Leaving Zurich in the morning via train, we headed for the German city of Stuttgart, three hours north. It was difficult to take photos from a fast-moving train, but I did manage to grab one at the Rhine River right before we crossed from Switzerland into Germany. One of the advantages of traveling in most of the European Union (or disadvantage, according to your perspective) is not having luggage checked or going through any form of customs. We did have our train tickets examined by a conductor at the first stop in Germany, but we didn’t have to rise from our comfy seats.

Even though the day started out sunny, it grew increasingly gray and rainy. We traveled past tangled forests, cultivated farms, rolling hills, and small towns. Most of the scenery could be described as pleasant but unremarkable. The oddest part of the train ride occurred in a rural area about an hour south of Stuttgart. A person seemingly stood at attention in the middle of a road parallel to the train tracks. Nothing was around him. He didn’t move and just stood, staring into space. He was attired completely in white head to toe. I looked at John and said, “Did you see the white dude? What was that?” John nodded in the affirmative and shrugged his shoulders. That was certainly unexplainable!

In Stuttgart, we changed trains to Nuremberg, where John rented a car for our final destination: Ebermannstadt. He navigated skillfully out of Nuremberg, but because of confusing construction work on the main highway, we missed our turn-off and took a less-traveled route through the hills.

In this quaint Bavarian town nestled among the mountains, the sun came out again right when we checked into a guest cottage just down the street from my brother and his family. Their oldest of four daughters, Damaris Campbell, will marry Daniel Dafam in a church wedding on Saturday. As is customary in Europe, a civil ceremony has already taken place. They went to Denmark a few weeks ago for that event, meaning they’re already “officially” married. Damaris holds a special place in our hearts. She lived with us and did a semester of study in Anamosa, Iowa, when I taught there. John also instructed her in first driving lessons! Daniel and Damaris will be returning to mission work in Africa.

Let the festivities begin!

We rode a train to Lucerne today. It’s less than an hour from Zurich, even with four stops along the way. Billed as the Swiss counterpart to Venice, the river and lake definitely play a huge part in the life of the city.

A two-hour walking tour provided a good overview of the region and the city itself. We dined in a medieval bakers’ building that was purposefully placed on the other side of the River Reuss to keep commonplace fires from spreading into the city. We then walked along the top (remaining portion) of the ancient city wall and climbed the waterclock tower for wonderful views of the town.

Here’s a list of the top ten most interesting things I learned:
* The town’s modern cultural center was designed to channel lake water into the building. It hosts a large summer music festival.
* There are four linguistic regions of Switzerland, most predominantly a Swiss-German dialect, followed by French, Italian, and even a small Latin-speaking area. I thought Latin was a “dead” language!
* The two most-recognized landmarks of the city include the medieval pedestrian bridge, Chapel Bridge, which has old historical paintings in its interior roof trusses, and the eight-sided water tower formerly used as a dungeon and now as a wedding/event center.
* Located near the geographical center of Switzerland bordered by the beautiful Swiss Alps, over 50,000 people move to or from Lucerne every day.
* A Jesuit church, built in the gaudy Baroque style right after the Reformation, symbolizes the Catholic stand against the Swiss Protestant reformer Zwingli.
* Castle Gutsch sits on a mountaintop overlooking the town. Rumored to have been wanted by Michael Jackson to purchase right before he died, it is now owned by a Russian family who charges over $1,000 a night to stay there. The castle has a Muslim minaret and a Christian tower to celebrate unity of religions.
* Much fresco art work is painted on the town’s buildings to show uses; for example, a hotel popular for lovers sports a Cupid statue and intertwined wedding rings.
* Many “squares” connect the cobbled streets, and a garishly painted water fountain is centered in the square where Lucerne’s parallel to Mardi Gras starts every year. (The guy who started this tradition in the early 20th century is supposedly buried beneath the fountain.)
* Chocolate flows down a wall in a favorite chocolatier. Their hot chocolate comes straight from the chocolate fountain that “feeds” the wall. I know, because we imbibed!
* Large-leafed, knobby chestnut trees line the riverbank. They are so uniform in their ugliness. (At least, that’s my opinion.)



Today we walked in Old Town Zurich–meandering brick streets centuries old with shops and restaurants and apartment homes above shops.

A pedestrian bridge had fencing filled with locks demonstrating everlasting love.  I understand this is a commonplace European practice.

It rained a bit too hard for our jackets to handle, so we stopped at an Espirit store to buy umbrellas. And of course, it stopped precipitating within a few minutes after unfurling the new purchases. It did rain off and on the rest of the day, though, so we’re we’re thankful nonetheless for the purchases.

Some of the old churches charge admission to enter, so we only took exterior photos of those. One of Europe’s largest outdoor clock faces is mounted on the side of one church steeple. We did go into Grossmunster, a very large cathedral with stunning stained glass windows. They only charged admission to walk up the stairs into the tower, but our tired legs couldn’t take the climb.

