Last Eurail Trip

It was umbrella weather as Terry and I walked to the far bus stop early Saturday morning. That bus only comes once an hour, so we made sure we were there in good time.  The three day weekend for L'Armistice made for crowded conditions on the train; we were lucky to get seats in second class.  Many people sat on the floor all around the doors. We'd settled on Lyon as our destination, it being only 3 hours away, and the third largest city in France.
I'd heard there was a big shopping centre right beside the gare in Lyon.  It, too, was too crowded to be fun.  I was already tired, and wondered what I was doing at a "mall" so like the giant ones back home.  I'd wanted to explore the Carrefour department store, but all we did was buy some chocolate.  I should say, I picked out the chocolate.  Terry said, "I'm staying right here with the buggy while you look."

People sitting to eat their sandwiches

After trudging to the Hotel du Parc we'd reserved online, and resting awhile, we went out walking again.  Lots of beautiful buildings, squares, fountains and statues.

City Hall, Place des Terreaux

 

Lion at Place des Avocats in Vieux Lyon

  These paintings on buildings are called "trompe d'oeil", an art technique to create an optical illusion.  The eye is fooled into thinking that the painted objects exist in three dimensions.  There are many of them around the city; in fact Lyon is called the French capital of  trompe d'oeil.  We only saw this one.

Place Bellecour, one of the largest town squares in Europe

Do you see the Subway in the background?

Bortholdi Fountain at Place des Terreaux

The next day it had stopped raining.  We'd had a delicious meal at a restaurant near the hotel on Saturday night, and a "continental breakfast" of fresh croissants, cheese, jam, meats, orange juice, and tea and coffee in the morning. 

Our destination was the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere, seen in the picture behind Terry. Also on the hill is a metal tower that looked familiar.  It was actually built in 1894 to resemble  the top part of the Eiffel tower in Paris. Lyon grew up around two rivers, the Rhone, and the Saone, hence many bridges connect parts of the city.  We took a 3 minute funicular to the top of the hill, stopping halfway up to see some Roman ruins.

Roman amphitheatre

It's hard to believe these ruins have been here since the Romans came to what was then Gaul in 43 BC.

Terry and I were clambering over the rocks and taking pictures of the view when a red vested man started yelling at us, "Interdit!"  We found out as we exited that area that we weren't supposed to be climbing on the walls.

The Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere was huge, the ceiling covered with tiny crumbling mosaic tiles, the interior ornate. I wanted to see the scene showing Joan of Arc, but there was scaffolding everywhere because the mosaics were being restored.

Another interesting feature of the Old Town were the traboules.

These are indoor passageways from medieval times connecting parallel streets, that allowed people to quickly get from one area of the city to another.  During World War II they were used for info-gathering and escape routes for the Resistance

This relaxing day included a stop at a patisserie, where we had delicious quiches, and then pastries on top of that.  Well, an experience we both enjoyed. I tried not to think of the calories. A gentleman peering into the window at the same time we did  proclaimed, "This is a good one."  He was right. 

We came home satisfied with our weekend, despite the rainy start.

Return to Lucerne

Twenty years ago our family, with all three boys, was in Lucerne overnight, on our way back to Slovakia from an Easter trip to Paris.  I'd always wanted to go back to this  beautiful city.  We had been living in New Denver, B.C., situated in the West Kootenays on the glacial Slocan Lake.  The area reminded the early settlers of Switzerland, so they named the local school "Lucerne".  When Terry taught there, it was the Lucerne Elementary-Secondary School, with all grades.
Lucerne was Bongwol's choice for a trip with us before going home. There are a certain number of day passes for unlimited travel sold for every day; if one went to Epalinges, one could buy them with no complicated questions asked, but only 3 per day are sold. Bongwol managed to get a pass for Nov. 3, which gave her unlimited access to anywhere in Switzerland on that day, by rail or by bus.
The train trip itself took 2 hours 15 minutes with no changeovers; we arrived in Lucerne at 10:00 am. Our first destination was the tourist information, conveniently located in the railway station.  Then we walked through the Saturday market, and across the wooden Chapel Bridge with its octagonal water tower.

These paintings on the ceiling of the bridge are from the 17th century; some of them were destroyed in a fire in 1993, when a leisure boat moored under the bridge caught fire.  Parts of the bridge were reconstructed, but some paintings were destroyed completely, and only charred wood remains. Now the bridge is a non-smoking area with security cameras!

After pushing our way through the Saturday market, we crossed the Reuss River via the Covered Bridge; this one was original.

Bongwol's dream was to go up Mt. Pilatus, so we hopped onto a train that rode for 20 minutes along Lake Luzern.  We were so blessed by the weather today--beautiful sunshine and a high of 16 degrees C.

This is the lake looking back towards Lucerne.

a little like Slocan Lake

 

At Alpnachstad we bought tickets for the cog train, but had to wait about half an hour before we could board.  About halfway up, we started to see patches of snow.  Apparently one could see Ibex on this mountain, but the only one we saw was the stuffed one at the observation building on the top.  I could just imagine it jumping from rocky crag to rocky crag as in the photo below.

 

 

Half an hour later, we were at the viewing platform, which included a hotel, restaurants, and a gift shop.  We were at 7,000 feet!  Terry and Bongwol climbed another 5 minutes on foot, to a higher viewpoint, but I was too hungry.  I scouted out the buffet style restaurant instead; later, Terry and I shared a "smokey" and the fast food version of rosti.
The name "Pilatus"  probably comes from a Latin word for cloudy, but we were blessed that day to be able to see a fine view.

I'm not smiling because I'm hungry and I forgot my sunglasses
 

Terry was thrilled that he was in his shirtsleeves, but he's actually wearing several layers under his shirt.

On the way down, there were fewer people in the train compartment, so we had more freedom to lean over and take pictures.  Sometimes we went through tunnels. This cog wheel train is supposed to be the steepest in the world at a 48% grade.

 

There are still leaves on the trees at the lower levels.

 

 We had a great day!

This is the last time we'll be able to go on an outing in Switzerland with Bongwol!  On Nov. 5, she flew back to her home in Texas.  We're going to miss you, Bongwol! Thank you for blessing our lives. We hope to meet Bongwol in January in California, when she goes to visit her daughter.