Innsbruck - Lake Lucerne, Switzerland

This morning we strolled around Innsbruck's Old Town which is a small area of sturdy medieval houses, many painted in lively pastel colours and supported by sloping buttresses. As you stroll along the main street of the Old Town Innsbruck, you'll feel as if you had taken a trip back in time to an era of knights and medieval merchants. There was a Folk Art Museum, the Imperial Palace, and the Imperial Chapel, all of which give great insight into Innsbruck's past.

Busy street cafes afford great views of Innsbruck's landmark, the Golden Roof, and its 2,738 gold-plated copper tiles. Constructed for Emperor Maximilian I. in the early 15th century, it served as a royal box where he could sit in luxury and enjoy tournaments in the square below. The reliefs on the balcony show coats of arms, symbols, and other figures in his life.

Next stop was Swarovski crystals which is located in one of the oldest and most beautiful buildings in Innsbruck's old town, near the Golden Roof. The onto the Christmas Shop which was beautiful with hand painted ornaments. After lunch we drove through the valleys and villages of the mountainous Tyrol to the Albert tunnel descending into Switzerland. We had a brief stop in Vaduz, Liechtenstein's capital. Liechtensteins is a doubly landlocked alpine country in central Europe bordered by Austria and Switzerland. We could see Vaduz Castle on top of a hill and it was a quaint little town. Then we headed for Lake Lucerne, the scenery along the way was breathtaking, the Swiss Alps were spectacular.

Our first stop in Lucerne was to visit the Lion Monument which was built to commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris, France. Mark Twain praised the sculpture of a mortally-wounded lion as "the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world." I literally had tears rolling down my cheeks, this is the most moving sculpture I have ever seen. We checked into our hotel and then walked to the beautiful Lake and admired the bridges. Lucerne is divided by the river Reuss into an Old Town and a New Town. The two districts are connected by what is among other things the world's oldest covered wooden bridge, the Chapel Bridge, which dates back to the year 1332. The bridge was rebuilt true to the original after the fire of 1993 and leads to the actual landmark of Lucerne, the octagonal Water Tower. Like the over 500-year-old Musegg Wall with its turrets, the bridge and water tower were part of the city fortifications. Tonight we had dinner at a Swiss restuarant and were entertained with Swiss folklore. There was yodelling, lots of horn blowing, traditional dances, singing and an accordian solo. It was a great fun night.

Lucerne 16th July

We took a cruise on the fjord like lake in the morning and could see the Alps in the distance. The sky was clear and it was a beautiful morning. Then we took a bus to Mount Titlis and rode up the world's first revolving a cable car up to the summit at 10,000- feet. The clouds were starting to come in and we feared we may not get the panoramic views we hoped for. But as we exited the cable car, the clouds parted and we had the most magnificent views of glaciers and icefalls from the summit. We visited a glacier cave on the summit and then went out into the snow for some fun. Diane, Bernie and I went on the Ice Flyer to toboggan down a glacier. Wow it was amazing. We went down on rubber tubes, ski bobs and toboggans. It was so much fun, couldn't believe no one else wanted to come. Back to Lucerne we decided to try and find the nine towers on the Mussegg Wall. The Musegg Wall, built in 1386, is Lucerne's city wall and it is almost perfectly preserved. There are three towers that are part of the rampart and they are also open to the public. These three towers are called Schirmerturm, Wachturm and Zytturm. The latter is a clock tower and exceptionally it is allowed to chime 1 minute before all other clocks. On the top of these three towers there are excellent views over the Lucerne's rooftops to the lake and up to the mountains of the region. We found them all which was amazing, then we walked back to the centre of town to the fountain on the edge of the Lake.