Europe Day 07: From Paris to Lucerne

Oh what a night
Well – today I woke up still drunk. And as H-Rabbit keeps telling everyone – I apparently have no compunction about saying so. My retort to that is "What do you expect when you get home at 3am and are off again by 6am?" Thankfully – today is nothing but a driving day – which simply means hours and hours and hours on the bus.

From past, to present, to future
We’ve stopped now at a rest stop and I can actually use my computer here so I’m catching up on writing and adding in details to the days before. I realize I must touch upon the fact that I am NOT going to be correcting the numerous mist-matches in presence tense that you are going to be finding in these blogs. The simple fact is – sometimes I’m writing before things happen in expectation of them, other times I’m writing literally in the moment (a la now as I’m sitting here) and at other times quite a bit later than when a thing happened. That’s just how it’s going to be and there’s nothing to be done about it.

Long Ride
In everything we did in Paris – we were too busy to actually pick up any actual souvenirs, so we simply grabbed a few cute ones at the rest stop. I picked up my continuing train of magnets and H-Rabbit found a cute dish that shows the Paris skyline. The traffic is currently absolutely awful and it seems yet again we’re not going to get into Lucerne till the evening. Bus tours really include a LOT of time ON the bus – not necessarily the best way to spend one’s vacation.

Fresh air and beauty
Upon arrival in Lucerne we went straight to our hotel, which was quite nice and family run. One of the immediate things we noticed here in Switzerland was how fresh the air was, how fresh the water tasted, and how clean and beautiful everything looked. After a nice dinner and some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had (coloured and shaped like a Swiss flag) we headed down into town to catch the boat for our cruise around lake Lucerne.

Monument to Bravery
Upon arrival into town – which was very quiet and sleepy since everything was closed – we went to see what I count as another of my most memorable moments on the trip. Leona took us to view the absolutely gorgeous and astonishingly detailed monument to the fallen members of the Swiss Guard that died during the French Revolution. The monument is a carving of a fallen lion – the symbol of Swiss Guard – on top of broken symbols of the French monarchy from the time, right within the rock formations of a cliff. The slope of rock above the monument has also been carved in a way that diverts falling rainwater into a pattern around and over the carving. It is simply a breathtaking piece of artistic creativity.


Lake Lucerne
From the monument we went to the harbour to catch the boat for our Lake Lucerne cruise. From the water, you get a lovely panoramic view of the surrounding Alps – it’s no wonder that Lake Lucerne is apparently the most photographed lake in Switzerland. Our guide on the cruise pointed out the summerhouses of Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren that are in the area, as well as Wagner’s house that is now kept as a museum. The ride was extremely relaxing with drinks and a great time to spend with the rest of the tour group. After the cruise – we decided that tonight was a good chance to tuck in early as every night had been long and harried so far, and so off to the hotel we went. Lights out.