After the Swiss Alps, we took off for Luzern. Our hotel was right on the river with amazing views of the city, however, it was the dumpiest hotel we stayed in. The "Tourist Hotel" was basically a converted hostel. But, we were in a prime location for touring the old city which had my favorite markets. We got there pretty close to dark so we wondered around and took in the beautiful lights and many bridges that crossed the river then found dinner at a cute Italian place where I enjoyed SALAD (finally!) and excellent gnocchi.
The next day we took off to see all of the different markets. They were divided on various sides of the river into crafts, produce/cheese and flowers...I loved them all! This was by far the best place to see markets surrounded by quaint buildings and beautiful views of the river.
Dan bought some fresh pressed apple juice, and I bought the best raspberries I've ever eaten.
I was trying to take my own picture in front of the famous bridge and some very nice man asked if he could take the photo for me. After he said some things to me in German that I didn't understand, he was very nice and even endured a photo taken of us together by Patrick. Here's his photo.
Here's another shot of the main bridge, it is surrounded by flower boxes, and winds across the river.
The last thing we did before our whirlwind day was over was see the lion monument. Yay Luzern! It was a fast trip, but well worth it.
From there we went to the tree museum outside Zurich which I covered in an earlier post here.
We drove through the countryside to Dornbirn, Austria with a quick stop in Lichtenstein, the capital of Vaduz. It was a very artistic town which I posted about here as well. In addition to the public art, the juxtaposition of modern/contemporary architecture with old style churches and castles was very cool to see.
We finally made it to Dornbirn where we stayed at a very nice hotel, with a very cool shaped restaurant where breakfast was served. The town is tiny, so we saw it all in about 10 minutes. This is the place we stumbled on the pumpkin parade and ate local pumpkin favorites in the Rote Hause (Red house, made red with ox blood and some other gross thing).
The next day we went to church which was a really great experience. Of course everything was in German so we didn't understand much, but we tried to sing the words to tunes we recognized (Put your Shoulder to the Wheel is kind of a hard song in German). Luckily it was a testimony meeting, which means that members of the congregation can stand and express their gratitude for the gospel of Jesus Christ, so we were able to hear from a lot of people without being bored. The spirit there was very strong, they are a small ward, I counted 14 men over the age of 16. I always love going to church in other countries and being reminded that so many struggle and serve with so little and how truly easy I have it in my life.
From there we stopped at the Rolls Royce Museum, which turned out to be just a big garage with old cars in it. So Dan and I opted to wait outside while our friends toured around. We did see a few cars parked outside that were kind of cool.
Instead Dan and I found a small playground and had fun on the swings!
We headed out to our first castle that day, Neuschwanstein, on our way to Fussen posted about here. While we waited for our tour Dan found the trashy trinket store and pretended to be a cow!
After the castle we thought we were heading to the Fussen's town center to stay, but found ourselves pretty far out of town, basically we were in a bed and breakfast with amazing views from our room, near a beautiful river but with no stores or restaurants for miles. We had a lovely meal in the restaurant attached (more pork medallions, yay!) then played cards in the ultra suite our friends were staying in. Our room was big too, but had a kitchenette instead of an additional living room.
The next day we went to castle number 2 as well as to Oberamergau. This city is famous for it's Passion Play that they put on once every ten years. We had just missed it. But, the town is also known for it's buildings that are painted with various scenes...mostly religious as well as its wood carvings. We looked at numerous nut crackers and finally found some we liked that were just stained wood, not painted, but thought we'd see more again later in our trip for probably a better price...but never did. So, word to the wise, buy what you like then and there, because you could miss out if you wait!
From there, we went to Garmish-Partenkirchen. This town used to be two small towns that were forced to combine by Hitler in 1935 to host the 1936 winter Olympics. Supposedly both towns still maintain their own identities but we weren't there long enough to scope out the differences. Mostly we searched for wood carvings, bought chocolate and looked for a WC.
I did enjoy seeing the various architecture as well as this funny cat ladder outside an apartment.
We spent another night in Fussen, but wisely found a grocery store outside of town before going back to the bed and breakfast so we could eat in and play more cards. Noelle killed us all in the new game of Nertz we taught her to play.
The next morning we drove to Salzburg. I just can't see making this post any longer...Salzburg will have to wait for another day!
2 comments:
COW BELLS...! MOO....!
That trip waz sooo much fun.
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