Lucerne

Yesterday, we took the train to Lucerne...about 2 1/2 hours away. The train ride was very nice! We saw many hot air balloons taking off on the way up there. I got a nap in, as well, and got rid of my headache I had woken up with. We got there in the morning. There is a large lake...Lake Lucerne and is surrounded by the mountains. Very similar to where we are at, but still so different! There are two covered, wooden walking bridges that cross the smaller part of the lake. They have paintings in the rafters that date back to early 1900's or before. There was a market going on that morning on both sides of the lake. It was very busy and fun to walk through. We walked across both bridges. Gene stopped to take some pictures as we were crossing the 2nd bridge. I kept walking ahead of him. When he caught up to me, he said some guy yelled "Hey Cardinal fan" at him, so he stopped to talk. Ended up they were a couple from Washington, IL and worked at Cat. He didn't remember their names, but again small world!

Then we grabbed some lunch. We were walking through an open plaza and some people were eating some yummy smelling/looking pizza at an open air cafe...so we decided to sit down and enjoy some, as well. It was almost as good as it smelled/looked. :) After our lunch, we walked through the shopping area and then headed to the "Lion". There was a lion carved into a stone wall many years ago...it is quite famous...Mark Twain wrote about it during his tour through Europe even. It was interesting to see, quite large and really a big lion carved into the wall. From there, we walked to the nearby church to see it. I laughed at the bottom of the steps it said "45 steps to God". It was a very pretty church with lots of gold and pretty paintings throughout. While we were inside the church, Gene again made friends! The lady was from the NY/NJ area and heard him talking and said "yeah, you speak English!". She was spending the month in Europe...her daughter was getting married in nearby Interlaken (another place we hope to go visit sometime). From there, we walked down to the lakefront, sat on the edge of the lake for a bit of relaxation and sun (it was a beautiful day!!!) and Gene took some pictures. We then, walked back through the shopping area...stopped in a watch store to see the world's largest ball clock...the little balls fill up the clock, then spin down the metal shoots every minute...it was quite interesting. We walked around on a mission to find a music box (made in the area) that played Pachabel's Canon. Finally found one, but took a while! We then made our way to another church. This one was filled with pinkish colored marble altars. It was gorgeous!! Very awe inspiring! On our way back towards the train station, we saw guys walking around with the "Ricola" horns and started to follow them (I wanted to see/hear them play)...unfortunately we lost them when we stopped at a chocolate shop. We finally caught up with a couple and they appeared to be getting on a boat tour. :( I really wanted to hear them play. Oh well. We heard two great jazz bands in the train station instead. We then caught the train back home, saw a few more hot air balloons on the way. Maybe that will be a good thing to do sometime...see the tops of the mountains from a hot air balloon!