Double-Entendre Swiss Franks: Silver Coins and Sausages

LUZERN, SWITZERLAND – June 2, 2006
(rough notes)

Arrived @ 1 PM. The good news: I left the rain behind in Lindau. The bad: the sun is still hidden under a thick layer of serious clouds. And the ugly: everybody was right – Switzerland is expensive!!

I opted to save myself 8FF and lug my backpack around with me for the afternoon, instead of storing it in the station’s overpriced lockers (by comparison, storing the same bag for the same amount of time just across the border in Germany would cost less than half that).

Some other notes:
boy feeding swans
Hofkirche and cemeteries
Covered bridges
Promenade lined with classy cafes
Lion Monument
Castle wall – Alaskan Tom
Sipping sodas along the harbour
Enjoying the clear, glacial green water churning by, carrying ducks downstream turbo-speed
Sun came out from hiding; it was glorious

I suddenly realized that Thomas, my Swiss chum who lives in Luzern – and who is responsible for getting this city on my itinerary, believes it to be the most beautiful city in Switzerland. It was hard to argue when snow-topped mountains reaching into the clouds and stretching along the base of Luzern’s gem of a lake, were staring me in the face.

After saying goodbye to Tom, I made my way to the train station, where I met Thomas. We spent my first night in Switzerland grocery-shopping for the weekend (unlike the U.S., European stores aren’t open 24/7. In fact, good luck trying to find anything open on Sunday, aside from cafes and restaurants where locals congregate for a relaxing meal with good company. Besides, Monday was a holiday – something inextricably linked to Christian tradition, but Thomas couldn’t remember exactly what and didn’t want to burst his mom’s bubble by calling her to find out. No matter.)

He cooked up a traditional Swiss dinner for me to sample – bratwurst and mashed potatoes served with a vegetable-and-gravy sauce. I placed a call home on his 3FF/hour (you can’t beat that!) fax line, while Thomas left to pick up his girlfriend Simone at the train station. We stayed up late plotting out tomorrow’s adventures, which were hinging on the marginal possibility that we’d be granted some good weather.
A few more notes on Luzerne:
medieval old town with ancient rampart walls and towers, 15th century buildings with painted facades, and two famous bridges: Kapellbrucke (Chapel Bridge), famous for its distinctive water tower and the 1993 fire that nearly destroyed it, and Spreuerbrucke, both with painted panels under their roofPoignant lion monument, carved out of natural rock in 1920, in dedication ot the Swiss soldiers who died in the French Revolution. Mark Twain said it was the saddest piece of rock in existence.

~Melanie