2011 - Switzerland, Austria

June 5th-16th

2011 - Switzerland, Austria - Days 1 & 2 - Zurich, Switzerland
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Friday afternoon, mom and I flew to SLC. Amber picked us up, made us a nice dinner, and we spent the night. I was happy mom was feeling well enough to come. The day before, she said she wasn’t coming. She was still in pain from her kidney stone and surgery. But she had a good night and felt better about coming. We got to the SLC airport Saturday morning at 5:45 a.m. Amber had forgotten her glasses, so Tom ran home to get them for her. We were lucky all day with no lines at the airports. We flew to Atlanta, had some lunch while we waited for our next flight. The overnight flight to Zurich was 9.5 hours, and very uncomfortable. We were anxious to get to our hotel and take a nap. Unfortunately, our rooms weren’t ready, and we had to wait almost 2 hours in the lobby. We slept off and on on the chairs and couches. When we did get our room, we had 2 hours until our tour of Zurich, and we slept. I loved Zurich! It is such a clean, quaint and beautiful city. I was expecting a more modern, plain city, but it still had the 1800’s style buildings and cobblestone streets. We walked along the river and near the lake. We saw some beautiful stained glasses in a church and some old Roman bath ruins. I am so happy to be here. We had a bus tour of the city, then we walked around for an hour. Back at our hotel, we had our orientation meeting and welcome drink. Now we are getting to bed early, since it is an early start tomorrow and we are tired!
2011 - Switzerland, Austria - Day 3 - Vaduz, Lichtenstein, and Salsburg, Austria
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A few facts about Lichtenstein: - 140k average annual salary - 1% personal tax - no national debt - We left Switzerland this morning and drove to the small principality of Lichtenstein. We just had 40 minutes there, and we walked through shops. Then we continued our drive into Austria. Our drive today through Switzerland, Lichtenstein and Austria was gorgeous! Everything is so green with tall mountains all around. There are several small villages at the base of the mountain, with a church with a red steeple in the middle of the village. There are a lot of grassy fields, yet I didn’t see any sheep or cows on them. The houses are so pretty. All two story homes, usually brown and white with flower boxes along the 2nd story. There are ski resorts everywhere. Austria is famous for skiing in the winter. Kids start skiing when they are 2 or 3. Our lunch stop was on the outskirts of Innsbruck. We ate our snacks outside the restaurant by the river. The water was a pretty color, one I haven’t seen before with water, like a milky green. Then we drove into Salzburg. Salzburg is famous for its music, Mozart’s birthplace and hometown, and the Sound of Music story and movie scenes. My first impression of Salzburg was that I didn’t think was as clean and beautiful as Zurich. But when we got into the heart of the city, I liked it much better. We had a local guide walk us through the Mirabell gardens, which were so beautiful. I wish we could have spent a bit more time there. She took us to the University Square, the Market, and Salzburg Cathedral and the house Mozart was born in and the house he later lived in. We were given some free time but mom was exhausted from all the walking, so we found a place for her to sit near where the bus was to pick us up later. Then Amber and I left to go buy some hand made Mozart chocolate balls, which you can only buy in Salzburg. You can buy the store made ones all over Europe, but we wanted to try the original hand made ones. They were expensive, 1 Euro per ball, so we just got 3 so we could each try one. We also found a Sound of Music book for mom. We went back to sit with her and eat our chocolate. It was pretty good. Amber really liked it. I’m still partial to the Swiss chocolate. For dinner tonight we went to a farm on the outskirts of town. It’s also a brewery, making 20 different kinds of beer. They let everyone sample 4 kinds. When they asked what kind we wanted, Amber asked for Root beer. The guy had no idea what it was. It was quite funny. She said it was a dark beer, with no alcohol. He asked if it was made from malt or barley. I said neither. We ended up having Sprites. Dinner was a meatball soup, which we didn’t like very much, and a yummy salad, steamed veggies and pork ribs and potatoes. The ribs were a bit overcooked, but everything was really good. Dessert was a vanilla cake with strawberries and ice cream. We were eating in a made over barn, and the men serving were wearing lederhosen. It was very authentic and charming. I enjoyed it very much.
