Transfer from Lucerne to Basel

Many of us enjoyed a traditional, and very long, Swiss fondue dinner last night. Great company!!! After a great night's sleep and for most of us a leisurely breakfast, we boarded our bus for our 98km (☺️) trip to Basel. Driving time is about 1 and half hour though the beautiful Swiss countryside.  (COUNT ALL PASSENGERS ON BUS BEFORE LEAVING FOR BASEL THIS MORNING. OKAY???????)  We're all anxious to board our boat, the Viking River Cruise Kara, and greet the rest of our group and get settled. The Kara is a Viking longboat, built in 2014 and is 443 feet long. She carries 190'passengers, with a crew of 50 ready to meet our every need, I'm sure!

Our Ship - Kara

Basel is an interesting city. It is Switzerland's third largest city, and is located where the Swiss, German, and French borders meet. Interestingly. It's language is "the Swiss variety of Standard German" my guidebook says. Basel is located in northwest Switzerland on the river Rhine. It is a major center for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry (it's also the hometown of a certain famous tennis player).

The Rhine River in Basel

The Kara will remain in Basel until after dinner. We are now a group of 78!!! About half the boat's passengers. Such a wonderful group of friends under one banner: Joyful Noise. And that we are!!!

A map of our future journey