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

Ascent to Mt. Pilatus

After a good night's rest we woke up this morning with rain still in the area.   We glad to see the Morris' who arrived last night from Venice.  Also good to see the Hashs' and Griffins' who were already in Lucerne.  After breakfast the most hardy and adventurous of us left to meet our guide who led us to the main railroad station, where we took the short bus ride to Kriens to begin our day's adventure: traveling up in the panoramic gondolas that carried us up 7000 feet to Oberhaupt, the summit of Mt. Pilatus.  Actually the summit was another short hike. The views of the alpine meadows and mountain streams, perhaps even thinking of Heidi, were spectacular, even with the fog and rain!

Grandaughter and Group Leader ascending to Mt. Pilatus 

The view from the Gondola

Mt. Pilatus, by the way, was so named because (a) ancient Roman governor Pontius Pilate was rumored to have been buried there, or (b) it resembles the belly of a large man (perhaps Pilate) lying on his back - depending on which local legend you believe! After lunch, the decent to Alpnachstad on the world's steepest cogwheel railway with a gradient of 48% was amazing if not just a little scary, we took a boat ride across the lake back to Lucerne.

Cogwheel Railway Station

We had free time to explore Lucerne's old town called Alstadt.  It's narrow cobblestone streets that lead to centuries old buildings painted with frescoes; the Kappelbrücke (Chapel Bridge), a covered wooden footbridge dating back to the 1330s (rebuilt after a fire in 1993), with an octagonal water tower that was once used as a prison; picturesque squares like the Kornmarkt, Weinmarkt and Hirschenplatz; and the iconic Lion Monument, honoring the Swiss mercenaries who lost their lives during the French Revolution.

Chapel Bridge

Lion Monument

Restaurant in Altstadt (Old Town)

And a typical cheese fondue dinner in Lucerne, so touristy!  But a good plan some of us think!

Fondue and Toast!

A Full Day in Lucerne

Finally we arrive at our Renaissance Hotel, which  is right behind the century-old façade of the historic City Palais. This Renaissance Lucerne is the smallest Renaissance hotel, but likely the most elegant.  Our weary group of travelers were ready to check in, and perhaps lie down on the bed after so many hours of traveling.  

Renaissance Hotel

A Room at the Renaissance

A few others decided to walk around the area, and see the Chapel Bridge, (a covered wooden bridge built as a fortification for Lucerne I 1333, destroyed in a fire and rebuilt in 1993), and the Water Tower, which marked where the waters of the Lake Lucerne flow into the River Reuss and one time served as a dungeon), and marvel at Mt. Pilatus in the background.

Lake Lucerne and Mt. Pilatus

Chapel Bridge and Water Tower

We ate on our own in groups at different outdoor restaurants within view of the Chapel Bridge along the Vierwaldsteattersee (Four Forested-Cantons Lake). A terrific rain storm blew in and we had to scramble into taxis to get back to the hotel. Time to get some much needed rest, I think, to be ready for our big adventure tomorrow.  

Arrival in Zurich and Lucerne

Our Delta flight was uneventful, after a long day of waiting in New York. Lots of laughs, catching up, hoping nothing was left behind.  

Arrived in Zurich, collected our baggage. Well, at least most of us did. Carolyn didn't, Madison didn't, Michael didn't.  Not the best way to start off the morning.  Zurich baggage officials have given a 99% chance that bags would arrive this afternoon.  

We met out guide, Barbara in the arrivals court and headed for our bus. Well, all but one headed for our bus.  She wasn't noticed missing for quite a while, perhaps an hour even. She'd been stopped by a policeman directing pedestrians outside the exit and lost sight of the group.  Finally after several messages and emails she was found, took a taxi to the old part of Zurich and was reunited with the group.  Bob Kerr has been designated as her minder from now on!  Linda received news also this morning that Linda and Lynn Morris have been delayed leaving Venice this morning.  Hopefully they will arrive with luggage late this afternoon! After a typical Swiss lunch, we made our way to the bus and began our hour trip to Lucerne.

