We were across the West German border by 10am and it was a good road through some pretty flat Swiss countryside, so with the van now performing a little better again, we reached Zurich by midday. By then, it was a real scorcher so after lunch, we spent most of the afternoon swimming and sunning on the north side of the lake with the swans. After a makeshift dinner, we returned to town for a stroll around the main part of the old section, including the three churches, Grossmunster (Large Cathedral), Fraumunster (Church of our Lady) and St Peters. We took in a couple of beers at one of the taverns then walked along the River Limmat back to the van. Finally, we drove out of town for about 30 minutes and stopped for the night in a car park just off the road.
We set off next day around 10am on another hot day and arrived in Luzern about an hour later. We checked straight into Camping Lido on the northern side of the lake. We shot down to the lake and sunbathed and swam until a late lunch around 3pm. We lazed around after that until we
made it into town by 5pm. There was a great atmosphere just wandering around the city area, with the young people looking very ‘hip. The setting of Lucerne around the lake and river adds another dimension to it, not dissimilar to Zurich. We had a late beer in a tavern on the river before returning to camp for a salad dinner. At 8pm, the four of us went to Le Chalet, a room at the Casino, for an interesting night of Swiss folklore (4SFr), which included yodelling, flag throwing, alpine horns, whips and folk dancing. We checked out the scene in the casino (as spectators only!) before a walk back to the campsite and into the cot by midnight.
The following day, a Saturday, was yet another cloudless day. We chatted to a Transit driver re Northern Africa trips before we all went into town late morning. I split from the other three and made it across to Kunsthaus to pick up a ticket for the evenings concert of the Internationale Musikfestwochen (10SFr). I wandered around the shops before taking another walk over the two enclosed bridges Kapellbrucke and Spenerbrucke (Chapel and Mill Bridges respectively) then up to
the old city walls. I climbed up the Schirmer Tower for a great view of the lake and city, and was fortunate to meet up with, and start chatting to, Joan, a fabulous gal from downtown Burbank in LA, over here as part of a masters in journalism. The two of us teamed up, taking in the Glacier Garden Museum, with the Lion Monument and Alpineum etc before going down and having a couple of beers next to the river. We had constant entertainment from a group of very pissed and amusing Germans, singing local drinking songs and generally making arses of themselves. I thought this was only the domain of touring Aussies! We then wandered up for a yoghurt before we split, with a planned for London.
Then it was a boat ride back to the Lido, arriving late afternoon. The lake was magnificent, with good visibility of the mountains in the background. It clouded over soon after and actually started to rain as we checked out of the campsite around 6pm. It was a most entertaining evening at the Symphony Concert – a selection of Wagner/Schonberg/Dvorak by the Swiss Festival Orchestra. A violin solo by
the famed Yehudi Menuhin became a bit of a yawn, but a really lively Dvorak after that brought the audience back to life. The concert finished around 10.30pm, when I joined up with the other three for an ale at the Pickwick Club (genuine English pub!) before heading out to the parking lot next door to the campsite at midnight.
We arose around 9am next morning due to a visit from the constabulary who advised us that ‘camping ist verboten, so it was into the campsite for a washup and breakfast. We left Lucerne around 11am with an overcast sky and very little visibility of the mountains. The drive was along good roads, though windy and considerably uphill, much to the distress of the van.
