We have arrived!

Our day began at 7 am Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015. We took Bonnie to the kennel, finished a few things at home, took food to the neighbors and then drove to my sister's house in Gurnee, IL- about a 5 hour drive. We quickly unloaded and reloaded cars. Off for a late lunch, then to the airport. We had been unable to do on-line check-in, so there we were at the Swiss Air counter; they had our names but no reservation. Apparently, United, with whom we booked had changed the flight number but failed to ever notify us. Agents made a few phone calls and all was well. We were seated in the Preferred seating ares directly behind Business class; having our own small section. They gave us pillows, blankets, headphones, snacks, dinner and breakfast, not to mention whatever alcoholic beverages we requested. Have to say the food was fresh and quite tasty. Way to go Swiss Air.

Arrived without a hitch, got luggage, thru customs and had to have our rail passes validated. No problems there but we had about 1 minute to make the train to Luzern or wait another hour. We moved quickly and got on board. These trains are extremely smooth and quiet. Saw some nice sites along the way. Our hotel us just across the street from station.
Hotel Monopol, an beautiful baroque building. Checked-in, free upgrade to a suite!
So after we got settled a bit,  we decided to walk around town. We had been sitting most of the day.  Luzern is on the lake, mountains surrounds it. It was cloudy do we really could not get the full views.
We walked to the covered bridge, old town, saw the lion monument, a Glacier gardens which was very interesting. We have sampled several wonderful chocolates. Grabbed a bite to eat at an outdoor cafe. More sites tomorrow depending on weather. Exhausted, now time for bed                          









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wolfhound Tours- Day 5- Dingle Way, Slea Head, ruins and ring forts

Image
After breakfast, we headed towards the coast. Those looking for a hike were dropped off at the Dingle Way trailhead. There were only three of us. Marty, Emilie and myself. The trail hiked up the mountainside and followed the stone walls. As we got to higher elevation, the views were incredible. We felt sorry for the rest of the group for missing such views. We hiked along with the sheep. We passed a small waterfall, ring forts and many, many stone walls. We could see the beach where we would meet the rest of the group. At the top, we also had views of the Blasket Islands. Our hike ended at Coumeenola Beach. The beach was beautiful with jagged rocks on the edges. We  hiked about 7 miles.                                        Dave gave us a demostration of Hurling- a national Irish game. A bit crazy with a ball and stick. Once agai...
Read more

Durnstein and Melk-Austria

Image
This morning we arrived in the small town of Durnstein. One of the apricot centers of Austria. Everything apricot!!!!!!. Liqueurs, schnapps, lotions, soaps, candies and more. This quaint town has a population of 400. They also are surrounded by vineyards and produce many wines, mostly white. They have the perfect climate for white wine grapes.  Durnstein has many historical sites such as the Augustiner Abbey with the beautiful blue clock tower, the remains of Kuenringer Castle where Richard the Lionhearted stayed after the Crusades and a small town area with shops. We tasted many varieties of apricot liqueurs and other products. We are bringing liqueurs home. Walked back to the ship and we sailed thru the Wachau Valley. Vineyards are terraced up the hillsides. Beautiful churches and castles can be seen from the water. We had a picnic lunch on the sky deck as we cruised. Around 2 pm, we arrived in Melk, Austria. We visited the Benedictine Abbey Melk which is the first Benedicti...
Read more

Heli HIke onto Franz Josef Glacier

Image
Only 7 of our group chose to do the Heli Hike. The rest will go do a hike in the area. We were dropped off at the tour operators and outfitted with a jacket, pants, socks, boots, mittens, crampons and a bag. Everyone was weighed and then placed in the helicopter. We flew up the valley and landed on the glacier. After a safety briefing and putting on our crampons and getting our hiking pole, our guide, Zac had an axe which he used to cut steps into the ice on steeper sections. He showed us an ice cave and asked if we wanted to go through it. Everyone said yes. He tied a rope on each end and one by one we lowered ourselves down and though. It was wet and very slippery and even a bit scary, but fun. After we finished with that, we hiked up towards the large pieces which Zac told us were over 6 stories tall. The sun came out and you could see the blue ice. Incredible! Some areas were starined and streaky with dirt and sediment which gave them black and white...
Read more