Blogs from Lucerne, North-West, Switzerland, Europe - page 12

After leaving Colmar in Alsace, we made our way south to Switzerland. First stop to pay the highway tax in Basel. If you don't pay it, you end up hours on small roads, and I'm not sure this is a great idea with two wonderful monsters sitting in the back of the car. I need to point that so far, they have been impressive and well behave at the back of the car...I'm wondering what is the real effect of the candies we bought in Holland with Ma'ri for them few days ago! The first game we played was...count the number of tunnels we are going through...but Leslie lost count very soon considering the number of tunnels. I think the longest one we went in Switzerland was around 6km. 14 years ago I cross Switzerland from ... read more

Lucerne Interlaken Zürich... read more

We left Geneva bound for Lucerne via Montreaux. We were advised by one of Richards work colleague, Phillip, to take the Golden Pass train through the countryside as it was spectacular and we were not disappointed. We arrived in Montreaux and disembarked for a wander. It was picture perfect, with its colourful yellow or red umbrella awnings along the hotels facing the lake. We caugh a bus to Chateau de Chillon which was a very well preserved castle on the lake, it is steeped in history as is all of Europe. We were able to walk through the dungeon where Byron had spent some time. We wandered the huge dining and bed rooms, walked along the high wooden walkways where the gaurds would take their post. About 2 hours later we caught a bus back to ... read more

Ashley, Elz, Ryan, and I set off into the rain today on our own eight feet to Lucerne, It was a blast! Day 7 of our European Excursion was designated to be a free day, and Lucerne was calling our name! We originally had wanted to take our swimsuits and lay out at the lake after lunch, however, this morning it was pretty chilly and drizzly so we scratched that off the list of options. None-the-less, at 11:45 a.m. we left the Engelberg train station. It was my first real train ride and it was pretty cool. The best part was when we stood outside of the train door for about ten seconds trying to figure out how to open the dang door. haha! Ryan of all people was the captain of this operation and if ... read more

Day three was all-in-all a marvelous treat; probably my favorite day yet. Don't get too excited for me though, one shall not forget the expression, in order to appreciate sunshine, you must also experience the rain. I began the day with a jog along side Mrs. Bradley. I just love to hear her stories. We followed up our jog with breakfast, got ready, and then the group met downstairs for our trip to Seelisburg to visit a family owned and operated organic cheese-making facility. It is a fourth generation factory and employs 16 local farmers, 14 of which are cousins to the Aschwanden family (the founding and still operating family.) For reasons such as to keep employment rates up, business in dairy is vital to the Swiss culture. Without these facilities, there would be many farmers, ... read more