Lucerne (Luzern) I'm going to move here.

We arrived to Lucerne rather late in the day, as we spent all day driving. When we arrived we saw the Alps and they are gorgeous! We went straight to our hotel and didn’t have much time to put our luggage in our room because we went to the Stadtkeller Restaurant for dinner. The dinner was so fun! The music was great and very traditional. They had yodeling and old instruments. They played the long horns that are traditionally played on mountains and they asked the audience if anyone wanted to try playing it and I of course raised my hand. I could actually play it, it was a similar mouthpiece and breath control usage as a French Horn! They also did flag throwing and played spoons. David and I also went up because they asked us to come do some traditional Swiss dance, it was fun.

Then they asked for people to come up to Yodel and we had then ask our leader/professor Dr. Donnay. He really did not want to go up there but he did! He yodeled and then they gave him a beer- ha! We were proud of our BSU crew!

Then after the dinner we walked to the Lion Monument to see it lit up at night. It was pretty moving. It represents the Swiss guards in the French Revolution. Then we walked back on  one of the historical wooden bridges at night to see it lit up. 

Our next day we woke up early and we went to Mt. Rigi in the Alps. We all went as a group so we had to take a cable car up instead of hiking but it was still cool to take it. When we got to the top we saw the amazing view of the lake and other mountains. We had the option to hike part of the way down and of course David and I did and a few other people did as well but most of the people rode all the way down.  I’m so glad we hiked because we got to see so much more and it was gorgeous!

Then we went back into town and we went to a co-op and we again got cheese and fruit to eat with bread we took from breakfast. I also got some Swiss chocolate because it was so cheap and I love chocolate and it was sure amazing! We took our food and ate by the river and enjoyed the brilliant blue water and all of the swans swimming in it. Then we walked over to the lake and David and I sat with our feet in the cold glacier water and it felt amazing- especially since I sprained my ankle the night before and hiked on it (but I couldn’t go to the Alps and not hike!).  We sat here for about a half hour while Kelsey and Brittany went shopping. But where we were sitting was stunning. The lake was gorgeous and the mountains were right there and the sun was shining. It was truly a glorious day. I wish we could have spent more time here!

Then the four of us walked on the tower walk which has many old castle like towers to climb up (and really climb) to see an amazing view of the city! We enjoyed the views for a while before leaving them. Then we walked down and got some sandwiches in a shop. David and I shared a chicken schnitzel sandwich and it was terrific!

Then we stopped back at our hotel so Kelsey and Brittany could bring their bags back to the hotel. We then went to one of the historic bridges and watched the sun set. Then we went back to our spot on the lake and watched the sun set reflect in the mountains and we just talked for a while before heading back to our hotel for the night.