After our little sojourn into beautiful France it was time to get back on a train and make our way to Switzerland. We drove the car back to Strassbourg, with the wonderful scenery rushing by. We arrived early so parked the car in the return carpark and left the luggage in it, while we had a quick tour of the city.
Strassbourg looks like a nice place . We walked across the street and headed into the centre. We came to a pink sandstone church and popped our head in for a look. Then Ken remembered that there was a gothic cathedral here somewhere so off we went on a hunt for that.
There are a lot of interesting looking food shops here, reminiscent of Lyon. If only we had time to stop and sample some!
We followed the crowd to the cathedral and it is massive! Fully Loaded Gothic and way over the top. We went inside, the entrance is free and you are marshalled in and out. There is a clock in one of the side chapels that is animated. It chimes and a little man moves along on the quarter hour.
We had to get back to return the car to the proper car space and headed back at a pace, getting a little off track. I asked a young man and he sent us in the right direction. We had walked 5kms in our little excursion.
Car returned, now a brisk walk to the train and we were on our way again. The trains are an easy way to travel, jumping on and off in the middle of the city. Enjoying such beautiful scenery along the way. We had a change over at Basel that was a bit short. 7 minutes to get off, check the boards to find the platform and get on the next one. We rushed on and were met by the friendly Swiss people making way for us and telling us where to put our suitcases.
This train took us to Lucerne, the scenery along the way was becoming more mountainous and magnificent as we went along. Pretty villages, green hills and lakes glistening in the sunshine .
We arrived into Lucerne and took the time to consult a map properly and withdraw some Swiss Francs. The machine only gave us 100CHF notes, trying to tell us something about the cost of this place.
We walked out and were immediately presented with Lake Lucerne. Wow! The city is surrounded by mountains in the distance, shrouded in clouds with a massive lake at the foot of the mountains. The lake narrows around the old city with its beautiful buildings, criss-crossed with picturesque bridges, the most lovely being the covered Chapel Bridge with the flower boxes on the side. A lot of the buildings have flower boxes so the city is dotted with pinks and reds.
We walked across the lacey Rathaussteg Bridge and quickly found our way to our apartment. We we are in another Airbnb, in the centre of the old town in Weinmarkt. We had to check into a hotel and were taken across the cobbled square to a little alleyway and then up 73!!!!! stairs to our apartment.
We settled in and checked out the facilities. This really is a hotel apartment, lacking the warmth and personal touches of most Airbnbs. No welcome bottle of wine (unless you count the stuff in the fridge that we were told we would have to pay for if we used), no milk, no washing powder, loads of empty kitchen cupboards,not even a plug for the sink! But the space is beautiful, a renovated loft in an old, old building. It is all white, with angles, architecturally interesting.
We needed to get supplies, most importantly washing powder! We hadn't had a machine since we were in London and had been making do with hand washing . We bought the essentials, including wine and beer and climbed back up the stairs (did I mention there were 73?) and spent a bit of time determining how to operate the machine.
Lucerne is not a very big city, and because we are in a central location, and very close to the lake, we found navigating simple. We walked around the old town, with all the little squares connecting each other and small alleyways running off them.The squares are named after the trade they used to support. We are in Wienmarkt, the old wine market. Perfect really!
We sat on the edge of the lake in the glorious sunshine and watched the beautiful, graceful swans for a while. There are heaps these of white, elegant birds cruising around looking for a feed. The water is blue and clear. The lake has a needle dam system that controls the feed of the water into the Reuss River. It was flowing quickly, with rapids at the bottom part. At the top it is quiet and still.
There were a lot of us tourists milling around. After a couple of quiet days in France, it is a bit of an assault on the senses!
We climbed those stairs again to tend to the washing and then work out how to operate the dryer. Such big problems! We had been recommended this apartment by my sister in law, Jillmac, I don't recall her mentioning anything about bloody stairs!
We logged onto the Internet and did a bit of research. A tapas bar in the next square called Storchen had good reviews so we headed there for dinner. We got a seat upstairs and could see views out to the Chapel Bridge and the lake. We had a shared tapas plate, which came on a 3 tiered cake stand and was both filling and delicious. The place was lively and the crowd sitting on the terrace outside were certainly having a great time.
We walked some more, crossing another of the famous bridges, The Spreuerbrucke, another covered bridge. This one is less ornate, but has old paintings inside, each one has at least one skeleton in it to remind us that death might not be so far away! We had an ice cream for dessert and checked out a bit of the new town area, before heading back to the apartment to chill and sleep.


Steps 17,443
Kms walked 12.2