Gruezi to all once again,
Hope you have the patience to read through this as it is going to be a long tale of adventure, transport, very large beers and a place called Lucerne. For those of you who wish to know, I mentioned we will put up the details of our up coming journey into Eastern Europe - but will leave that for a separate post in the coming days - so be sure to stay tuned.
Another interesting episode in the Ness and Jimi in Europe show has past by. For those of you who haven't been keeping up, fffffffffffft. Just kidding, we spent a fantastic weekend in Lucerene - here's the low down. We arrived by train on Saturday morning to discover a happening, historic and brilliant little city. A massive amount to look at whichever way we turned. We started off in the old town and checked out the shopping strip which is in a very historic area filled with amazing old architechture steeped in history and folklore. The atmosphere was a little on the touristy side but much more laid back and relaxed as compared to city life in Zurich. Eventually we checked into the Hotel Weinhof and decided to take a wander along the lakeside. We had a visit in the Grand Casino in Lucerne - Grand not just being the name only considering the main foyer was all marble floors and columns, chandeliers and the likes. Then in and around the city we visited sites like the famous Lion Monument, Chapel Bridge & Water Tower (built in 1300s), the remaining section of the Musegg Wall and the Reuss River that cuts right through the middle of the city flowing into the lake.
After a large amount of walking we visited the Mr. Pickwicks pub in the old town (officially completing our tour of all of the Pickwicks chains in Switzerland) had a cold bevy and rested 2 pairs of tired feet. Finally we were off to dinner at the Stadtkeller, a Restaurant and Swiss Folklore stage show [Thanks have to go to Ursula at Bucher Travel for the hook-up, which includes the following days adventure as well. I'd tip my hat if I was wearing one]. The evening was quite fun, more than assisted by the 1 litre beers that were being partaken in. The food was marvellous, finally we had a good sampling of traditional Swiss fare. I have never had a goulash that good in my life. The stage show was quite interesting, traditional folk music and instruments - and of course yodelling (which I happened to be pulled on the stage to participate in, if not dodgily - well, there's a 1st for everything). The venue was definitely a tourist attraction, but everyone had a fun night. At this point I should say hello to Faedra, our new found American friend (I must add that she was staying at the Jail Hotel [Gaol for the Aussies]) who we went out with after the show. At that point the rest of the night became a little raucous - I do however remember meeting the Bass Player/Trombonist/Flag Thrower/Alpine Horn playing all-star of the show. Later that evening we stumbled our way back to the hotel.
So, after a somewhat dusty start to Sunday, we jumped on the Paddle Steamer that took us across the lake to Vitznau. The view was just incredible, the whole lake is surrounded by mountains, and the one we were soon about to go up was Mount Rigi 'Queen of the Mountains' (1800m). From Vitznau, we took Europe's oldest Cog-Wheel train up the side of the Mt Rigi some 50 metres shy of the peak. Needless to say the view from there was even more spectacular from down on the lake - we could even see across to the top of Mount Titlis which we had visited some weeks earlier. Not only that, you could see clear across the German border and back down into Lucerne and Zug as well. The weather could not have been better. After doing a little walking we headed a short way back down the Mountain, checking out the tiny little mountainside villages along the way (most of which are definite ski villages in the right season), to catch the cable car back down the other side of the mountain. From Weggis we boarded another ship to take us across the lake once more and back into Lucerne. We decided to grab a little feed before training it once again all the way back to Zurich. OK, now take a breath.
Clearly a grand weekend was had in Lucerne, much more so than initial expectations. Very soon, once they have been sorted, we will post up some of the mass of photo's we managed to take over the weekend. As always - peace, love and kind regards to everybody back home and those who are far from home. Be sure to check back soon to see what's going on in the next few weeks.
Prost,
Jimi and Ness
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1 comment:
sounds like fun!
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