29 June ’05, Wednesday. Lake Luzern
The trees are blooming, the hay has been cut and they are “sweeping” it so that it dries, and what ever else there is that could be blowing around….I’m getting so plugged up, wheezing, and coughing, I haven’t had a good nights sleep in a month. I’m not normally a pill taker, but now, I am seeking them out, and I’ve got to get this under control. The hot weather stayed with us all day yesterday and even moved into this afternoon. Yesterday, we stayed close to the pool and “Bumble Bee”, with the exception for a short trip into town for groceries and the internet. Other than that, we were at poolside. This morning we left Lindau. Lindau is an island, sitting in Lake Constance, and within about 4km from the Austrian border, and about 6 miles from the border with Switzerland. As we pulled into Austria, we noticed the long lines at a gas station, and then we noticed the prices…they were .20 euro per liter less than that in Germany (Landau). Everyone, filling up with gas, was from Germany. While we filled our tank, I went in and purchased our permit to travel on the Swiss Motorways. I think this is the 4th or 5th country that we had to purchase these permits. Today’s Swiss permit cost us $27 Euro for a year. We had heard it would cost us about $40, so we were excited to get such a “break”. Now that reminds me, every time we as travelers, get instructions, hear about the cost of items, km or miles to be traveled, it changes with reality. The cost of this permit is only one example, and another real quick is km…the distance advertised is never the distance realized. I think the standard was thrown out a long time ago. Our drive this morning took us around the southern side of Lake Constance, on our way to Zurich and then onto Luzern. Lake Constance is a large, long lake that is a beautiful blue/green in color. It reminds us of the waters of the Mediterranean. It is fed from the surrounding mountains, but it is far enough away to let it warm up enough to be comfortable and allow the water color, to clear from the opaque colors of the glaciers. As we wound our way through the lower foothills of the Alps, we even found cooler weather…it felt good for a change. Later, as we got closer to Luzern, the weather warmed up again to about 85 to 90, and the humidity was just about the same. Later in the afternoon, we got a heavy, but short rainfall. About 5, we decided to take a long walk into Luzern, along the boardwalk. This is one of the prettiest of the European cities I have seen. It also seems to have a lot to see as well, so the next few days will give us plenty of exercise. As we left the town area and finished our shopping, we noticed that the clouds were building, turning dark, and looking very threatening. Sure enough, we hadn’t made it 1/3 of the way back and all hell broke loose…we got drenched. As we walked into the campgrounds, the little outdoor restaurant/bar was open. I just had to have a beer, and there were a couple of guys standing at a tall table, so I joined them for a couple. Tomorrow will bring lots of new sites, but we can’t do too much prior to the Chouinard family getting here.
The trees are blooming, the hay has been cut and they are “sweeping” it so that it dries, and what ever else there is that could be blowing around….I’m getting so plugged up, wheezing, and coughing, I haven’t had a good nights sleep in a month. I’m not normally a pill taker, but now, I am seeking them out, and I’ve got to get this under control. The hot weather stayed with us all day yesterday and even moved into this afternoon. Yesterday, we stayed close to the pool and “Bumble Bee”, with the exception for a short trip into town for groceries and the internet. Other than that, we were at poolside. This morning we left Lindau. Lindau is an island, sitting in Lake Constance, and within about 4km from the Austrian border, and about 6 miles from the border with Switzerland. As we pulled into Austria, we noticed the long lines at a gas station, and then we noticed the prices…they were .20 euro per liter less than that in Germany (Landau). Everyone, filling up with gas, was from Germany. While we filled our tank, I went in and purchased our permit to travel on the Swiss Motorways. I think this is the 4th or 5th country that we had to purchase these permits. Today’s Swiss permit cost us $27 Euro for a year. We had heard it would cost us about $40, so we were excited to get such a “break”. Now that reminds me, every time we as travelers, get instructions, hear about the cost of items, km or miles to be traveled, it changes with reality. The cost of this permit is only one example, and another real quick is km…the distance advertised is never the distance realized. I think the standard was thrown out a long time ago. Our drive this morning took us around the southern side of Lake Constance, on our way to Zurich and then onto Luzern. Lake Constance is a large, long lake that is a beautiful blue/green in color. It reminds us of the waters of the Mediterranean. It is fed from the surrounding mountains, but it is far enough away to let it warm up enough to be comfortable and allow the water color, to clear from the opaque colors of the glaciers. As we wound our way through the lower foothills of the Alps, we even found cooler weather…it felt good for a change. Later, as we got closer to Luzern, the weather warmed up again to about 85 to 90, and the humidity was just about the same. Later in the afternoon, we got a heavy, but short rainfall. About 5, we decided to take a long walk into Luzern, along the boardwalk. This is one of the prettiest of the European cities I have seen. It also seems to have a lot to see as well, so the next few days will give us plenty of exercise. As we left the town area and finished our shopping, we noticed that the clouds were building, turning dark, and looking very threatening. Sure enough, we hadn’t made it 1/3 of the way back and all hell broke loose…we got drenched. As we walked into the campgrounds, the little outdoor restaurant/bar was open. I just had to have a beer, and there were a couple of guys standing at a tall table, so I joined them for a couple. Tomorrow will bring lots of new sites, but we can’t do too much prior to the Chouinard family getting here.