Lucerne and Gersau

Well I just read my last post and realized that I am super boring. I will try to make this post more interesting but I apologize in advance if you fall asleep in the middle of one of my stories. Or, there is the option of using our blog like a picture-book; Just check out the pictures and skip all of my boring stories ;).

It is always interesting to attend church in another country. It feels good to be around people that share your beliefs all the way on the other side of the world. It was nice on Sunday to take a break from vacationing (does that even make sense?) and attend sacrament meeting in Interlaken and meet some of the local church members.

Gersau, Switzerland was our next destination and we had to go through Lucerne to get there. The drive to Lucerne was great. The lakes here are a different shade of blue-ish green than any other lake I have ever seen and the mountains and grass all seem to be a deeper and richer green too. Around every corner was a new picturesque vista.

Natali and I were really excited to see Lucerne. We had about half a day to walk around and enjoy the different sites around the city. I was especially looking forward to seeing the KappelBrucke Bridge, also known as the Flower Bridge. It is the oldest wooden bridge in Europe. There is a lot of history to the bridge but I won't go into that because I am trying to make my posts less boring.

 We walked around Old Towne Lucerne for a while (See random photos around town below) and found a great little spot to eat lunch at Stadtkeller. We saw that there was a Switzerland Folklore show at 12:15 and we headed inside to try to see if we could catch the end of it. We got quite the show with some music, dancing, cows running around the room (okay people dressed as cows), and yodeling (of course). It was really fun and the food was great too. I had to try the Bratwurst and Rosti while in Switzerland.

And... Here's my lunch :-):

There was one thing that Natali said that we had to see no matter what and that was the Lion Monument. It is a large lion carved out of the mountain in memory of the fallen soldiers who died during the French Revolution. It really felt like much more than that. The lion is so sad and the carving done so well that you can actually feel the sadness. Mark Twain said that "the Lion of Lucerne is the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world." He also explained the lion and does a much better job than I could do.

"The Lion lies in his lair in the perpendicular face of a low cliff − for he is carved from the living rock of the cliff. His size is colossal, his attitude is noble. His head is bowed, the broken spear is sticking in his shoulder, his protecting paw rests upon the lilies of France. Vines hang down the cliff and wave in the wind, and a clear stream trickles from above and empties into a pond at the base, and in the smooth surface of the pond the lion is mirrored, among the water-lilies. . . Around about are green trees and grass. The place is a sheltered, reposeful woodland nook, remote from noise and stir and confusion − and all this is fitting, for lions do die in such places, and not on granite pedestals in public squares fenced with fancy iron railings. The Lion of Lucerne would be impressive anywhere, but nowhere so impressive as where he is." − Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad, 1880.

 Natali and I just sat around the monument for at least 30 minutes. It was so peaceful and quiet (well besides all the tourists). We felt like it would have been irreverent to take a picture with us smiling in front of the sculpture. The pictures also don't do justice to the size and detail of the monument. It really was amazing to see and is a must-see if you are ever in Lucerne.
 
We drove to Gersau in order to find our place to stay that night. Gersau is about 35 minutes outside of Lucerne, right on the shore of Lake Lucerne. I actually didn't have an actual address. All I had was a street name, directions to the house (translated from German), and the name of the people we were staying with. We had a great drive along the lake shore and arrived in Gersau with no problems. We found the street with no problems as well. The problem was that the street was up on the side of the hill and was more of a paved walking path than it was a road. We headed up the side of the mountain and it kept going up and up and up. Natali was scared that we were not going to be able to find a place to turn around. The views from the road were amazing though...

 We finally found the house by asking some of the neighbors and luckily I am good at charades because they didn't speak any English. We had arrived a little bit early and nobody was home so we went down to the lake and walked around.

 The house we stayed in was up on the hill and had a great view of the town and the lake. 
Our room was clean and spacious and the family we stayed with was super nice. We had heard that they cook delicious meals so we asked beforehand if we could have Raclette the night we arrived. If you have never had Raclette in Europe (especially in France or Switzerland) you are missing out. It is a cheese that you melt and put over potatoes. It was excellent and the best part was that it was our cheapest meal in Switzerland.

The family we stayed with was great. Their daughter was visiting from Spain with her 1-year old daughter. We had a great conversation at dinner and were very sad that we were only there for 1 night. 

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