that appointed him/her, will either be out the door also or demoted, that opens up to places. 

Really Yoshi, I love it what I am doing, able to travel, not confined to an office listening to university graduate wannabe's. 

Don't worry about it man, your still getting a paycheck, and you don't have the hassles.

Don't start me on that Yoshi, I worked for the government and it happened all the time, it fact it's still such a sore topic I don't want to talk about it but if you could grovel and lay heaps of praise on the manager you really went places, unfortunately I was not like that and only spoke the truth and of course was overlooked many times for people with less experience and ability, but I am who I am and would never change that.

Yes, I was overlooked for a promotion because I was TOO GOOD. The fellow they promoted was useless but they couldn't sack him, so promoted him over me. Other departments heads then refused to go to him, they came to me instead because they knew I was much better.. Made it very difficult!

The Metrosexuals have a subterranean Megatropolis rumoured to be located somewhere beneath the Equator. 

From there they control all Earthly activities, including minor promotions in small business. 

I would be looking at things like your particular hairstyle, and your well-meaning but essentially inane dance moves, and possibly enrolling in suitable classes to fine tune your presentational capacities in these areas. 


After Level 33 you may be permitted to visit the Megatropolis. 

Someone letting me and my husband sit together on the plane?

We will be going on a 1 hour 30 minute flight and reserving a seat in advance is pretty expensive.

We really want to sit beside each other, no matter where it is, do you think that someone would be kind enough to let me/my husband sit in their seat so we can stay together?
Update: Gosh, all I want is a general answer,
not answers where people are so judgemental on my thoughts on the matter.
1. We aren't cheap, we're students on a tight budget, we're lucky to even be going on any trips.
2. I'm a very conscious person, I don't hold any high demanding expectations for anyone to move for me.
3. I do want to sit beside him because it's the first time we've ever travelled together, I almost never see him and flying together is a whole new experience for us.

We really want to sit beside each other. 
WE are too cheap to pay the price to reserve. 
We expect someone to just move. 

They might you ask NICELY. 
You make 90 minutes being a few feet apart seem like an eternity. 
Some people actually prefer the window seat and PAY for it. Some prefer the Aisle and Pay for it. 
You want TWO cheap seats and hope someone wants to give up their premium seat. 
What does this kind passenger get out of the deal? Would you maybe buy them a drink? 

We are not being MEAN we are being HONEST 
on a tight budget, we're lucky to even be going on any trips. So be lucky you are on a trip. 
Now you complain for 90 minutes of it you cannot cuddle with each other TOO BAD you will survive the separation anxiety. 

2 Very GOOD. You can ASK DO NOT BEG Some will do it some just will not. 
3 Most couples like to sit next to each other that is normal. Sometimes for many reasons it is not possible. Just the way it is. 
You can ask. DO NOT be offended if someone does not want to give up their seat for whatever reason they have to want it. 
Sometimes you just need to pay a little more to get what you want. When you want the bargain price sometimes there is some other cost just part of deal. Get used to it. 
Enjoy your time together when you get OFF the plane.If you cannot sit beside each other. 

Just the way it is in the real world. You do not always get everything you want.

If the plane has lots of empty seats not much of an issue. If the plane is full it is full. You make 90 minutes seem like weeks and weeks.

If you really want to sit by your husband then the only way you are going to be able to guarantee you can do that is to pay the extra fee to reserve specific seats. 

If you check-in at the same time, it is possible that if there are two seats together they will give you those. But again nothing is guaranteed. So you may want to try checking in ASAP. 

If you forego that, you can hope that someone would be nice enough to switch seats in order for you to sit together. But if you have a middle seat or already a "less than desirable" seat you aren't going to get someone to give up a Aisle or Window seat for you. Then you add in the people that did go ahead and pay reserve their seat, you are going to find them less than willing to switch with someone who didn't pay the extra amount. 

You could try the "sob" story. But realize that there are probably more than a few people on that plane who also made the decision to not sit together when they really wanted to. They aren't going to give you much sympathy. 

You could attempt to get to the gate and talk to the agent there to see if they can switch you. But then that all depends on what may be available, and how many people have requested the same thing. If you have 5 people asking to be switched with 1 seat available, and one of those 5 people have a high status on the airlines frequent flyer program...you aren't getting it..they are

Probably. As the previous answer says, if either you or your husband have a window or aisle seat, it's often pretty easy to trade that for a middle seat. There are also some other relatively undesirable seats on planes. The ones near the restrooms, for instance. Or the back row, where the seats often don't recline. 

Or if the airline has assigned seating, get to the gate early and explain your situation to the gate attendant. There may be some other vacant seats that you can be moved to.

