A River Cruise in Europe: November 6, 2018 Basel to Lucerne, Switzerland

As promised, Viking Herja docked this morning at 6:00 a.m. At 8:30, we departed the Herja and the Rhein river for a 90 minute coach ride to Lucerne. We rode through the city of Basel which strides both sides of the Rhein. We were able to see some of the old section as well as the new section of the city. Once outside Basel into the country, we passed industrial areas and then a lot of farmland. There was a dense fog over the whole valley but at one point, we could see the Alps in the distance as they climb over 6,000 feet. We arrived in Lucerne and stopped at the Lion in the Rock statue. This is a sculpture carved into the side of the mountain commemorating the Swiss Guards who lost their lives defending Lucerne. After a short ride, we arrived at the Hotel Schweizerhof that sits on Lake Lucerne. We started on a tour with our Swiss guide, Eva walking throughout the town across the famous wooden covered bridges. Fortunately , the dense fog lifted and we enjoyed sunshine as we continued our walk around the city. At Eva's recommendation, we enjoyed lunch at the Wirtshause Taube restaurant. Delicious Swiss lunch and Lucerne white whine. Wonderbar!!! Since Switzerland is not part of the EU, the currency is the Swiss Franc instead of the Euro. They do take credit cards and I was able to exchange US dollars for Francs. The language is primarily German but everyone speaks fluent English. Lucerne is also getting decorated for Christmas and we hope to see some good lighting before we leave. We have a full day of touring tomorrow and then we travel to Zurich for our flight home on Thursday.