Herbert is our bus driver and is well rested after his overnight stay at the hotel in Veduggio, where he arrived in bold style, walked in, thumped the bar and demanded, "Beer". Fortunato immediately pulled a huge glass (about 4 times the size that Harold and Dave had been used to!).
All managed to say their goodbyes, the coach packed, away we went again. A short pit stop on the way.... and then off again through the rain to Luzern.
Entertainment was bountiful. Justin, Alex and Emma had a joke to share and Peter and Lauren held an in-depth quiz on Italy......with some very interesting results:
unemployment in Italy is 130%
a Fiat car will cost 3 daughters
only one tourist visits Italy per annum
Fatso the wombat.
Anyway, congrats to David and Joanne who scored in the upper 120’s. Thanks Pete and Lauren.
The sights en-route were breathtaking. Bounteous waterfalls cascading down the sides of the mountains, beautiful picturesque little towns huddled on mountainsides and along lake edges. Vineyards give way to Swiss pastures. Traffic in our direction was moving much more freely than that going towards Italy.
Arrived in Lucerne mid arvo. The lift was not working at first, so many had to conquer stairs - to the fifth floor! 100 stairs in all! Hoorah!! The lift is now working - 240kg max. i.e. 3 Heathers or 2 Bevs. After organising our luggage, we set out for the town. The scenery is amazing. Lucerne is everything we have read about and more. Tucker was the order of the day so we set about finding something suitable. Peter was with us. We purchased grapes, cherries, bread rolls, bananas, pasta salad, rice salad, milk, cornflakes, yoghurt drink, chocolate, danish apple turnover and sat by the lake to enjoy a picnic tea. The snow on the distant mountains, the bells of the church, the sound of the ferries, the orchestra playing were all wonderful to hear while we fought the pigeons off to eat our dinner.
Following eating, we went over to feed the white swans which were abundant. Plenty of shots were taken. It was very exciting to be feeding them at such close range, but "ouch". They peck hard (at least, some did).
On the way back to the City Hotel, we stopped to cheer the fisherman in a boat under the bridge. He caught 5 little fish in the fast flowing, crystal water.
A short stop to do over a few shops that were still open and then up the lift to our pigeon loft. Heather and I are now another 60 steps closer to God!
P.S. We had only 40 steps in Veduggio!
