Switzerland : Lucerne

Mt. Pilatus. Stanserhorn. Beckenried.

Yay, we had our first visitors! Julie and Arnau flew over from Barcelona this past weekend and stayed with us a few nights in Basel. We were able to enjoy some sunny and crisp weather on our little walking tour (I would like to point out I did not get us lost, hurray!) Since it’s a small city, it only takes a few hours to see it all! It was good to be out in the fresh air though. We ended with a drink at the very posh Les Trois Rois, which has a wonderful outside terrace on the river. Unfortunately, Matt had to work, but met up with us later on.

Autumn festival at a nearby church (fall is around the corner!)

We then drove to Lucerne for the weekend and were able to see friends (Heather and Pete) from Seattle who are passing through Switzerland on their way from Como down to Provence. Lucerne was really cute, complete with a 14th century wooden "chapel" bridge adorned with bright flowers (so very Swiss, of course), a sparkling lake and big mountains surrounding it all. It was fun to wander around and catch up with Heather and Pete. We also found the selection of restaurants better than Basel, even though it's about 1/3 the size!

Sunday, we visited Mount Pilatus via the steepest cog-wheeled train (48% grade), and rode the gondola down the other side. It was so crowded, which we weren’t really prepared for. We had to wait almost 2 hours for the train, so we decided to get something to eat, because 2 hours should be plenty of time, right? Well, not so much. The server acknowledged us multiple times but never came to take our order. We waved our hands to get her attention, and also approached her directly. It was crowded, so we continued to wait patiently. After about an hour though, the wait was getting ridiculous, so we went to the kiosk next door and got food/drinks and just ate at the table we had at the restaurant. We’ve encountered slow service on our European travels, but this was unreal. Ah, what can you do, so we just laughed it off.