2011 - Switzerland, Austria - Day 4 - Bavarian Alps, Germany and Salzburg, Austria
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We had planned to go to Hitler’s Eagele’s Nest this morning, but a big rock had fallen in the road, so it was closed. So we took a little Sound of Music tour and drove into the Bavarian Alps in Germany and saw the Eagle’s Nest and where Hitler’s home was. For the Sound of Music tour, we saw the real Abbey where Maria taught. Then we saw the mansion on the lake that they used as the back side of the house in the film, and we saw the tree lined street they were in the trees, and the gazebo. Mom loved all this, since that is her all time favorite movie. And of course, the Mirabell gardens from yesterday had several scenes in the movie. We then crossed into Germany and drove through the Bavarian Alps as far up the mountains as we could. We stopped at the top and we were really close to Hitler’s Eagle Nest and could see it very well. The Eagle’s Nest was built on a mountain peak above Hitler’s home. It was used mainly to impress diplomats. He didn’t use it much because he was afraid of heights. His house was bombed at the end of the war, and only part of a wall remains. Now there is a hotel/resort built there. We saw that well from where we were as well. Amber and I went on a short little hiking trail and got some good pictures. It was absolutely gorgeous. It was a very beautiful drive. We then drove towards Salzburg. We saw the cathedral from the road where the wedding took place in the movie, near the beautiful Mondsee lake. We drove through the city of Melk, where a huge cathedral was, and drove along the Danube for several miles. We got to our hotel in Vienna around 5:00 p.m. Some of our group paid for a night out with dinner and entertainment. We had to pick and choose our excursions, since we didn’t have the money to do all of them. We chose to do the sightseeing excursions, and skipped the dinners and entertainment ones. I like to see as much as I can. I can go without food and just eat snacks just fine. But Amber and I decided to see what was near the hotel. We walked for a few blocks, and decided on a little place selling Snitchels. I got a Snitchel sandwich for 3 Euro, and Amber got a fish sandwich.
2011 - Switzerland, Austria - Day 5 - Vienna, Austria
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This morning, Amber and I went on a tour of the Schonbrunn Palace. It was the summer palace of the Hapsburg’s. They were the ruling family in Austria for centuries. It has 1,400 rooms, of which we saw around 2o. It was beautiful, especially all the wall decorations and gold plated décor everywhere, and beautiful inlaid wood floors. After the palace tour, we walked through the gardens. Our guide only gave us 30 minutes, and this garden is several square miles big. All we had time to do was go up the hill to the triumphal arch and back. There were so many side trails and arches that I would have loved to explore. We met up with the rest of the group after the palace tour, including mom. She opted to do the dinner/entertainment tonight instead, because of all the walking with the palace tour. We drove to the old part of Vienna and took a walking tour and a driving tour of the city. We saw St. Stephen’s cathedral, which was impressive, and the winter palace of the Hapsburg’s. This palace has over 3,000 rooms. But its all built into the city, with several wings, so it’s hard to really see it all. We saw the stables of the palace with the famous Lipizzaner horses. We also went down into the crypts of the royal family. 140+ people are buried there. The first were the founders of the crypt, buried there in 1618. I found it interesting that they take out the heart and put in a little urn and bury it in another church. The intestines are put in a bigger urn and buried at yet a different church. Then the bodies are embalmed and put in a wooden coffin, and place in the sarcophagus in the crypt. So they are buried in 3 different places. Afterwards we were given free time. We went to the Café Mozart for lunch. We tried some chocolate cake that is famous in Vienna, and another torte, or layered cake. I had some white asparagus soup, which was excellent. Amber had a mozzarella ball salad. Mom didn’t eat anything; I think she was saving room for her dinner that evening. We then decided to walk back to St. Stephen’s cathedral and take an elevator up the tower. Halfway there, we got stuck in a torrential downpour! It completely halted all activity. Everyone ran for any kind of shelter they could find, which was in a shop’s doorway for most, like us. We waited for 30 minutes or so, thinking it had to lighten up a little, so that we could at least walk with our umbrellas and not get drenched. But it didn’t! Mom was getting nervous about getting back to the meeting point of our bus, that would take her back to the hotel so she could get ready for her evening out. So we slowly ventured out with our umbrellas, and go down a few shops, then stop and wait in another doorway for several minutes, then venture out again and go down a bit further. By the time we got to the meeting area, the rain had slowed down quite a bit, but we were still pretty wet. My shoes and socks were all wet. I wished I had worn sandals that day. Also, my pants from the knees down and our backs were all wet. We had a bit of time before the bus came, so we stopped in a souvenir shop. Amber got a hat for Tom and mom a keychain. Mom left on her bus back to the hotel, and Amber and I decided to play in Vienna for the rest of the day. We finally made it back to the cathedral, and decided to climb the 400+ stairs up the tower, instead of taking the elevator. It was beautiful at the top. I didn’t realize how big the city was. It went as far as I could see in all directions. We then walked though the city park, sat on a bench and ate some snacks, and ended up at the fine arts museum. We had 1 hour there, until it closed at 6:00 p.m. Amber and I then walked to the State Opera House and went down to the subway station, figured out how to get back to our hotel, and stepped out of the subway station into more down pouring rain and lightning. My shoes became all wet and soggy again. Fortunately, our hotel was only a couple blocks from the station. Amber tried to call Tom when we got in. He didn’t answer, and she was very disappointed. She is now sleeping next to me. We had planned to go out for pizza, but it’s getting late.
