2023-05-27 09:29:38
Ta Frenchman, a Luxembourger and a German meet – no, they don’t make jokes in the border triangle, especially not those where one of the three gets off badly. The pandemic showed how intact the border triangle was and how it was put in its place. When the barriers fell, not only did life come to a standstill, the borders that had been thought forgotten were back and abruptly tore families and friendships apart, because in the France-Luxembourg-Germany border triangle people lived and still live like in a large, transnational village: everyone has everything Friends and family. Activities and encounters on both sides of the border are part of everyday life. National holidays are used for shopping trips. In general, the French and Luxembourgers like to go to Germany to “Aldi” and “Lidl”. The French and Germans drive to Luxembourg to refuel and to work, because Luxembourg is the economic engine of the region. 200,000 commuters are counted every working day. And for feasting we go to France, but Luxembourg also has good French food, but with German portions.
Fine Dining
However, when it comes to the very highest level, the French and Luxembourgers cross the border into Germany: “Victor’s Fine Dining by Christian Bau” at Schloss Berg in Perl is the measure of all things, and not just in the region. Christian Bau has had three Michelin stars continuously since 2005 and offers nothing less than world class. And those who still want to spend the night in Victor’s Residenz-Hotel Schloss Berg will experience their Roman wonder: with numerous Roman statues, golden busts of women and white Roman heads. Even at the breakfast buffet, a smaller Roman statue peeks out from behind the bread selection, and a metre-long mural adorns the path to it. In the pool area, the whirlpool is surrounded by a semicircle decorated with graceful Roman women. And on the terrace none other than David shows up while a cleaning lady has nonchalantly parked her car in front of a golden Caesar.
Sierck-les-Bains in Lorraine and Perl in Saarland (with the motto “Without borders on the Moselle”) are the two capital villages of the three-country region in France and Germany. Virtually no one knows her outside of the region. Luxembourg’s capital village, on the other hand, is known worldwide: Schengen. Through the Schengen Agreement, signed without much fanfare on a pleasure boat on the Moselle in 1985, and through the resulting Schengen area with currently 27 countries, which, by the way, are not identical to the 27 EU countries: Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland are Schengen – but not EU members, while Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania are in the EU but not Schengen countries. “What was signed there in 1985 on the ‘MS Princesse Marie-Astrid’ was the basis for the fact that today around 420 million people can travel between the member states without border controls,” says Martina Kneip, director of the Center Européen Schengen, a museum that provides information about everything that has to do with Schengen and counts 40,000 visitors a year. The Schengen Zone is the largest transnational region in the world where you can travel without border controls.
Shapely: the Saar loop near Mettlach
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Bild: Picture Alliance/Chromorange
The people of Schengen are of course a little proud that their Schengen is known all over the world: “Just ask someone somewhere in China. He doesn’t know Luxembourg, he knows Schengen,” says Martina Kneip. “After all, there is no European visa, but a Schengen visa.” The flags of all Schengen countries fly in front of the museum. Right next to it, 27 bronze stars in three pillars also symbolize the Schengen countries, and an inconspicuous white buoy in the Moselle stands for the border triangle: At this point, in the middle of the river, the three countries France, Luxembourg and Germany border each other.
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