Lucerne

Days 6 and 7 - Travel and Lucerne

Our stop in Lucerne, Switzerland provided a break from big cities and from the whirlwind tour of art history. The city was clean and beautiful, the alps were breathtaking, and the atmosphere was relaxed. Our tour-provided dinner was a bit of a joke, though. Our guide said it was a Swiss-Asian restaraunt, but I don't think we ate anything that was Swiss or Asian. They served us seven courses as follows: bread and coleslaw, tomato soup, spaghetti (the kind that tastes like it is just made with ketchcup), fried potatoes, breaded chicken, plain steamed veggies, and orange slices for dessert. It was like they forgot we were coming, then tried to throw together anything that they thought Americans eat. When we left, we looked at their menu and it was all real Asian food, nothing that we actually ate was even on the menu! Before we ate we were trying to decide if we should call Swiss-Asian food Swaisian or Swinese. Definitely Swinese.

This is a monument by the same artist that did the Christus. It is a tribute to the Swiss guards that were killed trying to guard the royal family (Marie Antoinette) from the mob during the French Revolution. Mark Twain called it, ' The most moving piece of rock I have ever seen.'

A procession of Swiss Guard in their traditional uniforms (silly, silly, traditional uniforms)

This was the view from our hotel. I carefully cropped up the mile-high McDonald's sign that is just to the left.