The rest of the group did a quick walking tour on the outskirts of the old town.  Zurich is Switzerland's largest city and has been permanently settled for more than 2000 years.  The Old Town stretches on both sides of the Limmat River, and is lined by many of the old guild houses.  Lindenhof, the site of an old roman castle whose wall we saw from the bus, became the Imperial Palace.  

Old Town and the Limmat River

The Great Minster Church, a wonderfully beautiful church, was declared by Charlemagne to be Carolingian Imperial Church, the Fraumunster Abbey,  built in 853 for wealthy young women, is known for its magnificent stained glass windows by Giacometti and Chagall,  and Peterskirche (Peter's Church) which has the largest clock face in Europe.  Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to see them all;  that will wait for another trip! We all checked into our hotel centrally located in charming Lucerne.  Hopefully we will all have a good night's rest. 

Great Minister Church


Below:  Lunch in Zurich

And we are off to Switzerland!

Finishing packing our bags, excitement building!  Received a note from Theresa and Bob Boren "We are in Zurich and everything went great. Got our car at the airport today instead of waiting til tomorrow. The Hilton is a little ways from the airport so we decided it would be easier. The weather is hot but supposed to rain and thunderstorm the next couple of days. We'll have fun anyway! See you in Basil."  Glad to hear from them!  But sorry about the rain forecast!  Most of us are leaving in the morning early to spend the day in the airport.  Hope we all can sleep on the flight to Zurich, Switzerland.  

Tonight we can all dream about our Joyful Friends Group, together again, renewing old friendships and making new ones as well.  We'll be spending two days in Lucerne, Switzerland,  with adventures planned and sights to discover.  Off to bed early, we hope, and let's get started!!!  Hope that all of you reading this will enjoy it and will be able to experience some of our adventures through our pictures.

Getting Ready for Departure

Getting ready to pack! But keep getting emails from some Joyful Friends who
have left earlier for added adventures.  Brenda Griffin and her husband have posted pictures from the tops of Switzerland's finest mountain tops.From the picture it appears that they hiked up, but I've spent many hours reading at the Gornergrat Station on the Klein Matterhorn while my family skied and I'm almost positive that they didn't hike!  The views from there are amazing!!  They look happy and healthy.  Poor Linda and Lynn Morris!The skies over Nashville decided to open up with buckets of rain, high winds that brought trees down, and lightening that wouldn't stop, the afternoon of their flight.  Linda did tell me that late afternoon was the perfect time to fly out. Wrong this time!  Finally left about midnight and rather than go straight to Italy they went through Amsterdam. AND arrived without luggage.Just heard from that they have visited Florence and we're heading out into the surrounding countryside to stay at Villa le Barone.  Fortunately they did finally have their personal effects.  It always seems to happen to someone!  Also heard today that the  Nichols Had to cancel their trip.Brenda is in the hospital with a ruptured disc.  We all send best wishes to her for a speedy recovery.  However, if there's another Joyful Friend who would like to travel,with us, there is an extra suite on the Kara!  Going to pick up Euros.  More later.......

Rhine River Cruise!

Our Joyful Friends are embarking on another great adventure!  Cruising up the Rhine River from Basel to Amsterdam on one of Viking's newest longboats, The Kara.  This trip has been in the planning stages for so long, we thought the time would never arrive.  Now it's right around the corner.  Time is running out for planning on what clothes to carry, losing those last few pounds, making last minute plans for our pets, arranging for mail deliveries, contacting our phone servers about roaming charges, and credit card notification in case we just can't live without a cuckoo clock!  Some of our Joyful Friends have already left for a tour of Italy.  On June 2nd some others have left to tour Switzerland, June 8th some others will leave for Italy (maybe they'll run into the first group!), and still another group of Friends will leave early for a stopover in Iceland.  The remainder of the Joyful Friends will depart on either on June 13 going to Lucerne and June 14 going straight into Zurich. (That's the group that are scared of heights and chose to skip Mount Pilatus).  The group I'm  in (Cathy Marston) leaves the 13th of June and Mary Linda says I'm being collected at 4:15 AM!  So I have a week more before I'm off. More later.....