Alvedersein/Au Revoir, Switzerland

We concluded our time in Switzerland by visiting the beautiful town of Lucerne. Lucerne is in central Switzerland on a lake (of course) and surrounded by mountains (of course). Lucerne has been a favourite vacation spot for famous people for centuries - attracted by the lake, mountains, the many luxury hotels and fancy jewellery/watch shops. Richard Wagner lived here and composed many of his best compositions by the lake.

We only had a day there so we decided to see the area by water by going on a yacht tour. There was an audio tour that filled us in on the history and geography of the region. Engineers built some impressively steep train lines up mountains so the late 19th century rich guests didn't have to break a sweat! After the tour we took a quick dip in the lake, lied on a lawn and watched an interesting game called Viking Chess, and then took a night stroll in the lovely old town with pedestrian cobblestone roads (I'm going to miss those, but my feet won't). The chapel bridge, a covered bridge over a century old lined with art, and the adjacent watch tower were beautiful at night.

A few final notes on Switzerland. When looking at a map, you can basically see the ethnolingual division of Switzerland. On the western side of the country, the towns all have French names, but as you head east about a third of the way, the towns all have German names. And looking in the south of the country you can see a pocket of towns with Italian names. I looked at CIA factbook and this fits perfectly how the languages are split, about 65% German, 25% French and 5% Italian. Actually Switzerland has a fourth official language but only about 0.5% of people speak it (can't remember the name). In NA it's rare to find a bilingual person, but here you need to speak two or three languages just to converse with your countrymen/women!

Finally, we absolutely loved Switzerland. We are attracted more to natural than architectural beauty, and Switzerland is unmatched in this area by anything we've seen. The only drawback is that it's very expensive, but Lord willing we would love to come back someday.

- Andy