Sailing Lake Lucerne
After three days in beautiful Lucerne, Switzerland the monkey heads to Zurich. But first he has to sail across Lake Lucerne to the village of Brunnen. From there, the group would meet their bus and travel on to Zurich.
Month: September 2016
Lucerne, Switzerland
After leaving the river boat behind in Basel, Kongo traveled on to central Switzerland to the city of Lucerne for three days. My, oh my! This beautiful city may be the monkey’s favorite on this trip. Charming, old world, beautiful, friendly, and exotic — all at the same time. Basel was interesting but a dreary drizzle and an unforgiving guide made Kongo glad this border town was in the rear view mirror. But Lucerne? Lucerne was a completely different thing altogether.
Riquewihr
Officially one of the most beautiful villages in France ( Les plus beaux villages de France), tiny Alsatian Riquewihr nestles among vineyards between the Rhine River to the east and the Vosges mountains to the west. This little commune hasn’t changed much in 500 years and was spared damage in World War II when fast advancing American forces surprised and routed the German defenders before they had a chance to destroy the town as part of Hitler’s scorched earth policies.
Bridge at Remagen
In the closing weeks of World War II allied armies were rapidly pushing east trying to get across the Rhine River and have a chance to get to Berlin before the Soviets. The problem was that stubborn Germans fighting desperately kept blowing up the bridges across the river just as advance elements of the American army arrived. That all changed at the small German village of Remagen when a brave young American army officer and his sergeant led a squad of soldiers across a bridge and made history. It was like something right out of Hollywood.
Rüdesheim
After escaping the perilous stretch of the Rhine River rushing past the sirens of Lorelei, a mythical presence that lured gullible sailors into the rocks in an area known as the Rhine Gorge, Kongo arrived at the pleasant little winemaking village of Rüdensheim, Germany and stepped back 1000 years.
You must be logged in to post a comment.