65 Europe Part V

Yeah, I decided to take Friday off, and my brother and I are going out for the day to Cabela's (there's a new one near us).

This has been a good week for me, feeling better, actually sleeping well and relaxing better. Believe me, sleeping well at night is a BIG thing!

On to a continuation of our European Vacation:

After spending the night in Heidelberg, Germany, we boarded the bus to head through the southern, "Black Forest" area of Germany. It truly is a beautiful part of the country, full of water, trees and winding roads. The houses are like farm houses, and it's beginning to look a bit different from the North of Germany.
(Click on any picture to 'embiggen')

 

We stopped in a tiny little town, to shop for Cuckoo Clocks, and other incredible wooden pieces made specifically in Southern Germany.
The place was beautiful, and the moving wooden pieces at top left of that picture dance and chase each other all the while music is playing. I believe my wife and I bought some 'kirsch wine' at this place.

Turning around completely from where I was standing, was the building at right. Such beauty was to be found all over the Black Forest. Every house or building we saw, seemed to be bright, with lots of flowers around.

At this point, we had a bit of a drive south, heading into Switzerland. Everyone on the bus talked about the deals they had gotten and of course, we heard a few cuckoo clocks being tested in the back. *chuckling*

As soon as we rounded one corner, it seems like everyone in the bus saw them at once. The Swiss Alps. Pictures do NOT do them justice. They're just breathtaking. The lake below, is Lake Lucerne, and we would be staying right against the lake, in the City of Lucerne. Every corner we rounded, seemed to give us a new view of these snow-peaked wonders. The lake, full of sailboats in the mid-afternoon sun. It was perfect.

As we wound our way down towards town, we got a better view of the Alps, and I couldn't help but think of the next day, we were going to take a trip up one of these incredible mountains on a cog-wheeled train. I was beginning to wish I had a much better camera, because there's no way I could capture the beauty of what I saw.

Once we reached the bottom, we checked into our hotel. We were the luckiest couple as we got a room in the top of the hotel, looking out at the Alps.

At left, you see the view out of our hotel!

One thing of note, the tallest peak you see just to the left of center, is Mt. Rigi, which we will climb the next day.

And of course, the next 2 pictures are looking straight out, and then in the opposite direction from our room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you imagine this view! We were in heaven. It was hard to tear us away from the window! *LOL*

(PS, in the last picture at right, the tallest mountain peak there is Mt. Pilatus. We were supposed to go up there on a train originally, but it snowed heavily the night before up there, so we went to Mt. Rigi instead)

Well, I've used a lot of pictures here, so I'll continue on this journey next week. Enjoy, and feel free to ask any questions in the comments.

Enjoy your weekend!