The "bicycle" in the title I could now almost omit because of the bike leg of the tour is over and we sit in the IR train from Luxembourg to the SNCB Liège (Fr. Liège) after we are gone before just 75km by bike through the Eifel, Venn and Ardennes. Although it was never far away, I've never been to Liege and was excited about what this city - which can be seen as the cradle of industrialization in continental Europe - has to offer.
We arrive early afternoon at the new main train station of Liège Liège-Guillemin, who was by the famous architect Santiago Calatrava designed - there are two views:
From Liege run based high-speed lines to Aachen and Cologne, and to Brussels and Paris, so the station is of great importance for long-distance traffic between France, Belgium and Germany. After a tour of the building and the search for the bike garage (very hidden about 200 meters from the main entrance on the side of the station) we went to the city.
As it so often the main station behaves, which is not situated directly in / on the inner city, one must first find as those unfamiliar with the way there (which should also go so many in Trier). The footpath at the end amounted to about 25 minutes until we are in a typical Belgium pedestrian zone with numerous food stalls (waffles, pancakes, etc.) and chocolate shops again found. The roads in the Liège city are mainly applied in the grid, so that even with the many side streets did not lose its bearings. Made the streets less the impression of a department store interchangeable track, as it is known from German cities, the capital letters and ampersand have yet to be found. Liege seems to be a city with many contrasts, so is impressive with many department stores are vacant lots or more run-down building facades in the neighborhood. Just as in Antwerp, Liege Cathedral in downtown is pretty obstructed, even if it is not as impressive as long as the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp in .
Before the Episcopal Palace is one of the few major sites located in the inner city, who also is also a central bus station. Directly to this place closes, the old market square (see photo), which is reserved mainly for the outdoor dining. Now you are in the old town, coeur historique (dt historic heart), where, however, is not much left of old buildings remain. The bike is still in the legs, we still could not stop them from climbing the stairs to the Montagne de Bueren (about 400 steps). Along the staircase there are normal houses am sehr steilen Hang. Ich könnte mir sehr gut vorstellen, dass der Postausträger in dieser Straße durch Strohhalmziehen ermittelt wird. 
Vom Berg bot sich dann jedenfalls eine weite Aussicht über die Stadt!
Wieder unten in der Stadt angekommen, sehen wir uns weitere Viertel außerhalb der Innenstadt an und eine ganz große Ähnlichkeit mit Paris fällt auf: genau wie das Seine-Ufer der französischen Weltstadt ist auch das Maas-Ufer in Lüttich komplett mit Stadtautobahnen zugebaut, sodass dort keinerlei Aufenthaltsqualität besteht. Weiterhin reihen sich viele Eyesores of the 20th Century (crumbling concrete walls, etc.) together. But why in addition to the built over the river banks of Liege is still "the Paris of Belgium," called?
The answer to this question, we found many narrow side streets of the pedestrian zone, we have found the bar district of Liege, the Carré. Even in the late afternoon the streets were filled with many young people, such a driver from pubs would be unthinkable in Germany and I had known previously only from the francophone space. The Carré with its traditional (and alternative) Bars has ironed out in the end a lot of bad impressions of the city again.
Fazit von Lüttich: die Stadt leidet aufgrund seiner industriellen Vergangenheit und der dadurch bedingten Strukturprobleme an einem schlechten Ruf, der sich nun im neuen Jahrtausend langsam zu erholen beginnt. Prestigeobjekte wie der neue Hauptbahnhof sind nicht zufällig in den letzten Jahren gebaut worden, insgesamt hat die Stadt aber noch viel mehr Entwicklungspotential. Vor allem viele alte Gebäude, Betonburgen und ihre Fassaden sollten saniert werden und Relikte der autogerechten Stadt zurückgebaut werden. Die rege Bautätigkeit in der Stadt lässt aber darauf schließen, dass Lüttich sein Gesicht in den nächsten Jahren noch weiter verändern wird.
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