27 May - Lucerne and Geneva, Switzerland

This morning we got train from Zurich to Lucerne, a 50 minute train ride, 1st class with our Eurail pass, very comfortable and a very smooth ride. The scenery was very good but spoiled a little by cloudy, smoggy conditions. We had a walk around Lucerne old city after leaving our heavy bags at the station. I've found it a bit scary being a pedestrian in Switzerland. People ride bikes everywhere (without helmets) and trams and trolley buses also share the same area. In some very quiet streets, cars sneak up on you too. You have to be really careful. We then got the train from Lucerne to Geneva, a three hour train ride. We saw lots of beautiful dairy country, lots of cows and green pastures. Sort of like Maleny and Montville only thousand times over.

Tonight we're staying at Hotel Cornavin in Geneva. We hadn't booked and went to the Tourist office to be told Geneva was booked out. But when we said 5 star was acceptable (better than park bench) a room was found, very convenient and across road from railway station. We're on 9th floor with lovely views though the room is small. Terry's having a rest while I tap away here before we look for somewhere to eat. The restaurant at this hotel would be expensive. From our window we can see the Hotel Savoy and Hotel Astoria across the road. I suppose they might have vacant rooms too????

Terry is doing a great job as “tour director” dealing with all the detail, paperwork etc., acting as guide and navigator as we walk around. It's wonderful travelling with him. I just go crazy taking photos.

The wireless connection for this 5 star hotel doesn't support the Linux operating system my computer uses. So we had to find an internet cafe to send a couple of short emails and book accommodation for the next couple of days. We went out for pizza at a little restaurant. This is definitely not a “pedestrian friendly” place. It's also amazing to see people walking around with dogs in the city. We had an interesting walk around the “old” city, seeing churches and the first United Nations Building. It stays light till late here, daylight saving, so people are out and about with the sun still shining at 8.00 pm and still light at 9.00 pm (past our bedtime!!!)