Germany and Switzerland: Day 9...Lucerne

We woke up on Thursday and I decided that I wanted to go for a quick run around Lauterbrunnen.  I made sure that I ran back by my cow friends that were chasing me earlier in the week.  I was curious to see if they would chase me again.  Never fear, the one cow started prancing around.  It was hilarious.

Of course I stopped for a picture with my favorite cow!

We had breakfast at our hotel and had the opportunity to thank Maria for all her wonderful advice during our stay.  She was so kind to us and made wonderful recommendations on how to spend our days.  If you ever find yourself in Lauterbrunnen, by all means, please look into staying at Hotel Staubbach.  

We packed all of our stuff and said our goodbyes and made our way to the train station.  It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get to Lucerne.  Right before we pulled up to the train station in Lucerne, Ken asked me if I had the keys to my car (at the airport in KC) because he did not have them.  I did not have them and that is when we realized that they were left in the hotel in Lauterbrunnen.  

For some reason, I was pretty sure that my spare set of keys was in my car, so I was not too worried.  I knew they were either in my car or sitting on our desk in our kitchen.  My friend Jill was checking on my cats, so I asked her to verify they were not on the desk.  She was so kind and told me she would come pick us up at the airport if we needed her to.  Luckily, the keys were not on the desk, so I knew they had to be in my car.  Fortunately, since my car is a Lincoln, it has a key pad on the outside that allows you to unlock the doors.  I felt pretty confident that we were going to avoid a disaster and were able to enjoy our last day.

We got to the train station and walked a block to our hotel, Hotel des Alpes.  I had reserved us a room over looking the famed Chapel Bridge.  We got settled and decided to walk around to get a drink and something to eat.  

The view from our room

Right away Ken and I felt like Lucerne had a very Italian feel.  Neither us have been to Italy, but everything about it screamed Italian to us.  Lucerne (Luzern) was a beautiful, quaint city.  One thing that I loved was that all the restaurants had outdoor seating along the water.

Cheers!

They serve pretzels in the place of bread for sandwiches.  It was at that moment that I told Ken I was not going to back to the US.  I was staying to eat all the pretzels and croissants I could in Europe.  

We sat around for a while and then decided to go wander around the city for a bit.  

We walked across the Chapel Bridge and ended up being witnesses to a swan fight.  I know, what violence.  Clearly it was mating season because big Brutus was totally defending his territory.  He had his wings fluffed out with an attitude.

See the trouble maker?

We relaxed for a while, had dinner along the water at an Italian place and did a little shopping.  We ended up getting a bottle of wine and going back to our room and enjoying it on our balcony.

Ken looking handsome and enjoy a little Swiss wine

A storm started to roll in over the mountains.  The peaks that were visible earlier were now covered in clouds.

We went back out to see the city at night.  I may have been secretly hoping we would stop for dessert as well.

A view of all the restaurants along the water.  Our hotel is the the one on the right with the flag at the top.

We stopped for drinks and dessert

Nothing beats ending the night with apple strudel!  Or in Ken's case, a beer.

Lucerne was the perfect place to spend our last day.