Destinations

When we looked across Lake Lucerne, the contrast of the style of buildings suddenly changed dramatically.  Lucerne’s historical Old Town has been preserved for everyone to enjoy.  So beautiful, so charming, UNESCO designated this as a World Heritage site!  After a few steps across the bridge, our first stop was at the Chapel Bridge, built in 1330 as part of the cities’ fortifications.  Paintings depicting Swiss and local history were added in the seventeenth century.  The landmark Water Tower rises 111 feet into the air as part of the city wall.  This is the most photographed monument in Switzerland formally used as a prison, torture chamber, and treasury.

With one unique building next to another, we wandered through the maze of winding lanes and alleyways.  The fresco paintings told the stories of the past.  Imagine we can enter these ancient buildings, they are still in use, and best of all, the buildings are now restaurants, shops, hotels, churches, etc.  Each building stands out; one is more dramatic than the other.  Lovely statues and fountains dot the small picturesque town squares.  Since most of the village’s wooden houses were burnt down during fires, Old Town is predominately composed of stone buildings. 

You can reach Old Town easily with walking paths across several bridges; the two historic Chapel Bridge and Mill Bridge with other bridges build at later times.  I especially enjoyed photographing the buildings from different vantage points.  The busy sidewalk cafes along the river and throughout Old Town, the colorful buildings, and boats give us a glimpse of the way life might have been in the middle ages.  Some of these beautiful buildings include the Franciscan Church with its typical medieval Gothic architecture of the 13th Century, the 16th Century Ritterscher Palace now the Cantonal seat of government, and many others. 

Lucerne is a special city where you can savor the essence of the past, it is an open air museum to explore and discover another world.  Of course Lucerne is filled with attractions, both modern and ancient.  Visitors have a wide variety of choices of international cuisine which rank with our finest Las Vegas restaurants.  Stay a few extra days or a week in order to see as much as you can.  

www.luzern.com    www.myswitzerland.com 

Thursday-
My artistically talented niece enjoyed our visit to the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park to see the Dale Chihuly Exhibit. Even if you aren’t a fan of Chihuly, this is pure spectacle.  Hard not to say “wow!” at least a few times. Back to Marin for dinner at P.F. Chang’s in Corte Madera.

Friday -
There is historical significance at Angel Island State Park out in the San Francisco Bay: this location was home to Miwok Indians long before Westerners arrived, but is probably best remembered as an immigration center & later the sight of a detention center where Japanese Americans were interred during WWII. But we were seeking fresh air and exercise to ward off the addition of extra lbs which was a natural conclusion to all of this eating we’d been doing all week. So we took the 20 minute Angel Island Ferry ride from Tiburon and spent a couple of hours taking in the views of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, Mt Tamalpais and the boats on the bay while hiking at our individual levels of comfort. Angel Island also offers kayak &  bike rentals and a guided tour of the island by motorized trams.

Life is short, and this vacation even shorter.  So, we ate dessert - first! - at Double Rainbow where we got creamy cool ice-cream and hot fudge sundaes.

We had arrived at the last night we would spend together & had our farewell dinner at another local institution: Marin Joe’s.

Since no one had room for any more eating after this meal, we decided it was time for them to go home, which they all did the next day. But the memories that were created live on, and so do the extra pounds we acquired…..so worth it!

Monday-
for views of San Francisco while watching the boats come and go, lunch at Sam’s Anchor Cafe (in Tiburon) can’t be beat. Still serves the best Ramos Fizz.  Took a drive out to the coast. Spent a bit of time in the “western” town of Pt Reyes Station, gateway to Pt Reyes National Seashore. Drove out to the Pt Reyes visitor center and took the (short) Earthquake walk where you can still see evidence of the 1906 quake along the San Andreas fault line. Before heading back over Mt Tamalpais, we drove past the Bolinas lagoon and stopped to take a brief walk along beautiful Stinson Beach. A wonderful store in Pt Reyes Station: Toby’s Feed Barn. For Oysters, barbequed, broiled or raw: Farm House & Deli - Olema.

Tuesday-
A good alternative to often crowded Muir Woods in Mill Valley is Armstrong Redwood State natural Reserve in Guernville (Sonoma County). Flat trails made it easy even for the octogenarian in our midst to take a walk amongst the redwoods. From here, we headed east to Safari West in Santa Rosa. Reservations are required for a 2 1/2 - 3 hour Safari offered at 9:00 am, 1:00 pm, or 4:00 pm. Optional BBQ lunch and/or dinner is available at an extra charge.  It is possible to spend the night in one of the several luxury tents scattered around this Wildlife preserve, which I’ve been told triples ones fun (as well as cost).  Even for me, who has had the privilege of traveling to Africa on multiple occasions, this safari tour is a lot of fun.  We saw giraffes, wildebeest, cheetahs, exotic birds, and even white rhino!

Later, we opted for dinner nearby at Cricklewood  in Santa Rosa. Somehow, eating meat while about to view animals at the preserve wasn’t all that interesting to my vegetarian niece.

Wednesday-
The mountain was a huge hit with my nephew, and so we returned to spend a bit more time and to go for a hike. We had fabulous weather the entire week, but this day was truly glorious. The boy was happy! Mt Tam lunch at Mt Home Inn.

To be continued…