Getting to Lucerne should not have been any problem, but our morning bus from Vaduz to Buchs was so late that it made it a stressful endeavour; we just made our connection. The rest of the way was easy. By the time we arrived in Lucerne, the skies were overcast, but otherwise it was lovely. Everything is within walking distance in Lucerne, but sightseeing revolves around the Kapellbrucke ("Chapel Bridge"). Lucerne's second most famous sight is the Lion Monument. We visited the Hofkirche. We then explored the general area and the lakefront. For dinner, we enjoyed falafel and an "Original Kebab", as well as McCafe long espresso and chocolates. We began our second day in Lucerne with another visit to McCafe, before heading to the Museggmauer, to climb the castle towers and walk along its walls, admiring the views over the city and the lake. Today we walked over the Spreuerbrucke and saw the Nadelwehr. Without having to travel anywhere, we had far more time to wander the city and check out the shops. Some of the Swiss cuckoo clocks are very impressive... as are the accompanying price tags! Lisa discovered they are still peddling the exact model her family had when she was a kid. I really liked the portion of the Old Town with paintings on the sides of buildings in adjoining squares. Of course with the day's wonderful blue skies I felt compelled to photograph the Chapel Bridge all over again. Today was a wonderful day, complete with coffee, ice-cream, and beer, spent in a gorgeous, lakeside city.
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After breakfast and coffee, we took the train to Sargans, connecting in Zuerich. From Sargans, a bus took us to Vaduz. With that, Liechtenstein became the 79th country that I've visited. On our way to Vaduz, we were able to see Gutenberg Castle in Balzers. The only real tourist sight in Liechtenstein is Schloss Vaduz, the Prince's Castle, and since that is an actual residence, tourists can only view the exterior. Since we'd booked our Airbnb apartment for two nights, this meant some downtime to recover from our hectic first week of travel. I listened to music and eventually napped on our small deck with a perfect view across to the castle. With little else to do, we walked to the Old Rhinebridge which crosses the border between Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Stadtle Street is the main pedestrianized area directly below the castle. It would briefly become busy by Vaduz standards whenever a tour bus arrived with a load of tourist; 45 minutes later the street would once again be empty. We had spinach, ricotta, and egg pizza before calling it an early night. The only plan for day 2 in Vaduz was to hike up to the castle for a closer look. We discovered that there was a Saturday flea market set up at the end of the main street, so that provided some additional distraction. Stadtle Street is also home to the church, the government buildings, the tourist information centre, art installations, and shopping. With more spare time comes more eating. Today we enjoyed bread with oil & balsamic vinegar, coffee with chocolate and cookies, chicken, rhubarb pie, apricot tarte, and beer.
We watched rows of grapes and fields of corn pass as we rode the train to Murten in the morning. Murten's castle overlooks the lake. After seeing the sights of Murten, and stocking up at its grocery store, it was back on the train to Bern. The astrological clock and Parliament Bern has more than 100 fountains, eleven of which are considered to be of particular interest. The most famous of these is The Ogre, portrayed eating small children! Samson, The Ogre, Justice, and the Bagpiper Lisa beneath Moses The Musketeer and Anna Seiler Zahringen The Aare River Munster Cathedral As we debated walking to see the bears in Baren Park at the end of a long day, it began to rain. We decided that was excuse enough to hop back on tram #9 and head back to our room. We had lasagna and multiple cups of coffee while it rained outside (and throughout the night).
We made two stops on the way to Lausanne to explore smaller places that I had read good things about; the first was Coppet, a quaint, medieval, lakeside village. Our second stop was the charming lakeside town of Nyon, with its castle and fruit gardens. We then hopped back on a train to today's final destination - Lausanne. We headed directly to the Ouchy lakefront area and its promenade. Eventually we headed away from the lake, walking through the centre of Lausanne to explore its Old Town. St. Francois Church Lausanne Cathedral Escaliers du Marche After taking the Paris subway to the correct train station, it was just over 3 hours on a direct train to Geneva. We had never been to Switzerland before, so this upped my country tally to 78. We checked out the few tourist highlights, including the lakeside walk, the Jet d'Eau, and the Flower Clock. We walked through the Old Town and along Rue de Rive, the main shopping street. Cathedrale St. Pierre Place de Bourg-de-Four Geneva may be best known as the European HQ of the UN. We went for a sunset boat ride back and forth across Lac Leman, then walked along the lakeshore, before concluding our day with bread & cheese, raspberry sorbet, and beer.
