We bid adieu to Lucerne this morning, but not until we completed a three hour cruise along its entire length. Lucerne is at the bottom right on the lake map above, and we cruised to the most northern tip of the lake. Along the way, we passed various mountain peaks with small towns at the water’s edge .. there was almost always some sort of lift that would get you to the top. Hence the expression that every Alp has a tram or cable car to lift you up the mountain.
Here is a picture of our Steamer …
The lake had significant twists and bends … every time we thought the end was near, we would round a sharp bend and see much more lake. It was phenomenally beautiful, and reminded me of two place sites: the inlets of New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee, and the beautiful shores of Canada’s Northwest Passage.
This was scheduled to be a railroad trip, but we all kind of wished Lake Lucerne went on for the whole 10 days.
We disembarked and got on a train to Lugano, a city of 54,000 in the Italian speaking sector of Switzerland …45 miles from Milan. It has a large financial center, and is home to three major universities. More important was that Lugano had a lake similar to Lucerne … and a reputation of a city that knows how to do nothing well !!
The trip organizers found a lovely, outdoor restaurant on the far side of the lake… so we hopped onto another boat and steamed across the lake for dinner. This is a big wine area, and they featured a while Merlot. But once again, the hit was the lake. We ate and drank up, got on the water taxi, and returned to our hotel to complete another great day in the Swiss Alps !!
The Adventures of Barry Brink 