currahee | Switzerland 2010 - Day 8 (Lucerne to Zurich) (Reply)

Today was the final day of our holiday - boo! It's been a great time, but very tiring indeed. Well worth it, though! So anyway, today...

This morning we had a very poor breakfast - it's meant to be continental breakfasts but there weren't even any croissants or pastries. How bad is that?

After breakfast we went down to the quayside and got onto a boat for a trip around Lake Lucerne. We started off sitting on the upper deck but the sun wasn't quite shining through the hazy clouds and after a while it was too cold to sit up there and we went into the covered bit, where it was much more comfortable. The trip was really good - the lake is beautiful and although we couldn't see the scenery in the distance, what we could see was lovely. The guy "driving" the boat and doing the commentary was a bit strange though. He was very deadpan and sounded as though he'd only just woken up!

When we'd finished on the boat we headed off to the Lion Monument, which was sculpted as a memorial to the Swiss guards who died during the French Revolution. I'd never heard of it before and hadn't been expecting anything amazing, but it's an absolutely stunning piece of sculpture and was well worth the visit.

We were then dropped in the centre of Lucerne and we went and had a coffee and a slice of cake before going into a few shops, buying a few souvenirs and then having a look around the posh shop called Bucherer which sold some amazing (and very pricey jewellery) before we got back on the bus for the short drive to Kriens, where we got into a cable car to the top of the mountain. The visibility was still pretty poor, and at the top of Mount Pilatus we could see nothing but cloud, sadly. It made us realise just how lucky we'd been the other day! It was fun to go up in the cable car though, and we did have a very nice plate of chips and a bottle of beer. And then... disaster! It was time to go back down in the cable car and so I was hurrying a bit, and didn't spot a pile of rubber matting which had been left on the floor. I hurtled into it and it tripped me, sending me flying up into the air where I flew quite gracefully for a second or so before landing in a bit of a heap on the floor. I had a cracking bruise on the fleshy part of my left thumb and another on my left knee, and I also really jarred my back. But it could have been worse - nothing's broken and I didn't knock myself out or anything hideous. It's just annoying to be such a clumsy mare!

After we got back down the mountain we were back onto the bus for the final time, to make the trip back to Zurich, where we were staying in the same hotel as last Saturday. The traffic getting into Zurich was a pain, but that was actually the only time we'd got stuck in traffic the whole week so we were very lucky really.

We decided again to eat in the hotel rather than going out, and I had a really nice steak and then some ice cream, and then we had a drink in the bar with Glenys and George before heading off for an early(ish) night, because we're leaving early doors tomorrow.

And that was our holiday! As I said, it was very tiring but it was worth all the rushing around because we really did manage to fit a lot in and we saw some stunning sights. And I would definitely recommend the Cosmos Tourama people. Everything was incredibly well organised, Flo was an awesome Tour Director and knew just about everything there was to know about all the places we visited, and Michele was a brilliant driver. I wouldn't hesitate to travel with them again.

Lucerne Cathedral