If someone else paid for the seat that one of you wants, they aren't likely to give it up for you. 

If one of you is willing to take someone's middle seat in exchange for a window or aisle seat, then you might have luck. You might also find that the seats assigned to you by the airline are together. 

But the only way to guarantee that you're together is to pay for your seat selection. 

A 90-minute flight isn't that long though. I'm sure you'll be okay if you have to sit apart.

Not anymore. What about the people who DID pay the money to reserve their seats? 
Pretty rude of you to expect them to give up a seat they PAID EXTRA for. 

Ironically, this just happened to me a couple of weeks ago. As an elite flyer with American Airlines, I get free Main Cabin Extra seating and chose a window which would have been $45 extra. A mother and daughter were apparently booked in middle MCE seats, not sure if that was last minute or her original plan all along to save money ($20 for middle verses $35 for aside and $45 for window). Anyhoo, she asked a few of us but a flight attendant stepped in and specifically pointed out the pricing differences and how unfair it was to try and get people to switch. The FA then offered 2 free drinks and a free snack and I quickly volunteered my seat. But the FA was correct. I certainly don't agree how airlines are pricing pre-selected seats but there's not much that can be done. 

So, the moral of the story is if you want to sit next to your child, you're going to have to cough up the money.

As previously posted, the only way to guarantee sitting next to each other is to pay the premium. If the both of you are in the same row, it may (or may not) be difficult to ask a fellow passenger to switch. 

If the two of you are in separate rows, you'd have to ask the FA's if it is possible for you to move followed by asking passengers around either one of you if they are willing to switch seats. If the cabin is wide open and there are empty seats next to either one of your assigned seats , you should still ask the FA if you could move

Why should I have to move from my carefully pre-selected and paid for seat just because YOU are too cheapskate to pre-select? 

I've never seen an airline where pre-selection is more than $30. If you can afford the flight, you can afford the pre-selection. Suck it up. 

How to do a London date night at home

My husband loves London but we can t get there at the moment. I was hoping to do a London themed date night in our home. But I am lacking inspiration. How can I bring London to our living room? 

All ideas appreciated :)

 London is great for theatre and eating out.

You will have to simulate it with a good meal and a film on TV!

The food can be any theme (there is world cuisine in London). Some people dress up to go to the theatre (but most don't).


No idea what a 'London date night' is supposed to be? Not to mention, how you can recreate this in your own home? Serve any food you want (you can get anything in London). Charge about three times the going price for it. Do so while speaking English with an Eastern European accent. On your way home walk past a few homeless people and fight your way through a hen night party or two, then discover that the Tube is not running due to a signalling failure at Green Park and take an overpriced minicab instead. Get home tired and mildly annoyed and fall asleep in front of late night telly.

For the true "London experience".

He should go out to the pub on his own and get blind drunk; then he gets home at 3 in the morning; tries to have sex with you - then you both have a massive row; resulting in one or both of you getting injured.

Pretty typical night in for most Londoners.


Don't brush your teeth for a week, serve crappy food (fish and chips or bangers and mash would be good), call him "Guvnah!" a lot and all through dinner ask him questions like "Tally ho old sport! I say, isn’t this some ghastly weather we’re having, what?” and say “Alright me old geyser?" in a Cockney accent.

Do Australians eat koalas

Field rations are running dangerously low. Thusly, I've made the determination that, if need be, if faced with starvation, we will cook and eat a Koala. I've been thinking about this a lot, actually. If Koala meat were the secret ingredient on Iron Chef, I'm sure Bobby Flay would probably serve it with roasted red peppers and a dash of cumin and a braised polenta. It wouldn't be an easy thing to do, but if you slow roast the little guy, I'm sure that Koala meat would just fall right off the bone. 

The Koala is listed as vulnerable in the Australian Endangered Species List. It is estimated that there are approximately 100,000 koalas living in the wild and as such you are not allowed to eat them. It is illegal to keep a Koala as a pet anywhere in the world.

Koalas are totally protected. 

Even if they were not, historical reports suggest that they are not particularly good eating. 

As a further incentive not to eat them, about half the Koalas still alive are affected by chlamydia. You might think that eating one would require a bit of luck in picking the right one to eat. How lucky do you feel?

Only certain Ozlots like Bingalee aka "Mysterious Yoshi". Such types go after anything fluffy and marsupial because they have had such disappointment in life. That and they're tentacled land dwelling versions of jellyfish. Either way, they'd drop a koala in a stew like that. 

As you can see most Australians do not eat koalas. They just feed on stoogery and racism.

Koalas were hunted in the past both by the aboriginals and the settlers but they are protected now. 
Kangaroos are still hunted and kangaroo meat is exported and is also available in the supermarket.