Paris is amazing and one of those places you absolutely have to see to appreciate. There is no other place like it in the world. To think that in this one city you can see the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Musee D' Orsay, the Opera House, the Latin Quarter, Sacre Coure, Champs-Elysee, Montmartre and Versailles - (and if you hung out with Jim and me - we did it all). We also learned how to recognize a pick pocket (an invaluable travel tool for everyone), how to navigate the confusing metro system and how to not offend the French more than necessary - always, and I mean ALWAYS begin with Bonjour. Some of us found ourselves marching (unwittingly, mind you) in a French protest movement that had to do with teachers making their own copies or some such craziness and we couldn't help ourselves when we looked at each other and began singing "Red, the color of angry men..." These are the little things that I absolutely love about travel. How does one not find the humor in strange and wonderful situations like these? Whatever Paris took out of some of our travelers, Switzerland gave back in abundance. It was a perfect respite from our busy city march through London and Paris and gave us some down time to just enjoy wandering around quiet, beautiful city streets where bathrooms and lawns are impeccable and in abundance. God bless the Swiss!
Our bus ride scenery of the French countryside - so beautiful!
Mike, Oak, Jordan and Caleb in front of the most touching monument I've ever seen.
Hailey, Brooke and Jordan
We find a lovely place for lunch with Raquel and Brooke.
Seniors - just graduated.
Ready for Lucerne!
Mario prepared us with a geography lesson which included - Sicily - of course!
Some of the beauty of Lucerne -
Peter, Brooke and Shelby pose for a picture.
The Aumells
We found a beautiful church and a choir was singing - absolutely heavenly. One of those things I won't ever forget.
Ingrid and Emily - so cute!
Tyler and David K. on the boat ride to the foot of Mt. Pilatus. AMAZING TRIP!!! (Lake Lucerne)
Amazing countryside - so perfect!
Katie and Leslie
After this unbelievably gorgeous boat ride we took the cog railway up to the top of Mt, Pilatus - once again, AMAZING!!!
At the top!
We took the cable car (or gondola) down - so beautiful!
Getting ready to ride
The view on the way down!
I expected to see Heidi any minute.
Transferring to a smaller cable car the rest of the way down.
Gene and Ellen rode down in our car.
We had 2 amazing days in Switzerland - so wonderful. Next stop Italy!!!
I'm not sure exactly why, but Switzerland stands out among the many grand sights and places that we visited. I guess I'm sort of an alpine guy. Thanks for introducing us to the glories of this beautiful place. Gene
ReplyDeleteYes, for me too. Something about Switzerland is truly wonderful - like going to Nana's house - very comforting and peaceful. I was surprised how it crept up on me and made me fall in love with it too. It's now on our must do by rail trip for Jim and me.
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