Another early start to the day as
we were leaving Austria today and heading to Switzerland. Bags packed,
breakfast eaten and on the road at 8am. Before we headed off, Michael ducked around the side of the hotel to photograph a garage door painting he had seen from our Hotel room window, and it was well worth photographing, quite unique.
We headed through the valleys and
villages of the mountainous Tyrol and through the Alberg tunnel which is 14
klms long. We stopped in Vaduz which is Liechtenstein’s capital, which is a
small town that lies along the river Rhine and despite is small size it is well
known all over the world. The Vaduz castle is definitely the town’s pride. It
is a castle that is located on top of an elevated land form that overlooks the
sky. The castle currently serves as the home of the Prince of Liechtenstein
together with this family. Tourists can easily get a view of the castle from
any point of the city because of its strategic positioning in the city. Michael
played chaperone to Walter whilst Sue and I found a café and brought an early
lunch. I ordered a hot chocolate and ham & cheese sandwich and got a huge
roll with ham, cheese, salad, pickles and dressing, vastly different to what I
thought I was ordering, however delicious.
I remember hearing Jacqui at work
saying that people slept on the coach during the long drives on her tour, and
someone made the comment that you don’t go all the way around the other side of
the world to sleep. BUT, today I slept a large portion of the journey, so
Michael saw more of the scenery than I. There was majestic alpine scenery along
with glimpses of Lake Walen as we approached Lucerne – all of which Michael
enjoyed!
We arrive in Lucerne at about
2pm. It is one of Switzerland’s finest cities and is nestled amidst the
snow-capped Alps surrounded by its lake and embellished by the clear mountain
waters of the River Reuss. It is a very picturesque area. Before arriving at our
Hotel, we had a quick tour of the Lion Monument. It was erected in the memory
of the 800 Swiss Guards who defended Louis XVI and his wife at the wooden
Chapel Bridge. The detail of this statue was truly incredible, the pain on his
face – so very believable.
Onto our Hotel (Hotel
Luzernhoffe) which is located right in the heart of everything, so we are able
to get around very easily. We had free time till 7pm so off we went to explore.
Our first stop was to the store Bucherer where one could buy watches, jewellery,
gems, and gifts. Switzerland is famous for its Swiss watches and our Aussie
friend Sue is on a mission to buy one whilst on holiday. There were two
distinct pricing sections in this shop – 1st floor at the far back
2-3 digit prices whilst everywhere else 3-6 digit prices. It was interesting to
window shop here.
We found a street café where we
had a quick break and sampled the Gelato of Switzerland, then on for more
exploring – taking a walk along the wooden bridge (Kapellbrucke) for
pedestrians, which happens to be the longest wooden bridge in Switzerland
crossing the Reuss River. It is Saturday today and the shops close at 4pm so we
used the time really just to explore and get the lay of the land!
We came back to the hotel at
about 5ish and freshened up before we headed down to the lobby at 7pm. We were
heading off to ‘Stadtkeller’ a Swiss folklore restaurant where we had dinner of
Swiss Cheese Fondue, Fresh Salad, Veal in a mushroom sauce with Rosti (grated
and fried potatoes), meringue with apple sauce and strawberry ice-cream
followed by tea and coffee. This was accompanied by a show with original Swiss
music, yodelling, alphaornlowing & flag throwing, national costumes all in
a typical Swiss atmosphere. It was a fun evening even for those who had reservations
about going.
The evening finished up at 10pm and from the restaurant we wandered back to
the hotel enjoying the reasonably mild evening.
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