Luxembourg

We recently made our first venture outside of Paris, a trip to a new European country. Our niece Emily invited us to visit her while she was visiting her boyfriend James who lives and works in Luxembourg. So off we went! - just for the day. We took the TGV (high speed train) to the city of Luxembourg, which is the largest city in the country of Luxembourg.

That little green dot represents the whole country

It is a tiny little country wedged in between France, Germany, and Belgium. The country has a population of ½ million, and the city of Luxembourg has a population of 107,000. It is a hilly little town, great for walks.

In addition to being a sleepy little town with old castles, Luxembourg is a hub for multinational corporations because of its favorable tax regulations. Luxembourg also has the highest per-capita consumption of alcohol in the European Union, but the numbers are skewed by tourists like us.

We did our part

We had a delightful day.

Paris Auto Show

http://www.mondial-automobile.com/en/visitors/

This has been a big event. As one would expect, it was dominated by European car manufacturers, particularly the French. The American presence was limited to Ford, Jeep, and Tesla. I took several hundred pictures. Here are many of them with a few comments thrown in.

Folks were excited about Mustangs.

  Go figure.

                           I was a little more excited about these.

and this

 and these

Even a Bentley

and Audi

Remember

?

perhaps not 

Now we have

you've come a long way, buggie

and this Toyota Hybrid is not exactly the family Prius

Electric cars were definitely present but understated. The Tesla booth was disappointing. They had several Model S's. There was no past (the roadster) or future (Model X) on exhibit. But the Model S exhibits were impressive.

Model S "trunk" space

Rear                                     Front

Battery and motor are underneath.

No car show description would be complete without Porsche. So perhaps the 919 hybrid race car is impractical for most of us. If you want a Porsche hybrid for your every day driving, perhaps you should consider the Panamera S e-hybrid.

Side view mirrors are in for a big change.

The side mirrors on some European cars are being replaced with cameras attached to little screens on each side.

I think Toyota stole the show with this little number.

It's so CUTE!! They are calling it the i-Road.

I think that Toyota is on to something, but

it will likely be years before it reaches the US.

     There were so many other exhibits, and lots of small start-up manufacturers of fuel cell powered cars, electric bicycles that fold up and fit in a suitcase, car accessories, and this DeLorian

which took me back by time-travel to 1985.

         Finally, not something you can find at just any auto show, an Oyster Raw Bar!

Only in Paris?  Perhaps!