2011 - Switzerland, Austria - Day 6 - Graz, Piber, and Klagenfurt, Austria
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This morning we left Vienna and headed South to Graz. I think Austria is the prettiest country I have seen so far. I love the beautiful drives. Everything is green and hilly with wildflowers and beautiful mountain ranges and houses with churches. We had a lunch stop in Graz. It was another Renaissance style city, with beautiful churches and building and cobblestone streets. Amber and I climbed ¾ of the way up to a beautiful clock tower. We didn’t have a lot of time, or we would have gone all the way up. My legs are getting sore from all the stair climbing we have done. But I love it! We stopped at a bakery and bought a cheese pastry for lunch. It was really good, but sweet. Then we had a yummy cake a couple hours later, more sweet, so it left me feeling a little nauseous. Our next stop was in Piber to see the stud farm of the Lipizzaner horses. As we were driving to Piber, we watched a film about the horses and the farm . They are the famous Austrian horses that the royal family used for four centuries. Now they are trained in a Spanish riding school and do shows. They are all white or black. Mostly white. All are born brown or black, and change lighter as they get older. By 8-10 years old, they are white. We took an hour tour of the farm and saw the horses and several newborns. Afterward we went in the café and had some cake. We ordered 2 different kinds, but didn’t really like one of them, so they gave us a third slice of lemon crème cake, which was delicious! After the farm, we headed to our hotel in Klagenfurt. We were served dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was broth with sliced pancakes soup (really good), meatloaf with mashed potatoes and veggies and apricot cake. Amber and I then walked to the city square to get a picture of the dragon statue.
2011 - Switzerland, Austria - Day 7 - Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy and Innsbruck, Austria
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Today was a lot of driving through gorgeous scenery. Unfortunately, it rained off and on all day, so the clouds were covering most of the mountain peaks. We drove from Austria into Italy through the Croci Pass, and stopped in the ritzy skiing village of Cortina d’Ampezzo. Several movies have been filmed here, including a James Bond movie. We had lunch in an Italian Pizzeria. Amber has always wanted to try an authentic Italian pizza in Italy. Today, she got her chance. She got a tomato pizza, I got pepperoni and olive, and mom got ham and mushroom. Amber’s was the best. My olives still had the pits in them, and mom’s mushrooms were slimy and gross. But I enjoyed it. We then continued driving. The little villages along the mountain passes are so beautiful and charming. There are houses and fields right on the sides of the mountains. The mountain we were driving through is called the Dolomites. We also had a little rest stop at a mountain lake. It was gorgeous. The toilets were the squatting kind, which surprisingly, several members of our tour had never seen before. I don’t mind them. They have saved my comfort many times all over the world. After lunch we drove back into Austria. We are staying in Innsbruck, home of the winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976. Our hotel was built in the 1400’s, and was modernized into a hotel. It’s pretty nice, and our room is very big. Susie (our tour director) lives here in Innsbruck. She took us on a short walking tour through the city. We saw the Golden Rook, which I believe was where Maxmillian, a ruler that was tight with money, painted his roof with gold leaf. I probably have that wrong. She was talking about it while were on the bus, and I was half asleep. Then we saw Jacob’s cathedral. It was beautiful inside. We were then given some free time before dinner. We walked through some shops and spent the rest of our Euro’s on souvenirs. Amber got T-shirts for her boys, I got one for me, and mom got a piggy bank. Dinner was in the city at a local restaurant. It was pretty good. Austria loves pork. We’ve had it almost every dinner. We had cream of broccoli (or possibly asparagus) soup, with pork loin and potatoes and veggies and apple strudel for dessert.