Our mobility was limited on our first day in Paris because the storage lockers we'd planned to use were inaccessible. Despite having all of our luggage with us, we still managed to see Les Halles, Rue Montorgueil, Rue Rivoli, Rue Beaubourg, St. Eustache Church, Nelson Mandela Park, the Centre Pompidou, and the Stavinsky Fountain. We enjoyed Asian noodles for lunch. St. Eustache Church After having finally checked into our Airbnb and getting settled (ie. drinking coffee), we walked down to the Seine, saw City Hall and Notre Dame lit up, and enjoyed gyros for dinner. Day 2 went according to plan, meaning it was jam-packed with sightseeing. After our morning coffee, we walked to the Louvre to be in line before it opened. The three most famous in the Louvre collection: Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, and Mona Lisa herself. We walked directly to the star attraction upon the opening of the museum, and this was still the scene: The apartment of Napolean XI Mesopotamian 13' winged human-headed bulls! After having seen the highlights of the Louvre, we walked under Napolean's covered arches of Rue de Rivoli and on to Opera Garnier. We found our way to the rooftop views from Galeries Lafayette before checking out La Madeleine (a church that resembles Athens' Parthenon). Nearby, is the 75' Luxor obelisk at Place de la Concorde. We then walked the length of the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. From there, we cut through the Jardin du Trocadero to the Palais de Chaillot to admire its fountains and views of the Eiffel Tower. Crossing the Pont d'Iena took us to the tower. We walked through the Parc du Champs de Mars to Avenue Rapp, noting the 1901 art nouveau décor of No. 29. We checked out the markets of Rue Cler, and Les Invalides in passing, as we headed to the Rodin Museum to study The Gates of Hell and The Thinker. Pont Alexandre III led us to the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais. We retraced part of the Champs-Elysees, returning to the Place de la Concorde before seeing the Jardin des Tuileries and the Place Vendome. Somewhere along the way I managed to consume some French beer. We spent some time on the black and white stumps placed outside the 17th C Palais Royal before getting more coffee and some falafals. We enhanced our French experience with Udon noodles in Thai sauces and a six-pack of Mexican Negra Modelo. We completed the day with some dessert crepes. This was our studio apartment for 4 nights - all of it! If you look closely, you can see me enjoying a beer on the toilet under the bed across from the shower. The limited "kitchen" facilities are on a shelf just to the right and a small desk is under the ladder to the bed. Day 3 in Paris began with chocolate croissants and café allonge - I don't like cream, but I do like crema! Rather than take a bus, we decided to walk all the way to Montmartre's Sacre Coeur to begin the day's sightseeing. Then we walked from Place du Tertre to the (in)famous Moulin Rouge. By then it was time for some more coffee, this time with cookies and some fruit tarte. We also had Vietnamese veggie rolls, crepes, and beer. In the late afternoon, we explored the Jewish Quarter, including Rue des Rosiers and the Place des Vosges. We walked past Notre Dame once again to have a more traditional French dinner of fried goat cheese, charcuterie, white fish, and beef bourguignon, followed by crème caramel and sorbet. After dinner, we walked along the Seine to St, Chappelle, the Conciergerie, the Palais de Justice, and the clock tower. We enjoyed the sunset over the river and a coupe of beers. Our fourth and final day in Paris also began with coffee. We walked past the Hotel de Ville to Notre Dame yet again. Ile St. Louis was eerily empty as we wandered its streets before heading to the Latin Quarter. St. Severin Church The Medici Fountain in the Jardin du Luxembourg outside the palace. St. Sulpice Church It is certainly easy to find a good cup of coffee here! Three of the more famous cafes are located at the same intersection near the St. Germain-de-Pres Church... I may have indulged in a cup before admiring St. Germain-de-Pres. We crisscrossed the Seine checking out the views from and of the various bridges, the Conciergerie, and the Palais de Justice. We had gyros again, this time pairing them with a litre of lemon sorbet! One cannot go wrong with beer and an evening stroll along the Seine, either. I'm glad that we decided to head back to the Louvre at dusk, as I'm pleased with the images I was able to capture as night fell. We ended our time in "The City of Love" with a final walk along the riverside enjoying "The City of Lights".
In the midst of some frustrating inconveniences, it was nice for Lisa to begin the new month as Debbie's date for lunch and the Chemainus Theatre's production of "Grease". I was able to level all six footings in preparation for reassembling our pergola. I also drafted my NFL fantasy roster in a competition amongst previous league winners. Debbie and Shaun came to visit us in our new place for the first time. After fish 'n' chips down by the water, we caught up while enjoying some drinks and dessert on our deck. Hopefully this was the first of many, frequent visits. We scrambled to accomplish as much as possible before leaving on vacation. Lisa continued doing contract work in addition to everything else that she does. We managed to find local help for some of our needs. We had the hideous neon seafoam room repainted to a subdued light grey. We had the hole in the laundry room wall re-drywalled and repainted. We added two new slats to the deck railing where we removed a children's slide. Finally, Jody and I re-assembled the pergola, and even added additional supports and capped the footings. I transplanted the honeysuckles so they are no longer in pots. We finished packing for our trip and made last minute adjustments to our schedule as Airbnb hosts provided more information. I mowed the lawn and Lisa did the finances and bill payments... It's finally time to let the wandering begin once more!
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