lovely lake lucerne

it's now the 16th and i'm looking back to get caught up here. i can't believe i was in switzerland only 3 days ago.

the train to basel and the one to lucerne, in fact all the ones in swizterland, are trains that don't require reservations, which is good because it is free with my rail pass. so i just jumped on the train. with my 1st class pass i had a whole 6 passenger compartment to myself on the train to basel. basel is on the border of france, germany, and swizterland. they just look at passports at the border, they don't stamp them. that's the problem with all the european cooperation...no more passport stamps. according to my passport i'm still in england. anyway, the french countryside and the swiss countryside looked about the same for awhile. the swiss buildings looked different though. then the train started climbing and eventually got up to lucerne, which is about in the middle of swizterland, just north of the east/west line of the alps. it's a really beautiful location, with mountains in several directions, and lake lucerne heading off to the east and south. i had already decided to leave for venice in the morning, so i only had the afternoon and evening to tour lucerne. it turns out that was plenty of time to walk around the whole old part of the city. the old town goes back to the 15th and 16th centuries. there are many old buildings and an old city wall with towers that i climbed into. it's a very picturesque place. i even tried some local food. they're really into fondue here, so i got some swiss cheese and mushroom fondue, where i dipped bread chunks into boiling hot cheese. it was good and very filling. everyone speaks english which is nice. the main language for this part of swizterland is german. i don't know what it is about german, but for some reason whenever people are having a conversation, it sounds like they are making plans for the next thousand year reich. based on the conversation of the guys next to me on the train from basel to here, i'd say the panzers will be rolling into poland any day now.