Blogs from Lucerne, North-West, Switzerland, Europe - page 13

Hi All Today Margret took us to Lucerne, a great little city about 1 and a bit hours away. It is located on Lake Lucerne, and as you would expect, has hundreds and hundreds years of history. We visited the lion monument that was carved in 1820-21 to commemorate Swiss guards who gave their lives trying to protect the French Royal family during the French Revolution - needless to say a number lost their lives. As I have said before, I am not a student of art, but the size and detail of the lion is amazing. Following this we went for a wander through the town and its many shops - managed to find and sample some great Swiss Chocolate. As usual with Swiss towns, it clean, tidy and organised - with history all around. ... read more

Today, Aunt Lien felt a lot better, or said she did, and so, we decided to head back into Lucerne and hit Rigi Kulm. We had a very nice, hearty Swiss breakfast and we were back to the car and more fun. ... read more

DATELINE: Saturday, April 18, AARGAU, and points west. Before resuming the account of my Swiss adventure, I should mention that TravelBlog experienced a global server problem which includes lost photos of numerous bloggers during my journey. Two of my earlier entries presently have black boxes instead of photos. TB is working hard to restore the images from backup files, where possible. Some photos may have to be re-entered by authors. (I really love this site, and wish the owners well in their efforts at recovery of missing info. Life happens, and we will all move forward. Could such losses be why Socrates had no trust of the written word, but placed great emphasis on memory and recitation?) I should also mention that several individuals who have left messages for me on the site have only just ... read more

It's all happening so fast! I'm sorry I haven't been able to document my arrival here in Switzerland to the degree I had hoped. My computer apparently doesn't speak German, as I wasn't able to get onto the school's wireless network yesterday, the first day of classes, even with their password. (The school is not "near" Berne, as I thought; it's in the Interlaken district.) Apparently everything is near Berne in this tiny country; but it would be closer to say it's near Brienz. (The nearest village is called Hofstetten.) Well, the staff very kindly gave me a hardwire connection; and they are allowing me to work late to take care of my self-assigned internet "homework." Kurszentrum Ballenberg is affiliated with, and adjacent to the Freilicht Museum. The school has many handwerk krafts which are very ... read more

One of the trips I wanted to take my mom, my Uncle Joe, and my Aunt Lien on while they are in Switzerland is the Golden Pass Line train ride from Lucerne to Montreux. I was not really sure how to work this deal. But, I did eventually find out. Okay, here it is. In the winter, there are only two "real" Golden Pass Line trains per day. I missed them both, I guess. Now, you can still "do" the ride, just on regular trains. Is it a big deal that you don't do the "real" train. Well, my understanding of it is that the "real" train does not make as many stops and changes along the way. Or at least that is my impression of the situation. I took the regular train and it was ... read more