Where is Weggis?
Dinner was at the Riva - a short walk down the road - I think you can see our hotel from here - it's just to the left of the setting sun...
SO without reservations you get sat in the steaming sun ... the good news is that the sun went down fairly quickly and we only roasted for something like 10 minutes. Not too shabby.
We opted for the Chef's surprise and four course meal.
What the heck, I'm starting to get a bit more adventurous with food.
FINALLY sun is behind a cloud and temperatures dropped dramatically!
First course was coconut curry soup - I wasn't too sure about this as I'm not a fan of coconut water things but honestly this was pretty dang good!
Sky is getting prettier and prettier!
Second course is Tuna TarTar - yep, that is raw tuna... and avocado.
It's really not that bad and honestly I think they did a ceviche type set up as there was quite a lemon flavor to it. Quite tasty!
Butch enjoyed it as well
Our hotel is just about above the boyee you can see in the water...
Third course - roast beef.... soooo tender!!!
There were also some pearl potatoes that were brought out just after I took the picture.
Goslings swimming by!
Desert was mango sorbet with crumbles under it - then upper left is a chocolate sauce with mangos in it (at least I think that was what was in there) and then a chocolate moose as well...
OMG we waddled back to the hotel
Day 2 - Saturday - up early to go to our appointment...
Where were we going? To assemble our own knives
Did ANYONE take pictures? Nope. not a one. But I snagged these from the internet.
After our appointment we drove as far as we could to the south east of the lake - we got turned around at a detour - apparently the lower road had a rock slide that had shut down that part of the road - so we got out and went to the overlook. Pretty place!!
Looking across the lake to the other side.
So - as it was still early we decided to go ahead with our boat tour of the lake. We bought tickets on the ferry to take us from Weggis (we had parking there) to Fluelen then back to Lucerne, then back to Weggis. Sound like a good plan? Well, we found out it was a LONG plan!!! It took us all day - literally all day!!! We got on the boat at 11 - got to Fluellen at roughly 1pm then to Lucerne at 5pm. Lordie - LONG day on a boat, but honestly the different ends of the lake are - well different. The end where Fluelen is was steep and windy and Lucerne was flat and lazy type of landscape. Pretty cool to see the differences... so here are some photos of the trip around the lake...
we're almost exactly opposite of Weggis here ... this is looking back at Weggis...
Right there... the tall structure is the clock tower of Weggis I'm sure...
Lots of pretty churches and modern buildings side by side
Our lunch on the boat. I voted snack as we were going to have a big dinner in Lucerne
there are goats and sheep up there with bells on.. .it was so nice to hear the bells...
I'm pretty sure at the tops of those mountains I saw quite a few places that could have been Hedi's home... seriously steep terrain and cool old summer homes up there.
And with that we're in Lucerne, walking up to the Lion Monument..
passing by Chapel Bridge and the water tower to the left - so Butch insisted we stop for a "drive by" photo of it.
I found a cow on the walk! LOL
And a fish water fountain! Pretty!
Butch doesn't look that impressed with this portion of our tour.
wiss mercenary soldiers had a long tradition of serving foreign governments. Long renowned for their valor, they were in particularly high demand in France and Spain throughout the Early Modern period of European history. The incident at Tuileries Palace took place on 10 August 1792, when a mob of working-class Parisians stormed into the palace, and overwhelmed and massacred the Swiss Guard as the royal family fled through the gardens. More than six hundred Swiss Guards defending the Tuileries perished during the fighting. Around two hundred more died in prison of their wounds or were killed during the September Massacres that followed.
One of the Swiss guards, second lieutenant Carl Pfyffer von Altishofen, happened to be on home leave in Lucerne when the dramatic events at the Tuileries took place. Pfyffer remained in service until 1801, when his regiment was disbanded, and he returned to Lucerne. Back home, Pfyffer began preparing plans for a monument that would honor and memorialize his comrades who had fallen in Paris.
Pfyffer had to keep his plans a secret because Switzerland was under French rule at that time, and a monument dedicated to the defenders of the monarchy was a political impossibility. After the times of revolution were over and the Swiss regained their independence in 1815, Pfyffer put his plans into action.
An early sketch of the lion by sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. Up to this point, Thorvaldsen had not seen a living lion himself. He instead relied on illustrations and other representations. Photo credit: The Thorvaldsens Museum Archives
Pfyffer wanted to commission the famous classicist Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen to design the monument. He put out a public appeal for funds and many contributed, but not everybody. The liberals, in particular, disapproved of the monument. Eventually, Pfyffer was left with not enough to hire Bertel Thorvaldsen. The lack of funds didn’t discourage Pfyffer, who somehow managed to persuade Thorvaldsen for the job.