2011 - Switzerland, Austria - Day 8 - St. Moritz, Switzerland
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Today we left Austria and drove into Switzerland. It was about a 3.5 hour drive through gorgeous scenery again. It’s amazing how beautiful this country is. And the air is so fresh and clean. We noticed it at the airport in Zurich. We arrived in St. Moritz, where we are staying tonight, a little before noon. St. Moritz is another ritzy skiing village in the Alps. Susie walked us to the city center. We saw Porsche’s on the road, and passed a Prada and Hermes store. The roads were cobblestone and hilly. It is a very picturesque village. Our hotel is called the Bear. Last night it was the Gray Bear, an old renovated 1400’s building, and this hotel is also an old building, renovated into a hotel. I love it. I love our room. I’m sitting on a small circular couch with a table and there is a desk and two beds. I’ll be sleeping in the adjoining bedroom with bunk beds and a balcony. It’s very cute. After our downtown walk, we had over an hour until our excursion, so I read my book on the balcony. Early afternoon we left our hotel and drove to the train station to board the Bernina Express. It is a 100 year old train (well, I hope they have upgraded throughout the years) that takes us through the Alps and glaciers and drops us off in another mountain village. It was about 1.5 hours long. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy, rainy day. So the mountain peaks were covered with clouds. But it was still a wonderful train ride through the Alps. Once we arrived in Tirol, we had some drinks and refreshments in a hotel. Amber and I went for a short walk in the village. Our bus driver then picked us up and drove us back to St. Moritz. We arrived just in time for dinner at our hotel at 7:00. They served cream of broccoli soup, turkey and potatoes and carrots, with some ice cream and fruit for dessert.
2011 - Switzerland, Austria - Day 9 - Stresa, Italy and Zermatt, Switzerland
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We left St. Moritz this morning and drove towards Zermatt, our final destination. We arrived in Zermatt 10 hours later. Long day. But again…..beautiful drive! We stopped after a couple hours in Bellinoza. The drive from St. Moritz to Bellinoza was spectacular. I took so many pictures of the mountain and lakes and waterfalls and gorges. We were on the bus for many hours today, but we were driving through the most beautiful mountain passes. In Bellinoza, we just had an hour stop for a snack/lunch. Then we drove back into Italy and stopped in a gorgeous city by Lake Maggiore called Stresa. We had an hour there to walk around. It was so beautiful there, by the lake, so many flowers everywhere, and the mountain all around. Mom said this was one of the most beautiful places she had seen, that it had it all, with the lake, mountains, and colorful flowers everywhere. We found a nice bench in the shade for mom, then Amber and I went for a walk down the lake front. After another couple of hours on the bus, we stopped at the base of Zermatt, and had to take mini buses and little electric taxi cars to get to our hotel. They won’t allow any pollution in the city, hence, the electric cars. No regular cars or buses are allowed in the village or up the pass to the village. We are leaving soon for a fondue dinner in a nearby restaurant. I am hungry and it sounds delicious! I’m thrilled to be in Zermatt! I haven’t seen the Matterhorn yet. I’m a little disappointed that it’s not visible from our hotel room. But we will be up close to it tomorrow. The fondue dinner was a fun experience. We left our hotel at 7:20 and had a group photo taken. Then as we walked around the corner, we saw the Matterhorn! The clouds covered the peak, but we saw most of it, how exciting! We walked to the restaurant and when we walked in, it stank! It made me worried that if that was the smell of cheese, I wouldn’t like our cheese fondue. They served some dried meat and cheese for an appetizer, which I didn’t like very much. I ordered some Rivella to drink, which Susie told us was a local favorite. It reminded me a little of gingerale. Then they brought out the bread and cheese fondue. It was pretty good. For dessert they served apricot ice cream mixed with liquor. We didn’t realize it had liquor in it until mom tasted it and made a face. So we asked for some plain ice cream. After dinner mom and Amber went back to the hotel. Mom was tired and Amber was getting a headache. Suzie took a group of those who wanted to go around the city center. We saw the old part of town, which made me feel like I stepped back in time 300 years. And she showed us the church and graveyards of the mountain climbers, and the city graveyard, with its red candles lit all over the graves. I will be taking Amber and mom back there tomorrow.
