I was without internet until I got to Montreuux, so I am a bit behind.
Our cruise finished. Much to my surprise I was one of six people selected to sit at the Captain's table at our "Farewell Gala". Management picked us, not sure what I did, but I was very excited to be invited.
It was kinda cool because after cocktail hour, we sat with the Captain, Ferdy (all of 30 years old!) the Hotel Manager Martina, and Cruise Manager, Peter. We sat for a little while, then they escorted us into the dining room infront of everyone to the Captain's table. My favorite waiter, Silviu (from Romania - he was training me for a job as a waiter but was convinced I was hopeless, it was a lot of fun) was Peter and my waiter. The waiter's brought each course out and when the restaurant manager nodded, all plates were set down at the same time. This went on through all five courses with an explanation of each dish and a special wine for each course. It was really kind of fun. Silviu whispered to me "thought you were going to get rid of me, huh?"
It was a fun evening and the perfect ending to a perfect cruise.
Much to our surprise, the boat had a bus available, so they added the train station as one of the free transfers, so I didn't have to get a cab after all. And so I was introduced to the Swiss train system.
First class on a train in Spain, France and England meant train attendants and food and special attention. First class on a train in Switzerland means maybe a little extra room between seats. That was it. Also, Swiss trains arrive and leave exactly on time, with 7 to 12 minutes between trains. When I first saw this, I panicked because during the next few days I had many train changes. Well, I learned how to change trains and I was on my next train with 5 to 7 minutes to spare. I learned the art of changing trains and learned to haul my suitcases by myself on and off the trains (OK, twice two nice young men took pity on me and helped, but generally I did it on my own).
I made it to Lucerne from Basel and discovered many of my fellow travelors were going there too. I stayed at the Des Balances Hotel which I think is my favorite hotel thus far even over the Marriott in Amsterdam. Des Balances had the most amazing bath tub and lots of hot water. After 13 days of an adequate but small shower on the ship, the tub was awesome. Funny how those simple things can become so important.
Lucerne is a lovely little town. I had wanted to take the cruise around the lake and much to my surprise, my Golden Rail Pass let me on the boat for free. It was a lovely cruise and the mountains surrounding the lake were beautiful. I ate lunch and dinner along the river and took lots of pictures of swans and had a nice walk around town, where I ran into three different couples from the cruise.
Below are pictures from Lucerne:
1 Sign that told us we were in Basel, Switzerland
2 and 3 were views from my hotel room
4 was the river side of my hotel
5 and 6 and the last picture - one of my favorite things to take pictures of - the swans. When a pair greets each other, they do this thing with their necks that creates a heart shape, it is really quite beautiful. Picture 6 took me about 10 pictures to capture the swan, he was bathing, he would roll onto his back, then flap slightly off the water, then smooth his feathers. It was really quite beautiful. The last picture was one just swimming close to me.
7 is the street side of my hotel - beautiful fresco
8 is that wonderful bathtub
9-14 are pictures from the Lucerne Lake cruise
15 is the city gate, which is also a trolley/bus center
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