We took a day trip to Lucerne. On the way there we went thru Zurich, but really didn’t see much. The train station has 54 tracks and they were doing construction so we continued on to Lucerne. The city is right on the lake and is quite pretty. The pics are of the old wooden bridge and I took a pic of some of the artwork in the rafters. Er walked around the lake on a beautiful path. There were a lot of people out walking and there were benches lining the path and trees to provide shade along the route. There must have been a thousand swans in the lake. Everything was really quite pretty. The pics are scenery across the lake except the one of Marsha and her friend. A lot is closed in Europe on Sunday so it was a low key day. We bought our dinner at the train station because we thought everything would be closed in Interlacken when we got back. Also we are just trying to use the money we have and not get a few francs from an ATM because of fees. Tomorrow is a long train trip to Nice. I wrote the beginning of the blog on the train and did not expect a scenic railway trip of Switzerland. See last 5 pics they were taken from the train. The last 3 are waterfalls.

I forgot to mention there may have been sightings of Heidi and her grandfather. Also Clint Eastwood from the Eiger Sanction because that is where we took our hike – the lower portion of the Eiger. And of course Bond, James Bond on the Jungfrau.

A couple of these pics are us on the trail hiking.

Marsha and I were at the top of Europe today! Naturally we took a train. All we had to do was buy a ticket at the train station and get on the right trains and they took us to the top of the Jungfrau. I should mention Switzerland is VERY expensive. I was talking to a woman from Thailand, a couple from Liverpool England and a couple from the US and they all though it was expensive here. Back to the Jungfrau- it took us three trains and 2 hours to reach the top. First couple of photos are taken on the way up. Then you can see Marsha and Barbara at the top of Europe. It was stunningly gorgeous. There are several pics from the top. The one pic of Marsha and I was taken inside one of the many attractions at the top. We got to go outside in the snow! There was also several viewing towers where we could see all the mountains. I have tons of pics on my camera. There was 2 ways to get to the top. We took one up and the other down. On the way down we decided this was the perfect opportunity to hike in the Alps. So we did. We got off the train and hiked to the next town and caught the train the rest of the way. We saw waterfalls coming out of the mountain, saw cows and heard their cowbells from quite a distance. A lot of people hike in these mountains – both young and old. The temp at the top was 32 degrees, but we wore all of our warm clothes. At one point we were so cold we stopped and had some schnapps. However, at the bottom it was quite warm. We went and changed to cooler clothes and headed for dinner – fondue naturally. We had the fondue and a salad. Town is quiet tonight so we are back at the hotel. Oh, at dinner there was a guy playing an Alpine horn. See pic. Don ‘t know what tomorrow will bring, but today was spectacular.

I forgot to mention that when we got off the train in Switzerland that we had to get Swiss francs. Now we have British pounds, Euros and Swiss francs.
Also it was 40 degrees on the mountain today, so we got out our cold weather clothes for the trip to the top of the Jungfrau.
To answer some questions-
Yes we did get to see the inside of the cathedral in Strasbourg. It is amazing what was built in the 12th and 13th centuries without technology. The stonework on that church is very intricate and we can’t imagine how long it must have taken to do all that carving.
Schengen countries is complicated. The easiest way to find out what they are is go to the State Dept’s website. Croatia joined ( we think) the schengen countries a few days ago which may mean we will have to alter our plans. We went to the American Embassy for clarification and they were very helpful. We still have not decided what we will do to fix our problem. This is nothing too serious, we just have to be a little flexible.