A Day in The Swiss Alps

After a typical European breakfast of meat, cheese, bread and yogurt we hopped on the bus and headed to Lucerne. Our first stop was the Lion of Lucerne. The sculpture is to commemorate the Swiss Guards who lost their lives in the French Revolution. What a beautiful monument!!

Then the bus dropped us off in the old town at the Bucherer, a high end Swiss watch store. Tom took us on a walking tour of the old town. There are many old and beautifully painted buildings surrounding the old town squares. We saw the Chapel Bridge, a famous covered bridge built in the 1300's. It burned down in 1993 but was rebuilt. Some of the famous painting were destroyed, but we were still able to see a few of them. We also saw the old Mill Bridge which is also very beautiful. We went on a quick tour of the Church of St. Leodegar,one of the oldest churches in Lucerne. The farmers' market was a very busy place and we were able to see the fresh vegetables, meats, baking and flowers that the locals were purchasing on a Saturday morning.

As we were walking along the river we noticed a restaurant that provided its guests with fur coats if they chose to sit outside and enjoy the view. There were a few people drinking coffee and enjoying the warmth of these coats. We also saw a St. Bernard rescue dog. Many of our group stopped to visit and have their photos taken with the beautiful animal.After the walking tour some of the group continued shopping and others went for lunch or a snack. Doug and I found a cafeteria in a local department store and enjoyed a croissant and cafe au lait while we caught up on emails and I updated my travel journal. We also discovered how many Eatonia Marengo students fit in a Swiss phone booth....13!!!In the afternoon Doug led us on a walk up to the old city walls. There was a long climb up the hillside and then most of the group climbed up into the second tower for a beautiful view of the city and lake. Then we walked along the old city wall, past a few more towers and finally climbed down to a beautiful garden and sitting area. Some of the group are not fond of heights and should have a t-shirt made saying "I Survived the Walls of Lucerne"!! We ended our day in Lucerne at the local grocery buying fruit, water and other snacks for our train ride the next morning.

After dinner Doug and I heard music coming from the basement bar and went to investigate. There was a Swiss Folk music group entertaining the guests. We sat down to enjoy the music and were soon joined by the rest of the adults. The group played traditional folk music. They had a contest to see who could play the Swiss Alpine Horn. Yvette and I were invite up to the stage and although we did get some sound out of the horn, we didn't win the contest!! There was also singing, yodeling and our group joined in on a dance around the room. What a great way to end our visit to Switzerland!