According to The Thorvaldsens Museum Archives, Pfyffer had deliberately hidden the fact from Thorvaldsen that he didn’t have enough money to pay the artist until he had secured delivery of the model of the sculpture. Relations between the two also fell out during the later stages of the sculpture’s contract when Thorvaldsens failed to deliver the work in a timely manner. Pfyffer became frustrated with the delays which he attributed to “Thorvaldsen’s infuriating sluggishness and indifference toward the people waiting for his work”, when Thorvaldsen was irritated at being commandeered and rushed.
When Thorvaldsen learned he wasn’t going to be paid in full, the indignant artist decided to get even and added some last minute changes to his sculpture. Thorvaldsen modeled a dying lion impaled by a spear, symbolizing the fallen Swiss guards. One of the lion’s paw covered a shield bearing the fleur-de-lis of the French monarchy. Beside him is another shield bearing the coat of arms of Switzerland.
Thorvaldsens didn’t alter the sculpture itself, out of respect of the fallen soldiers. Instead, he changed the shape of the alcove where the lion lay to resemble the outline of a pig. Look at the monument again. Do you see it now?
The Swiss sculptor Pankraz Eggenschwyler was assigned the actual task of carving the lion monument on the cliff face, following Thorvaldsen’s model. While working one day, Eggenschwyler fell from the scaffolding and died. A replacement mason from German named Lucas Ahorn was brought in to complete the task, which he did in 1821.
Apparently, nobody noticed the pig until after the sculpture was done. To this day, one can clearly see the shape of the pig—a subtle but clear message from Thorvaldsens expressing his disdain of the events of the commission’s history.
So there you go... I didn't know about the pig portion of this story until this year and I had been to this monument in 1991 as well... so that was something new I learned this year.
Next up in the "Blast from the past" was hotel Pickwick and Pub. Suz and I stayed there when we traveled here... one of these days I'll remember to ask her just why we went here as this was her portion of the planning of our trip. I thought it sounded good and was close to Neuschwanstein so was more than game to go!
and of course the obligatory selfie in from the Chapel bridge and the Water Tower.
And becasue we walked down to see the water control bridge as they talked about wooden "leaves" - we have another shot looking back towards the lake and the bridge.
We didn't walk to the downhill side of this... not sure why, however it was blocked about this much while we were there...This shows how they control the water outflow from the lake, therefore the water level as best they can. It's a pretty ingenious system that has been in place for a while. There's also a lock to the left of the screen that you can't see. Butch and I were standing on the walking bridge you can see there...
so we tried to eat dinner at Pickwicks but the place was reserved and there was no seating outside so we backtracked to the Brauhaus to grab something to eat. Very similar to German fare.
Nuremberg sausages with kraute - after my last eppisode with this, it was NOT on my radar!
I chose the brat with caramelized onions and potatoes. Best. Decision. Ever.
Those potatoes were like a hashbrown type of a crisp to them. VERY good.
And with that we were off and walking back, as we were pressed for time, we only had two hours on the ground as we had to be back to the dock at 7:12 to catch our return boat.
see the rainbow in the distance showing to the top of the hill?
So pretty
You can see the snow capped mountains in the distance to the south as well.
Sunday....
clouds rolling in....
So, the storms are rolling in and really, we live close enough we can justify a return trip. On that trip we'll see about taking the gondola to the top of Mount Pilatus and seeing what we can see from there!
So until then, let me tell you HOW jacked up the GPS is when you tell it to avoid tolls. we went through some serious mountain neighborhoods AND some serious cow trails to get there and then home again. I wasn't nearly as thrilled as Butch was about the "adventure" of tiny roads.
Something about banjos (or as Butch said, Accordions here)
Enjoy the small town feel of the trip home!
very strange art in the circles on the way home for sure!!
Why, yes, that IS a Cat Riding a dog, riding a goat riding a donkey, leaning on a chair.
Yes, 12' dandelion blooms....
There is some sort of water wheel/lock type of system below that building to the left... very interesting!
Check the ivy covered house to to the left of the roof of the nearest house.. talk about blending!
And with that we're back in Germany!
There were grape vines dusted, and there were grape vines with mesh around them.
There were also whole orchards of apples encased in bird netting
HUGE up to about 2.5 - 5 acres of netted trees... impressive to say the least!
And this... just not sure what on earth to say about this.... Art really is subjective...
COWS..
TINY roads...
BIG pretty valleys....
and MORE cows... up close and personal!
MOOOO!!!!
Definitely glad I wasn't driving on the way home... I was sort of "over" it all by then anyway!
So, we now have a sticker in the car that we can go into Switzerland again for the year... car tag all paid up, so no reason not to pop down if there is something we want to see....and it's close - super close! Now to just pay the dang tolls and it would be MUCH closer - ha!!
