Sunday, June 11th

We are taking basically the same train ride back into Switzerland. It�s only the last hour that will be any different. So we go by Lake Como and Lugauno. If there was time at these small stops I would try and get out of the train and get a good picture, but we only stop for about 2-3 minutes.

When we arrive in Luzern (or Lucerne), there�s no Mark and Chuck at the train station so we have to go to the tourist center at the train station to figure out where our apartment is located. Our apartment address isn�t on any map that I found. They speak English so it�s easy to get directions to the apartment but I�m still not sure they understood where we needed to go. We lug the suitcases over to the apartment about � of a mile away. Some of the streets are cobblestone so dragging the suitcases takes some work. The weather is good and it�s a little cool at this time of night (7pm).

On Sunday there is nobody at the desk so Jim has to go a specific room to get they keys. Our room is only 2 doors down from Chuck and Mark. The apartment has two bedrooms, kitchen, big living room, regular bathroom and a balcony overlooking the street. If you are going to be staying in the same place for a week, an extended apartment rental is the way to go. We go over to knock on Mark and Chuck�s door to see if they are around. We forgot that they just arrived this morning from the U.S. so they still have jet lag, and are dealing with the time difference. They were taking a nap, which we have now interrupted.

We go out for dinner, and Jim, Earl, and I get our first good look at Luzern. The main attraction or site in Luzern is the old town and the Chapel Bridge . Mark and Chuck have walked around town earlier, so they lead the way. The Reuss River splits the city between the old town and modern area. There are a couple of other bridges besides the Chapel Bridge that cross the river. As we cross one of the bridges Earl gets a girl to take our picture. The picture turns out to be one of the better ones of the trip. (Side Note: when taking a group photo, make everyone take off their sunglasses, no knock on Mark, I�m sure we�ve all done this before, but after looking at the picture you can see the difference)

The old town is a walking district with narrow cobblestone streets. Colorful shutters and elaborate paintings on the buildings provide an old feel charm to the town. On the old town side of the river there are many hotels with restaurants right along the river. All of the restaurants have outdoor seating at the rivers edge. We pass what will come to be our regular hangout for the week Pickwick�s Pub. They show every World Cup match. They have stationed a couple of TVs in the windows so people are able to watch from outside.

As we sit down to dinner you realize how the Chapel Bridge dominates any view of the river. The bridge entrance from the north side is about 100 feet away from where we are sitting. The tower in the middle looms over the area. The bridge was used as part of the town fortifications against a water attack from Lake Lucerne. The tower in the middle of the river has been used as a lighthouse, prison and treasury according to the guide book. The bridge is the oldest wooden bridge in Europe having been originally built in the 1333, but suffered a partial fire in 1993 and had to be restored. My goal is too get a good picture of the bridge with Mount Pilatus in the background. I plan on getting up for sunrise a couple of days to in order to get some better color to the pictures.

After having Italian food for 3 days I decide to switch over to a more German influence and get some pork sausage, which comes with fries of course, and a good Hefeweizen beer. We get some bread before the meal so we are back to trying to figure out what the word for butter is again (butter wasn�t in the guide book). Having the whole crew together now is fun. We get to tell Chuck and Mark about the trip to Milan.

After going out till 4am the previous night Earl, Jim and I are pretty beat. Chuck and Mark are still getting used to the time change. We get a few beers at Pickwick�s and watch the last match of the night. It�s good to be watching the matches in Europe since they are on at 3pm, 6pm, and 9pm for the group stage. After the match we head back to the apartment since everyone is pretty tired.

Back to Top