John, the wonderful trip planner that he is, pre-ordained that if it should rain, we would duck into the Kunsthaus Zurich Art Museum. What a good idea that was! With over 4,000 paintings, sculptures, and installations, we viewed art ranging from 12th century frescos to 21st century pop art. Most of the titles and descriptions were in German, but the handheld audio guide tool assisted immensely. We could type in the corresponding exhibit number to hear information as needed. I remember Dutch masters including Rembrandt, vanDyk, and vanGogh; French impressionists Monet, Manet, Degas, VanGogh, Chagall, Gaugin, and Cezanne; the Italian artist Giacometti; the German artist Munch; and a fairly wide representation of 20th century art including Picasso and Kandinsky. Many Rodin statues filled the exhibition rooms and niches. One stood outside (“Gates of Hell”) with a miniature version of “The Thinker” at the top of the installation.

We found a trolley to take us back toward the hotel, stopping for a brief rest. We regained our strength before sunset, walking back into OldTown. Deciding on the Ristorante La Pasta by the east side of river, I enjoyed eggplant parmesan, and John had pasta with spicy sausage and tomato sauce. We shared whipped cheesecake with strawberries, and returned along the shining riverbank. Sleep awaits.

Other than occasional turbulence, our leg from Denver to Washington, D.C. proved to be uneventful. By the time we extricated ourselves from the plane, we had only a half hour to catch the overseas flight to Zurich. Thankfully, we didn’t have to leave the concourse; our gate was only seven away. As we hurried along, John said he saw John Boehner eating. (I didn’t spot him, but hubby John reported he must have flown on our flight to Zurich, because he mentioned seeing him again as we walked past the airport smoking lounge after arriving in Switzerland. If it was him and not a doppelgänger, perhaps he was taking his secret lobbyist monies to a Swiss bank account. At least I have a great imagination! 😜)

I digress. It took awhile to actually take off from Dulles–long line of planes waiting to leave, and dull, cloudy skies to match the field’s name. The flight itself lasted 7-1/2 hours. United Airlines served both dinner and breakfast, along with free wine. We observed one guy downing two glasses of wine with dinner and another glass at breakfast! Announcements came in both German and English.

I occasionally watched nature videos enhanced with pan flutes and orchestral music, but then I nodded off while John watched a Bollywood musical and some Asian crime mystery. He didn’t sleep at all.

I like to follow Flight Tracker when we travel long distances. I just happened to open my eyes when technology reported it was 3:48 a.m. in Zurich with 3 hours and 48 minutes of flight time remaining. Weird crossover!

We flew over the southwestern part of Ireland, the very tip of England where the Atlantic Ocean meets the English Channel, and we watched the sun rise over France. Thick clouds obscured Paris.

When we landed in Switzerland, my body said it was midnight, but those super-accurate Swiss clocks synced with breakfast time.

We waited in a queue to buy a day’s pass around Zurich’s train/bus/trolley system, managed to find a train from the airport to Europe’s largest train station, promptly got lost trying to make our way out through the multiple underground levels, but finally wandered down the right side street to find our “boutique” hotel room replete with gaudy gold and red wallpaper. We’re resting there briefly. Now we need to find some energy to walk around the town. Jet lag is hitting!

What a surprise to see four branches of the military represented at our departure gate today.  A welcoming committee saluted a Medal of Honor recipient as he deplaned. He’s a Vietnam vet who served in the Marines and is headed to Pueblo, Colorado to be honored and memorialized

at the museum there. I shot a video of the brief welcoming ceremony. It makes me proud to be an American!

How fitting it is to fly on 9/11 and not fret. A college professor once told us, “We are immortal until our work is done; I just pray my work is not done yet.”

Speaking of work, John seems to be out of sorts by NOT working for two weeks. He has not taken off this much time since his forced “vacation”/scary hospitalization seven years ago. I told him to smile while standing in our driveway waiting for the Lyft driver this morning. He made a feeble attempt. By the way, that big black and blue bag weighed a half pound over the limit when we checked in at the counter. It must be the hazelnut coffee for  my sister-in-law, Petra! Thankfully, the ticket agent let it slide.

We’re now waiting at the gate two hours early. Between the huge American flag in the security area and the cluster of Marines at our gate, we are reminded again of our freedoms that we never want to take for granted.

And as we travel, I will be taking photos of patterns. The first one, waves in the Denver Airport carpet, reminds me of the recent hurricane-induced storm surges in Florida and Texas. We continue to pray for God’s peace in the midst of turmoil.

Tomorrow morning John and I fly to Europe. We will be escaping the recent sorrows of this land–fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, and more. It’s especially hard to leave when we just heard the news that a good friend in Georgia went home to Glory today, and we can’t be there for his funeral.

We land first in Zurich, then head to Bavaria for a neice’s wedding, ending our trip in the mountains of Austria. I’m going dark on Facebook and only posting here for the next two weeks.

If only we knew how to pack less….