2011 - Switzerland, Austria - Day 10 - Zermatt, Switzerland
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This morning I woke up very sick. I was very dizzy and nauseous. I took a shower, then got back in bed while mom and Amber went down to breakfast. I was vomiting and feeling awful, but fortunately mom had some Zofran with her so I took that. By the time we had to leave our hotel for our Matterhorn excursion, I was feeling a lot better. We left the hotel at 9:00 a.m. and went up some lifts on little capsules, that took us most of the way up to the Klein Matterhorn. The Klein Matterhorn is a summit next to the Matterhorn. About 2/3 of the way up we got off and had a group photo. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day, so we didn’t get to see the Matterhorn. It was completely covered with clouds. I was really disappointed, but still happy to be here. We then got on a cable car and went up to the summit. On the summit it was still cloudy, but we walked on the snow and took some pictures. Mom and Amber, especially mom, were not feeling very good with the high elevation. We were at 12,500 ft. Mom sat in the café and Amber and I went inside the glacier palace. It was very cool, walking into an ice cave, being totally surrounded by ice. They had carved out rooms, and sculptures, and even a slide. It was a very fun place. An hour later we went back down the cable car, and got back on the little capsules to take us back to Zermatt. Halfway down, there was a little stop. Amber and I decided to get off and walk the rest of the way down the mountain. I had wanted to hike in the Alps all my life, and this was the perfect opportunity. We found the hiking trail, and it said that Zermatt was 1 hour 45 minutes away. So we started down the trail, and then it turned up the mountain, in the opposite way of the city, so I thought we must have read the sign wrong. We came across some fellow hikers and asked them if we were on the correct trail to Zermatt. She said yes, that it has to loop around and cross a bridge over the gorge and then it will head back down the mountain toward the city. Our hike today was so far, probably the highlight of my trip. It was so amazing to be walking in the mountain below the Matterhorn, among meadows of wildflowers with wooden chalets on the mountain sides, and little villages we walked through, and sheep and cattle and butterflies and birds. I absolutely loved our walk down the mountain. Everything was so beautiful and perfect. We got down to Zermatt in 1 hour 45 minutes, just like the sign said. We had to walk to our hotel which took another 15 minutes. Mom was in the hotel on the balcony reading. She had been out souvenir shopping while we were walking. When I got to our room, I began to get a very bad headache, and my nausea hit me again. I took some ibuprophen and another Zofran and lad down, waiting and hoping for it to pass. After awhile I was able to fall asleep and slept for about 30 minutes. I felt better when I woke up. Amber and I wanted to do a little shopping, so we left and walked back to the city center. Amber got her boys some Swiss Army knives. I went to the Co Op and bought some yummy hot chocolate mix to take home. I’m so excited; the hot chocolate here is delicious! On our way back to the hotel, I noticed the Matterhorn was trying to peek out of the clouds. We got a few pictures, but I’m still waiting to see it all. We ate some snacks and Johannes berries that Amber bought at the Co Op for dinner. Then I took mom and Amber on the walk through the old part of town and to the church and graveyard.
2011 - Switzerland, Austria - Day 11 - Geneva, Switzerland, Yvoire, and Evian, France
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We saw the Matterhorn this morning perfectly, with no clouds! I saw a woman from our group outside our balcony, across the street with her camera. I asked her if she could see the Matterhorn, and she said yes, so I hurried down. Happy day! It was so gorgeous! I was so happy that we had the chance to get a good view of it before we had to leave Zermatt today. We left Zermatt at 7:15 a.m. and headed back down the mountain. Our first stop was at a look out place near Geneva on the shores of Lake Geneva, to see the Castle of Chillon. Then we drove through the city of Geneva and got to see the United Nations building. We were given an hour free time in Geneva by the lake where we had our lunch. Afterwards we boarded our boat called the Savoi, for our cruise on the lake to Yvoire—a very cute old city in France. The cruise took a little over an hour and a half. We were sitting on some comfy lounge chairs on the top deck in the sun, and we all got sunburned. It was a nice, peaceful cruise. Yvoire was amazing! We had an hour to walk through the old town. There were flowers everywhere and gorgeous old buildings. We stopped in one shop and mom fell in love with the teddy bears, so she bought each of us one. We named them Susie  Then we took the coach into Evian, France, where we are spending the night. We are right on the lake front. Lake Geneva is huge! There are several different cities along its banks. Amber and I walked along the lake front and watched some birds and went exploring up the hills. It was a lot of fun. We saw a little path off the main road and it took us down an old railway with berries growing along the sides. Amber ate some; I hope she doesn’t get sick. The path led us down to a park area. We also came across an Evian spring, where we drank some yummy fresh water.
