Sept 13, 2012

We breezed through Customs, picked up our rental car (an Opel Astra Turbo with manual transmission, for those who care about such things), and headed for Lucerne, about an hour away. We went through several long tunnels - like a couple of kilometers long or more.

We found a parkade about a block from the hotel, and hoofed back to confirm that all was well, hoping that we could check in, even though it was only 9 am. They said that by noon the room would be ready, and they suggested a stroll in the old part of town nearby. They also gave us a hotel parking spot - it's going to cost of roughly $22/day - my goodness!

So we spent close to three hours roaming. And we learned that restaurant prices are right up there too!

We did find a place where we could pick up a couple of sandwiches - small baguettes with roast beef for me, ham and cheese for he. With a couple bottles of pop, the bill was just over $20. They tasted good, though.

Here are some photos. First, some swans:

An interesting sight: real live palm trees. Blew our minds. One doesn't think of Switzerland as having a tropical latitude - in fact, it's about 47 degrees North, which puts it north of Montreal (around 45 degrees north), and south of the 49th parallel. The elevation, at around 450 meters, though, is about half of Calgary's, and that could also make it more flora-compatible than Calgary.

A shot of Lake Lucerne. The forecast for tomorrow's weather is better. This morning it was right chilly.

An interesting bird that we found swimming in the water: black, with a white streak down its face, sort of like a skunk, but with the strangest feet! Notice how clear the water is - that really surprised us, too.

And the big tourist attraction in Lucerne, the incredibly old Chapel Bridge, aka Kapellbrücke. From Wikipedia:

The Chapel Bridge (German: Kapellbrücke) is a covered wooden footbridge spanning diagonally across the Reuss River in the city of Lucerne in central Switzerland. Named after the nearby St. Peter's Chapel, the bridge is unique since it contains a number of interior paintings dating back to the 17th century, although many of them were destroyed along with most of the centuries old bridge in a 1993 fire. Subsequently restored, the Kapellbrücke is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe, as well as the world's oldest surviving truss bridge. It serves as the city's symbol and as one of Switzerland's main tourist attractions.

We were pleasantly surprised to see that our hotel is fairly large, at least by European standards. The first photo shows what it looks like from the door, and the second shows the bedroom.

Of significance is the fact that we specifically requested a room with two beds (we are both restless and light sleepers, so when one rolls over in bed, the other wakes up, and that's not a good thing!). We expected a small bed and a small hide-a-bed. We weren't expecting two reasonably-sized beds smushed close together. At least the tossing and turning will not impact the other's sleep.

Today, we are going to try to stay awake as long as possible, and then probably sleep 12 hours or so, if previous experience still applies. Not sure what is on the agenda for tomorrow, but it better not involve a lot of really hilly hiking!