Day 16: Munich – Liechtenstein – Lucerne – Lauterbrunnen
After a nice breakfast of cardboard crackers,
and quelling some rumors, we left Munich, and began one of the
longest drives of the trip. Our first stop was in Leichtenstein,
home of absolutely nothing. The place was really small, and
there was hardly anything to do, unless of course you counted
the passport stamping attraction which would only cost you 1.50
euros, no thanks. We walked about for a bit, checked out all
the weird pieces of horse art, and then after checking out all
of our options for lunch (all 3 of them), we settled on the
chicken kebab at the small deli. Pretty good meal, it lived
up to what the owner said, “Best kebabs around,” but I’m sure
that they were probably also the only kebabs around. It started
to rain a little after lunch, so we ducked in and out of shops
searching for souvenirs, but we didn’t see anything worth buying.
Lots of cow stuff I should have gotten
for mom, but I was poor. Getting back to the bus, we
continued our drive through the green mountains, past hidden fighter
jets and tank stopping pillars, ending up in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Lucerne was absolutely beautiful! Set along the
banks of a gushing river, we visited a shop called Ruttimers
where everyone got either a Swiss army knife or a Swatch. The
shop was so popular with all the tourist, and had so many people
buying stuff, that they actually had 4 locations, all across
the street from each other. We got 7% off purchases of 100 CHF
or more, and so I ended up getting 8 small knives, (and a big
one later), all with names engraved on them. The service was
absolutely horrible, but then again, when you’ve got three different
tour groups all trying to do the same thing, you’re bound to
run into trouble. After placing our orders, we walked across
the river on one of the world’s oldest bridges. Lucerne’s crazy
expensive, but also crazy beautiful, definitely a place I'd like to revisit when I'm older.
Leaving Lucerne, and traveling up the windy mountain roads, we arrived
at Lautterbrunnen three hours later with me about to puke (I
remember spending the latter half of the drive with my head
between my knees praying I wouldn’t). The campsite had
4 other tours in it, so we didn’t get to stay at the Chalet,
but the cabins (rooming with Steve, the Bros and CJ) were definitely
better, at least the one’s that the guys stayed in were. This
was definitely the best place we’ve stayed at so far. We’re
nestled between 2 waterfalls, and snow capped mountains. Everything’s
so green, and the air is just so pure, did I mention the river
and the bridge that goes over it leading to the Chalet? I
forgot to take pictures =( Dinner was good, and tonight
was another big party night in the “Bomb Shelter” under the
Chalet. I was completely out of clean clothes though, so Stace
and I actually skipped the partying and did laundry. Heh, yes
Ray, we really did do laundry, and that’s not what kids call
it nowadays. But I don’t think laundry will ever be as enjoyable
as it was that night… Sitting in the dark (there weren’t any
lights around), and waiting for our clothes to dry, how romantic
eh? After finishing up our laundry, we decided to go down to
the shelter and see how the party was. It was packed, hot and
sweaty with four tour groups, and you could barely move. So
after about two minutes, me and Stace decided to escape back
outside into the cool Swiss air and enjoy the rest of the night
together. They really don’t turn the waterfalls off at 9 do
they?
Day 16 Photos
