The Lion, the Despot and the Praying Mantis

True to my word in the last blog, Christine and I struck out for Eastern Switzerland, deciding where to go after we left beautiful Gimmewald. We started off this leg of the journey by heading to the city of Lucerne (also a brand of milk found in Canada - what came first the milk or the city?)

Above - the famous wooden bridge in Lucerne, Switzerland

Lucerne is a picturesque town on a lake, with a very quaint old part of town, which is common of many European cities. We spent about half a day wandering through the streets, heading up to the defensive battlements of the old wall of the city and spent some time watching a strange animal that doesn't quite look like a llama, but we couldn't figure out what it was. (Right - strange animal in Lucerne).

Lucerne is most famous of a long wooden bridge that crosses the river, and the local tourist info says that it is the most photographed spot in Switzerland. While Christine and I agree that it was neat, it certainly doesn't seem like a sight to rival the majestic panorama's of the Alps themselves. Lucerne is also home to a beautiful carving of a lion that some famous writers and artists have been quotes as saying is the "saddest lion in the world". On our way to see the carving we were joking about how silly a statement that seemed, that is, until we arrived at the site. The carving is very large and done right into the cliff side, into a gorgeous white stone. The lion has this incredibly pained and sorrowful look on his face and a spear through his side. It was an absolutely spectacular carving that we found ourselves taking a while to watch. The carving certainly engendered some feelings of sadness in both of us, and when we left we were no longer joking about how a stone lion could look so sad. (Left - Sad lion sculpture)

After about half a day to Lucerne, taking a few fond memories with us and leaving very little behind. When I say very little, I do mean it. We ended up eating leftovers for lunch, didn't pay a single entry fee or purchase anything. The $5 for parking is about the only thing Lucerne managed to gain from us.

As a side note, driving to and through Switzerland has included an incredible number of very long tunnels, several of which were more than 6 kilometer long. Some of them are a bit newer and have nice wide lanes and are well lit, but a couple of them are older, very narrow and feel a little claustorphobic with trucks whipping around. It certainly adds a different element to driving when you spend half the time going into tunnels and over bridges and rarely seem to spend time out on open ground.

On leaving Lucerne, we headed further east and camped near the border with Austria, still at the base of some mountain ranges, but nothing like the Jungfrau range. The next day Christine agreed to humour my desire to pop into Lichtenstein for a few hours and see what we could. I had done a bit of reading about the country and it sounded fascinating. The country has approximately 30,000 citizens, so only a few more than my hometown of Salmon Arm. The country has an elected body, but the Prince still has significant powers in the running of the country. Several years ago, the prince demanded more sweeping powers to run the country and there was a bit of resistance. He threatened to abdicate and move to Austria, so the country held a referendum. The people overwhelming voted to give the prince his inflated control, showing their faith in the stability of the monarchy or there fear at having the prince leave the country (who knows). The prince then handed over the practical running of the country to his 40 year old son and it sounds like he just enjoys life. How often in todays world do you see a monarch demand MORE power and the people willingly and democratically hand it over. It may help that he invites the entire country over to his home for wine and fireworks on their national day of celebration, allowing him to build a personal relationship with each of his subjects. (Right - the palace where the prince of Liechtenstein lives)

Above - looking down over the capital of Leichtinstein

The country is a pretty place, but it's size is so small and it is pretty much indistinguishable from Switzerland. We spent some time wandering the capital city, with its gargantuum population of 7000 and hiked up to the palace to see the home of the "despot". From there, we could look down into the capital city and see a couple of vineyards right in the middle of the neighbourhoods. Who wouldn't expect a vineyard or two right in the capital. We visited a farmers market and found the first reasonably priced meal since we entered Switzerland a week earlier. One other point of interest is that apparently Lichtenstein is the largest exporter of dentures in the world. An economic table showed us that about 1.6% of the countries industry is farmers. We figure when you take seniors and children out of the mix, there are less than 300 farmers, so they must form a nice tight little community.

After leaving Lichtenstein we went to the southern most point of Switzerland, to a town called Lugano. This is the resort area of the country with the warmest weather and lakes around the area. We decided to slow our pace down a bit, and spent an entire day taking sightseeing boats around Lake Lugano and stopping to see some of the small cities on the lake. A few of the towns have no roads leading to them and so people can only take boats in and out of their town. On the very southern edge, a couple of the towns are inside the Italian border. We spent a few hours wandering through a lovely place called Marcote. It is a town that is a thin strip along the water that has a very comfortable feel. While we were walking through the town I spotted a Praying Mantis on the a stone step (the laser eye surgery really paid off) and Christine and I spent a bit of time checking out this fascinating creature. They look alien and creepy, quite large and walk differently from other insects we have ever observed. (Left - the beautiful village of Marcote. Right - the Praying Mantis Hovan spotted)

During our trip around the lake there were some amazing houses with some beautiful landscaping. For those of you who watched the Bond movie Casino Royale, it had the same sense as the area where he was recuperating after the torture scene or the castle at the end where he captured the bad guy. (Left - Beautiful house around Lac Lugano)

We also checked into our very first 5 star campground in Lugano, and we might be a bit honest in saying that we went to Lugano to find this campground, wanting to see what a 5 star campground was like. It was nice, with lots of amenities, but in the end the camp spot was as open and cramped as all the rest. We have stayed in 3 different campsites around Swittzerland and one thing we noticed is that the Swiss do not have tents. In warmer climates there has always been a mix of tents, trailers and motor-homes, but in Switzerland it is all trailers and motor-homes. We felt a bit like always sitting at the kids table, having a small little tent dwarfed by all these big trailers with their amenities and satellite dishes and equipment. (Right - 5 star camping in Switzerland)

Leaving Switzerland we headed south to Venice, and that blog will be coming very shortly. One last note about Switzerland, similar to our close friend Scott, it has been one of our favourite countries to visit. I think that it is the combination of the mountains and chocolate - probably more the mountains for Christine and the chocolate for Scott and myself, but the country has a beauty about it that is very different from the others we have visited.