Blossoming Seoul: Cruising and the Cabrio

Today marks our last full day of Switzerland fun, so we were up bright and early to take in the sights of Luzern. It also happens to be Saturday--market day! After last night's festivities, you can imagine the not everyone joined the early risers club, but we set off nonetheless and I think we can all agree that 8am was a good choice for beating the tourist crowds and joining the locals in real Luzern life.

Our first stop was this incredible covered wooden bridge. The bridge itself was beautiful, but what made it special was that the entire length, on both sides, was lined with bright flowers. You couldn't get enough photos it was just that good. Janice and I found ourselves behind from the start! Crossing the bridge brought us to something equally good, if not better, the local market which consisted of stall after stall of beautiful produce, cheeses, breads, nibbles, and FLOWERS! I am a sucker for photographing flowers and there were some great ones that I had never seen before along with old favorites. I could have abandoned the tour here and spent another hour in the market, but alas, I carried on.

My favorite spot in Luzern-I loved this bridge!

A unique wildlife photo!

Beautiful sights of summer!

Alpine thistles in the marketplace.

A swan swimming with one leg?!

We ducked in to the Jesuit church, which doesn't look like much from the outside but is quite nice on the inside and very quiet at this time of morning. Wanting more time for photos, I quickly popped back out! Continuing to follow the river, we made our way past lovely building after lovely building. I like Luzern quite a lot already. I wonder if there is an International school here, because this is just my scene. Eventually we ran alongside the flea market where I found some wonderful old cow bells and a few giant instrumental bells that I would have loved to have purchased, but there's no way those were fitting in the suitcase so a photo would have to do. We crossed another wooden bridge, this one all original (a fiery accident destroyed most of the other years ago so it is a reproduction) and showing its wear and history well. The buildings on the opposite side of the river are more modern, though you'll find traditional fountains scattered about the city and cool murals painted throughout. It gives the city a special vibe and makes it approachable and welcoming. We ended up back where we started after meandering through shops and cafes and with just an hour of free time before our scheduled tour/excursion I wanted to find a watch. The Swatch store ended up being my chosen venue after glancing at watches in the luxury shops worth more than I make in a month (or more)!

Alpine bells in the flea market near the river.

Cow bells! I really wanted to bring one home!

Fountains and flowers!

A really old, and original, wooden bridge.

The lovely buildings along the river in Luzern.

Painted buildings!

As a grand finale to Luzern, our excursion included a one hour cruise across the beautiful, blue lake that borders the city and a trip up into the mountains by cable car to view Mt. Titlus. On this trip we were joined by a stow-away-Lucy's new suitcase which we named, "the situation". We sat under the covered back part of the boat and watched the fine scenery pass by with the wind in our hair. It was great! I think "the situation" enjoyed its ride too as we discovered it had a nice outdoor seat during the lake passage. It's amazing what sort of things you accumulate out of necessity as you travel and how they become part of your memories. I hope "the situation" makes it another 4 weeks and back to Perth unscathed. I should note that my suitcase, which I call "the beast", is still going strong though I will be abandoning some of its contents at an undisclosed location before transporting it home so as not to be overweight. The first thing to go will be my old Columbia fleece as it is supposed to be in the high 80's in Italy and that fleece has done its duty. I'm having trouble reconciling this notion of dumping stuff, but I'm sure I'll come to terms with it when the reality of an overweight baggage fee gets nearer.

Cruising on Lake Luzern.

Jesus, the protector of the lake.

On the other side of the lake, Max was waiting for us with the coach and drove us to the train station where we would take an antique train, then a state of the art Cabrio car into the mountains. The antique train was like a funicular and chugged us along next to green pastures with cows up to the Cabrio station. The Cabrio is a unique Swiss made and developed means of travel. Unlike a gondola, the Cabrio is supported by cables on both sides so it doesn't swing from the cable AND (this is the best part), it is double decker so you can actually stand on the second, open topped platform as you zip up the mountain side! Our group hurried on up to the top and it was quite a ride! The Cabrio is smooth and there's no feeling that you'll fall out at any time. We rode up into the clouds and at one point were level with a small airplane. It was a bit misty as we got up to the top as the clouds rolled in.

The coolest open top cable car ever!

Riding through the clouds!

Sadly, the clouds ruined the view, but we had a nice lunch together and the excursion was worth the ride in the Cabrio alone! Before long it was time to head down the mountain and our chariot awaited us. This time we decided to spice up the ride a little and do a Mexican wave/woohoo each time we crossed one of the support pylons. Not everyone was game, but we did it anyway and quite enjoyed ourselves. The driver of the Cabrio popped up midway through the ride to let us know we were not original--he said he hears the same cheer about 30 times a day. The only thing I could think to say was, "Hey, who's driving this thing if you're up here?" Safely docked and offloaded, we piled onto the antique train for a quick descent and Max waiting for us at the bottom. Luzern was just 20 minutes drive away and we had another hour of free time to wander and shop before going back to the hotel to get ready for our farewell dinner.

Not a great view, but worth the trip!

What a beautiful ride down the mountain.

Cows, cows, cows!

Many people dressed up a bit for the farewell, but the food was simple and the conversations were great, as usual. It was sad knowing that we would be saying good-bye to some tonight and to the rest early tomorrow morning. I took photos with a few of the couples I spent a great deal of my tour time with and I do hope to connect with them when I go to Australia next summer! When we arrived back at the hotel it was still early, so Lucy and I went for one last stroll around the lake. It was an absolutely perfect evening and it would have been a shame to waste it by going to bed early!! Janice and Michael were having a drink on the terrace so we caught up with them before saying good-night. On our way out of the bar we caught the news that an Asiana airlines plane had crashed in San Francisco just hours earlier. Three weeks ago I could have been on that plane! It was the kind of moment that re-affirmed you have to live life in the now and not put off doing the things you really want to do. So, for me that means I'm going to keep on traveling! There are too many wonderful places out there to see and no time like the present to discover them!