A day in Lucerne

We returned from our European cruise about two weeks ago  and have just started to get ourselves fully back into ordinary life. What a lovely time it was. I can't believe how much we were able to see and experience in such a short period of time. Our journey took us down the Rhine River from Switzerland to Amsterdam.  It has already begun to be a bit of a jumble in my head.  However, over the next few posts I hope I will be able to unpack each experience in my mind and savor the memories of each day.

 

 

Our adventure began when we flew into Basel, Switzerland where we met up with some good friends who had flown in from California the day before, We had all planned two days in country before boarding our boat. After a long flight, we arrived just in time for a quick view of the city around our hotel and dinner in one of the small shops inside the Basel International Train Station before settling down for the night.

 

After a good sleep, we headed out in the morning for the city of Lucurne. The Investigator and I had pleasant memories of having visited here in 1978, and we were looking forward to seeing it again. It was just as beautiful as we had remembered.

We took time to visit the Lion of Lucerne, a stone relief that was carved into the wall of a beautiful grotto and completed in 1821. It is one of Switzerland's most famous memorials, built to remember and commemorate the death of over seven hundred Swiss Guards who were killed while protecting King Louis XVI's Palace of Tuileries in Paris during the French Revolution.

We took a walk through the Kapellbruke (Church Bridge).  Originally built in 1408 as part of the original fortified wall of the city, it is the oldest covered bridge in Europe.  We walked the original bridge 46 years ago and remembered grieving the loss of parts of it during a terrible fire (caused by a careless cigarette!) in 1993. Thankfully, it has been restored and continues to grace the historic city.

 Only a small number of the original paintings were saved and restored to the bridge.  The rest were lost.

 

 Views from the bridge.

 

A visit inside the Baroque Style Jesuit Church which opened in 1667. 

 

 

Later in the afternoon, we found ourselves outside of Lucerne heading up the side of a mountain, first on a funiculaire railway, and then halfway up we switched to an aerial tram.

At first the views felt like a scene from Sound of Music.  Then we as we rose into the trees we could see the entire valley.
 

Soon we were heading up towards the clouds.

 A few minutes of complete blindness in the thick fog of the clouds, and then suddenly we popped through the cloud cover into bright blue skies. The clouds now below us created a billowy white carpet as the mountain peaks rose above them.  My photos couldn't begin to capture just how stunning it was.

 

We were incredibly blessed with the views that day. It was rare to have a day so sunny and clear. The ranger told us that much of the time there would be clouds, fog or rain. In fact, that was what we were expecting, so I didn't wear a hat and ended up with quite a sunburn.  It was worth it though.  God was smiling down on us and sharing his mighty handy work. I will never forget it.  All too soon it was time to come down from the peaks to the valley below,  But soon there will be new places to explore which I will save for another day.

Adieu!

Playing tourist

 This has been another busy month as we prepared for the hosting and entertainment of town guests, as well as the planning and organization of ourselves for our upcoming European trip.

Last Wednesday we drove down to the airport to pick up an old Navy buddy of my husband, The Investigator.  He and his wife had flown out from Florida to stay with us for a few days before taking an Alaskan Cruise up the Inside Passage.  Knowing that they had not been in the Northwest since the 70's we were glad to have the opportunity to give them a tour of the area before they caught their ship. 

So, on Thursday morning  after breakfast we all piled into the car and headed towards North Whidbey Island and Deception Pass.  We stopped in Mount Vernon along the way and took a stroll along the Skagit River waterfront before walking into town, and then into one of the old brick buildings which housed a book store specializing in old and rare out-of-print books There were numerous rooms and alcoves filled with floor to ceiling bookcases. I could have spent hours browsing in there.

Eventually. we dragged ourselves away and continued on up to Deception Pass.  It was still a bit foggy on the beach.

 

We discovered someone had been practicing their engineering skills.:)

After a while, we left the shore to go walking up the cliff side through trees covered in Spanish moss.

 

Looking out over the cliff, visibility was still pretty low.

A peek through the trees and fog to the Deception Pass Bridge.

After a few hours on the island the fog finally cleared, and we were able to walk out onto the bridge to admire the beautiful views before heading for home.

On Friday we stayed more local, driving down to Mukilteo Lighthouse Park to walk the grounds and watch the ferries.  Everything is always so beautifully maintained.

 

After leaving the park we drove into Everett for one last walk around one of the neighborhoods overlooking the harbor before going to dinner.

 

These flower baskets were right outside the waterfront restaurant where we had dinner, some of the last summer blooms of the season.

 We had hoped to walk along the boats in the harbor, but it started to rain. So we just headed for home after dinner and watched a movie. Yesterday we drove our friends into Seattle and dropped them off at their cruise ship. Now we are in a marathon race to finish all our packing as we will be flying out to Switzerland tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed our little Northwest Tour. See you in a few weeks!

Adieu!