Furka pass and Lucerne

When driving from Zermatt to Lucerne the drive is just beautiful - AND scary. Yes I said scary referring to the Furka Pass.  We of course didn't know what we were up against because we were following our trusty GPS :) The photos really don't make it look nearly as scary as it was. If you search the youtube videos they show you a bit more and how incredibly curvy it is. The scariest part is the road is very narrow and there are no guardrails, just a couple cement boulders far apart on the side of the road so you can literally look straight down the mountain and it is FAR down! yikes. At times we even passed big greyhound buses on this road and that was the craziest part. We would literally have to reverse it until we found a larger curve or place to pull off so the bus could pass. Luckily Alo was driving of course - I would have had a panic attack! ha. 

The Furka pass was in the James Bond film Goldfinger. If you click HERE you can see a clip from the movie (it's featured in the beginning). Also, HERE is another video so you can sort of see what it's like. Alo and I just love this ladies accent!

 

If you click on the photos so they are larger you can see the tiny roads above and in the pic below (right side of Alo) 

Even though the drive was probably 3 hours or more we enjoyed every second in the car. The things you get to see and the tiny towns are so cute. The grass was such a vibrant green and all the cows are just so darn happy! Alo and I decided they definitely have the happiest cows in the world :) We had to stop so Alo could get some cheese!

 

Lucerne was our first "big city" in Switzerland but we loved it. Certainly a very different feel like than the countryside of course (which was our favorite!).  It really doesn't feel that large and pretty easy to cover the sites in a day.  The city was filled with tons of young and hip young people - there must be a big University of some sort right where we were.

The Chapel bridge is one of the main sights in Lucerne. It's a wooden bridge that dates back to the 14th century.  It's Europe's oldest wooden covered bridge as well as the world's oldest surviving truss bridge. How gorgeous are the flowers hanging off the side?! 

 

We drove to Engelberg for the day from Lucerne to see the show cheese factory.  It's a cheese shop and show cheese factory located in a monastery.  You'd think being from Botetourt with so many farms I would have seen the process of making cheese before but I haven't! It was neat to see the assembly line that goes on all day long over and over to produce their signature cheese (it was like a Brie cheese).  Inside the shop you can also order food as well as buy so many different kinds of cheeses.  I wish I had taken a photo of what I ate because it was SO yummy. It was a piece of thick homemade bread with white wine, pear and bacon smothered in cheese. Trust me it was amazing! Alo tried the local sausages with their cheese inside which were tasty too. All around a great day at the cheese factory :)

After stuffing ourselves with lots of yummy cheese we headed to Richard Wagner's house in Tribeschen on Lake Lucerne.  He was a famous German composer who lived in Tibeschen for six years.  You would surely know his one song he composed - the Wedding March - as a kid you may have sang it "Here comes the bride - all fat and wide" haha. His home was nice but the views were just wonderful since it was surrounded by a large piece of land sitting right on the lake with views of the mountains as well.  The most fun part about the museum was that we suddenly heard loud horns playing, looked out the window, and saw a bride and groom arriving with a small party of about 10 people. I guess they decided to have a tiny reception with champagne and snacks at Wagner's house. Very cute and intimate idea - except for all the random visitors like us who got to stand by and peak into their pretty day!

Alo pretending to be a composer - he thinks he's so funny!

Below is the Lion Monument in Lucerne.  It was built to honor the Swiss guards who were killed in 1792 during the French Revolution.  Mark Twain said the sculpture of the lion as the "most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world".  

Off to Lake Brienz! 

Something about this photo I just love. Can you see the teal blue lake in the background?  It's not Lake Brienz but a small lake on the way - I had never seen a lake like this in my life - my kind of lake! :)