2011 - Switzerland, Austria - Day 12 - Bern and Lucerne, Switzerland
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We left France this morning and drove back into Switzerland, yay! I love Switzerland. I would love to come back with Dave on a road cruiser bike and just drive all over the alps and through the cities and villages. The scenery on our drive was wonderful again. Our first stop was in Bern, the capital. We had an hour of free time. We saw the bears they keep in the city. It was called Bern (bear) because that was the first animal they saw when they founded the city. Now they keep bears by the river for people to see. We started to walk into the city, but we didn’t have a lot of time and wanted to be close to the bus pickup area So we walked back and mom went into a shop while Amber and I walked down by the river. After Bern, we drove to Interlaken for our lunch break. We saw the mountain peak of Jungfrau. The lakes nearby were so beautiful. The water is a gorgeous turquoise color. We sat on a bench in the park and ate our lunch. We also bought some delicious chocolates at a chocolate shop, and Amber said it was the best chocolate she had ever tasted. After we left, she wished she had bought some to take home. Then we drove to Lucerne. It is another gorgeous city. I’ve loved all the cities in Austria and Switzerland. Susie showed us the lion monument. It is a sculpture of a lion that is dying, in the side of a rock face. It is a memorial to the Swiss Guard in a battle that took place between the Swiss and the French. It was beautiful. Then we were given 2.5 hours of free time in the city. The first thing we did was go to the supermarket and buy chocolate to take home. Then we walked across the chapel bridge and went into the Jesuit church. It was very pretty inside. We then went into some shops. Everything is so expensive here! We were disappointed. Amber was hoping for a T-shirt, and I wanted a Swiss watch, but we weren’t willing to pay the high prices. But we were VERY happy with our chocolate purchases!
2011 - Switzerland, Austria - Day 13 - Lucerne, Switzerland
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We had a nice relaxing morning today. We didn’t have anywhere to be until 10:50. We did go down to breakfast at 8:30. Amber and I used the internet to email our families. At 10:15, we left our hotel and walked to the lake to board our boat for our lake cruise. As we were waiting for our boat, some friendly and hungry swans walked up to us, looking for food. I had a granola bar in my bag, and mom a roll, so I shared with them. They were not timid at all, I was though! People were petting them, and there heads were only a foot away from mine when they wanted more food. I was a little intimidated by them, because the swans I’ve encountered in the past have been pretty mean. But these ones were different. They weren’t aggressive at all. We boarded our boat for our lake cruise at 10:50. We were on the top deck, and it was a nice, beautiful trip on the lake to the base of Mt. Rigi. It took about an hour. A little red train picked us up at the base of the mountain and took us all the way up to the summit. It was neat ride, with cattle all around and bells hanging on their necks, and farm houses and amazing views of the lake and mountainside. We had an hour at the summit, to eat and explore. We sat on a bench by the hill overlooking the mountain and valleys around us, with the beautiful wildflowers all around, and ate our lunch. The mountains are full of the sound of cattle bells. It was very peaceful and magical. After while, Amber and I wanted to walk around on some of the trails, so we found a place for mom to sit and we walked on the trails for about 20 minutes. The little red train then took us partway down the mountain, until we got to the cable car station. From there we boarded the cable cars and went down the other side of the mountain. At the bottom we boarded our bus and drove back to the hotel. We had about 4 hours until dinner. Mom stayed in the hotel and read and Amber and I went to explore more of the city on foot. We found the second covered pedestrian bridge (Chapel bridge was the main one), with paintings of death all over the top. It was very interesting. Then we walked down river until we came to the first wall tower. Lucerne was founded in 1100. Around 1500, the wall and towers surrounding the city were built. We climbed through 2 of the towers and got some amazing pictures of the city, and walked from one end of the wall on the top, to the other end. By the time we got to the end of the city wall it had started raining. Amber wanted to hide out in one of the towers till it passes. It didn’t’ look like it was going to pass any time soon. There was even lightning and thunder. So we braved it out in the rain. Neither of us brought umbrellas, because it had been such a beautiful day. Even while we were on top of the tower, the skies were clear and we got great pictures. It was a wet, yet fun walk back to the hotel. We had 1.5 hour till dinner, and we were wet and cold, so we took hot showers and changed our clothes for the restaurant. Our bus drove us back to the city for dinner. We had a nice salad bar and the main course was veal in mushroom sauce with rice, peas and carrots. The sauce and everything was delicious. The veal was a bit odd, so I only ate half of that. Dessert was yummy ice cream. I was so full, but it was so good, I couldn’t waste any. After dinner we went back to the hotel. It was 9:00 and we had an early morning trip to the airport in Zurich the next day so we went right to bed. I have loved this trip and time spent with my sister and mother. The cities were quaint and beautiful, our tour guide, Susie and our bus driver, Julian, were wonderful. Our companions were enjoyable. It has truly been a marvelous blessing.