Day 9: Waterfalls, Black Forest and Traffic Jams

As we headed north out of Lucerne on Saturday morning, we passed some larger farms, like this one.

Since we had been a punctual group all week, Reinhard decided to schedule a stop at the Rheinfall, a beautiful waterfall not too far out of Lucerne.

They were beautiful and it helped that it was another sunny, warm spring day. Can you see the boat taking people to the rock in the middle of the falls?

After our stop at the waterfalls, we headed into the Black Forest, which is densely populated with large trees situated on an older, not so tall as the Alps, mountain range. The trees were quite impressive, but this picture doesn't do them justice.

We stopped at a place that sells cuckoo clocks within the Black Forest and saw a demonstration on how they make the clocks.

Here are a couple of the hundred or so clocks they had on display (and for sale)...see the Harley Davidson one?

 Here the guide demonstrates the bellows that sit within the clock to make it say "cuckoo."

We, of course, had to have some lunch and since our days in Germany were numbered, we had a piece of Black Forest Cake and...

a beer (some of us did)...

Jerry goes into the last bite of his cake.

The place we stopped even had a life size cuckoo clock on one side of its building.

It was a great stop but unfortunately we experienced our next stop way too soon after leaving the Black Forest. We got caught up in a traffic jam on Germany's Autobahn (I think it was the A5). After two hours of going nowhere fast, we did make it to Heidelberg. Unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time there and settled for a quick (very quick) city tour on our way up to the castle at the top of the city.

I think the castle dated back to the 1300s with it being attacked in the 1600s by the French. It was never fully restored after that attack.

There was a US military ball taking place at the castle so it was great to see so many soldiers in their dress uniforms and their dates in lovely gowns.

Well, that's it for the posts from our adventures. After about 20 hours of travel, we did make it home to Indianapolis on Sunday evening. Hope you enjoyed the photos and words on this blog. It was fun.

Day 8: A Free Afternoon in Lucerne

Our hotel was across the street from the lake that Lucerne is situated on and there is a lovely promenade that runs next to it. This meant we could stroll along the lake just to enjoy the view or stroll along it and eventually get to the center of town.

Upon our return from the mountains, we had a few hours to explore on our own before supper. The bus dropped us off at the center of town so we only had to walk back when we were done (this helped our feet a bit).

Here are a few sights that my group took in during our afternoon ramble through Lucerne. (I won't show you a photo of the grocery store where I bought way too much Swiss chocolate.)

The cathedral...I think it was the cathedral...it could have been just a church...my brain quit absorbing all the facts at about Day 5 of the trip.

Whether or not it was a cathedral, it WAS beautiful. I believe there was a fire in its history (not uncommon in Lucerne) so I think the middle part is original and the twin spires were rebuilt...or it could have been the other way around.

The side yard which served as a cemetery or memorial place...

The main altar...

And the side altar...

The doors were works of art...

And the view from the church stairs back into town...awesome.

I think it must have been one of the first really nice days in a long time for the residents of Lucerne because the promenade was busy as we walked back.

There were bocci ball games...

People sitting in this cool stage building...

And boats a floating.

And swans a swimming...

Day 8: Afternoon in the Alps

After some delay, I am finally able to publish the last posts from our European Adventure. Sorry for the delay!

After our city tour of Lucerne on Friday, we headed out for our Alpine Mountain Excursion. We drove around the lake to Vitznau, a small lake town.

We actually stopped in Weggis (kind of like Vegas) but missed our boat by about 3 minutes so Reinhard decided to start our trip with the cog wheel train ride up the mountain and finish it with a boat ride across the lake. It worked out just fine!

The cog wheel train is a Swiss invention and it was a wonderful ride up to 6000 feet to the top of the mountain. There were actually stations on the way to the top and houses and businesses. We were told later, by a local, that many of the homes were "second houses" - summer vacation homes.

We made it to the station at the top but there was still a climb to make it to the very top of the mountain for some 360 degree views.

To walk to the top, you could pick the young man's way - steep and direct - or the old man's way - long and winding. Both ways had some snow and ice on the paths.

Several in the group chose to make the trek to the top and even with some cloud cover, it was worth it.

I felt as if I could reach out and touch the clouds.

This huge radio tower (or whatever it was) sits atop the mountain.

I caught Reinhard, our tour guide, getting some sun on the way down. There was still some snow on the path but with the lovely weather we were experiencing, I'm sure it's gone by now.

There was another overlook point on the way down and I caught some of the group there.

On the trip down the mountain in the cog wheel train, I sat on the opposite side of the car and caught these views.

We had just enough time for some lunch at the bottom of the mountain before catching our boat.

Zola took in the view as we waited for the boat to take us on the short 15 minute ride to Veggis, the next town over where the bus met us.

 Here's a few shots from the top of the boat.

Next up...a free afternoon in Lucerne.