Are you visiting from Germany?

March 10, 2010

We were walking down a picturesque cobblestone street in Luzern, Switzerland when it happened.  In German, I asked a nice-looking man who was walking in the same direction whether he could direct us to the Loewendenkmal (Lion Monument), an incredibly moving sculpture made in 1820 that is 33 feet wide and 20 feet tall and is carved right into the rock on the face of a cliff.  We were running short on time and I didn’t want to waste any precious minutes indulging my oft keen sense of misdirection.  He said we weren’t far and that he would walk with us.  We exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes after which he asked if we were visiting from Germany.  What?  Really?  I could have hugged him.  The fact that he himself was from Macedonia didn’t even spoil the compliment…  (For the record, my sense of nationalism and patriotic pride is still intact.  Go USA.)

Luzern was a charming city and well-worth the spontaneous boarding of a train in Zurich to get there with just more than an hour of daylight to spare.  Reyna, our animal-whisperer, befriended a pair of swans with a few chunks of bread, so we had a nice escort as we strolled alongside the Reuss river and crossed a 14^th century bridge.       

The highlight of our self-guided tour of Zurich was definitely the Grossmuenster Kirche, with its impressive architecture, carved doors with scenes from the Bible, and our mastery of the 187 stairs up a narrow, spiral staircase to get to the city view from the top of one of the two towers.  Note to self:  In the future, remember to watch for low beams when your upward view is obstructed by the brim of a hat.  Even so, a fractured skull was but a small price to pay for the excellent cardiovascular workout and the triumphant rise of will over vertigo and claustrophobia.  

It was a great day.