Pont Adolphe
Arched road bridge over the Pétrusse valley in Luxembourg City, linking the Ville Haute to the Gare district.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither Here Nor There | Bill Bryson | backdrop | On his first day ever in Europe (1972), Bryson meets his roomless seatmate here and learns the city is full. |
Neither Here Nor There — Bill Bryson (1991)
Source: Readwise highlight
In the afternoon I bumped into my acned seatmate on the Pont Adolphe, high above the gorge that cuts through the city.
- Role: backdrop
- In the book: A flashback in chapter 1 to Bryson’s first trip in 1972: the cheap flight from New York via Keflavík lands in Luxembourg, and he spends the day in “a kind of vivid daze.” On the Pont Adolphe he runs into the Bible-reading seatmate from the plane, who tells him every room in the city is taken (“Fucking city, fucking Luxembourg”). Bryson’s own hotel hunt fails, and he hitchhikes into Belgium.
- Why it matters: Minor as a place, but it marks where Bryson’s love affair with Europe starts and where the book’s first misadventure kicks off. Any spot in the compact city would have done; the bridge “high above the gorge” fixes the memory.