The Stanserhorn and Lucerne

On Wednesday, July 22nd, after a nice breakfast, Eva, Mary Joy and I caught a bus to the train station, where we got on a train to Lucerne. There we changed to a train to Stans. In Stans, we took the funicular and cable car up the Stanserhorn. This is a relatively new cable car, built in 2012. Eva had never been up it. We walked up to the top. There is a spectacular view of Stans, Lucerne and Lake Lucerne, as well as Mount Pilatus. We could see all the way to Zug and the Zugersee.

Then we had a salad at the restaurant and went back down to Stans, where we caught the train back to Lucerne. Mary Joy and I hadn't been to Lucerne in many years, so Eva walked us over to the new KKL concert hall and convention center, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, who designed the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. We couldn't go in, because Lucerne was in the middle of a rock festival.

On the spur of the moment, we decided to take the boat tour on the lake, with narration from one of those audioguides that hangs around your neck and can be set to various languages. It was very pleasant to be out on the water.

There was a group of young women, wrapped from head to toe, with only their faces showing. They had a chaperone, and I think one man, wearing a "Kuwait" tee shirt, maybe a driver, was associated with them when they got on and off. They were very excited, talking, laughing, taking pictures of one another. On a hot day, their dress was in extreme contrast to the tank tops and shorts worn aboard by most of the other women their age. One of them loosened her headscarf and rearranged her hair under it in the reflection from some glass.

Dark clouds were rolling in as we came back to port, and as we walked over to the Jesuit Church, a few drops fell. We visited the church, which was under repair.

Mary Joy was interested in the organ. Then we walked across the river and through the Old Town to the Kapellbruecke (Chapel Bridge), the famous long, medieval, wooden, covered footbridge, with 17th-century paintings. It had been largely destroyed by fire in 1993, and you can tell which parts are original and which are restored.

We crossed back over and as we approached the Post Office, the skies opened up into a downpour. After Mary Joy bought some stamps, we tried to wait out the rain, but it was still coming down so hard that the vestibule floor had standing water until they closed the door and mopped it up. We decided to make a run for it across the street to the railroad station, and didn't get too, too wet.

We took the train back to Zug (twenty minutes). We had intended to eat dinner out, at an outdoor restaurant, but the weather made that impossible, so Andreas again cooked a very nice dinner.