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Published: April 7th 2008
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Day 17 Monday 8 October 2007
The Lake and the Lion of Lucern
Wake up :6am Bags 6:30am Leave 7:30am
Breakfast was pretty average again and my shower was cold. Not a good start when you don’t feel very well. We left for Lucern. There was a nice drive through the Apennines and then a stop at an Autogrill. Rob ordered a hot chocolate and virtually got pudding in a cup. Hilarious. It came out with the spoon standing straight up in the middle. It tasted nice, but not as a drink.
Mostly a travel day today. As we crossed the Swiss Frontier, we watched them searching the car of a young couple very thoroughly. We weren’t stopped at all.
We stopped at a self service spot for lunch. The food was lovely and fresh looking. Rob had a hamburger they cooked fresh. He had to pay for every item separately.. the bun, the salad, the meat. I had a plate of veges. They were okay but too oily for me. We had a lemonade in a nice bottle we took home. The scenery heading through Switzerland was lovely. Lake comos was beautiful. One of those spots you could
easily stay at. All the lakes we passed were gorgeous. We went though many tunnels, one of them 17km long.
On one side of this tunnel the people speak German and on the other, Italian.
Lucern was a lovely peaceful town after the hustle and bustle of Rome. German was the main language but many spoke English.
We stopped first to see the sad lion of Lucern. It was a very emotive statue. The expression on the lion’s face is so sad and emotive. It’s a very symbolic statue. The lion is crying for all the Lucern’s lost in battle. The shield is broken in 2. One side has the Swiss flag and the other the emblem of the royal family. The claws on this hand are out, showing pride and protection.
The hotel was the Astoria. It is being renovated so it was all a bit confusing. The room was small and plain. There was no air con - only hot and hotter. At least the clothes dried quickly. The hotel was Very central though. You could walk anywhere.
We headed out for our cruise on Lake Lucern. There was a big carnival happening that we had
to walk through. Lots of interesting lollies and biscuits.
The cruise was pleasant and very peaceful. There were lots of swans. 2 drinks and some chips were included. It was lovely to look at the homes around the lake and the snow mountains in the distance. The clouds kept rolling over Mt Pilatus, making it hard to see.
This was a fantastic chill out afternoon.
After a short break at the hotel (we went for drinks at a bar under our hotel) we went to our Swiss Evening out. There was only a small group of us and many of the others thought it sounded stupid. This turned out to be a LOT of fun.Very cheesy, but some good laughs.
The restaurant was filled with Aussies, so the atmosphere was great. Beer was served in 1 litre steins and I had wine and orange. The food was lovely. We had a lovely big pot of cheese fondue. It tasted a lot like welsh Rarebit.
Entrée was a salad. Dinner was strips of veal in a mushroom and cream sauce and half a plate of fried grated potato. It was delicious. I thoroughly enjoyed it after starving in Italy!
Dessert was homemade strawberry icecream with a strip of meringue along the bottom.
The show was fun. Lots of yodelling, horn blowing, flag throwing, bell ringing etc.
It was very interactive with lots of people getting up to have a go at things.
I was called up on stage to yodel. Great.
They gave me a beer afterwards to skull. Ick. I burped the whole way home. We walked back to the hotel across the Chapel bridge. At night.
Overlooking the town in a restaurant high on the mountain. The locals say it is a religious experience to go there. When you step off the venicular onto the platform and see the view you say “Oh my god!” and when you see the menu and price list you say “Jesus Christ”
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