Post #5 Day 3: Lucerne Sept 9 Afternoon

Lucerne Day 3: Monday, September 9
Afternoon on Our Own

After the walking tour ended we stayed in town and looked for a restaurant for lunch. We spent some time checking menus at restaurants along the river. We were reading one menu and some other Americans were also trying to find the menu in English (on the reverse side of the sign where we were standing). While chatting with them we found out they were from Glens Falls. Small world! 

We ended up at a restaurant on the river, the Rathaus Brauerei, with a nice view of Chapel Bridge. After perusing the menu, still trying to adjust to the prices and not very hungry after the big breakfast we had at the hotel, Bob ordered a salad  and I ordered the wheat beer soup (€11.50 and €11, respectively). We didn't have any of the desserts although they looked amazing. 

There were so many choices of things to do. Since it was such a beautiful day, we decided to go to Chateau Gutsch for the view. This involved finding our way using public transportation which turned out to be very easy after getting directions from a lovely, helpful attendant at a booth in the train station. After getting off at our stop, we had to take a funicular (a cable railway car) to the top. There was no one at the ticket booth so we just boarded and rode to the top.

At the top we found a sculpture display that was open without needing the usual ticket. It appeared to be under construction or revision. We wandered around and took pictures of the fabulous view. Only a few people were around, some of them working on the art display.

It was interesting poking around at what we thought was a tourist destination with no one else around. Wanting to see if there was a better view from the "castle," we felt a bit like we were trespassing when we opened a gate and made our way to the hotel/restaurant. It was lovely inside and the open deck view was outstanding. To pay for our view we ordered hot cocoa and a dessert to share. It was well worth paying for a small, pricey dessert to be able to sit in the sun and enjoy the view.

After we got back to the hotel we took a nap, intending to go back out for dinner. But, when Bob got up his ankle was so painful he couldn't walk across the room. He wasn't sure exactly what happened to it, but we assumed he had sprained it doing so much walking on the cobblestone pavement during the morning walking tour. We tried going up to the lounge area, and we did get to see the view from the top of the hotel, but we decided we weren't going to walk across the river for Swiss food. We had hoped to try fondue at one of the local restaurants. Instead we ended up in the Italian restaurant in the hotel again.

This was just the beginning of our back luck, ill fated, trip.