lairdandjonelle

Flew from ABQ to Houston, then had premium economy on Lufthansa. OMG! On an A380-800 (?) and their premium economy is like business class on any other flight! Wow, was I comfortable — amazing. Waited on like business class, it was soooo, soooo wonderful — only drawback was there weren’t enough movies I wanted to watch. Sure hope they change when I’m flying back. I was going to write how much I love Lufthansa, except that when I got into Zurich, I was alone. No luggage. Damn, I said. And more. Had to go to 2 places to put in a report and then late to meet Noekie and her friends, Loret and Elmin, but finally got there — wheelchair in every airport, and damn good thing I had one in Zurich, which is a looooong airport with almost no one in sight. Or so it has appeared to me both times I’ve been there. Anyway, met everyone and we took the train to our hotel, in what seemed way hell and gone from anything. Elmin had made a notebook of all the trip details, very good thing! A European Best Western, small rooms, but very clean and with a restaurant and friendly people. We went to Mount Pilatus on Saturday. Truly OMG territory! Stunning ride up the mountain from 450 feet to about 8,000 on an old-fashioned cog train (or whatever it was called). The most beautiful sights imaginable. Very overcast where we started from in Lucerne, we passed through the clouds and it was bright blue above, with the clouds hiding all but the tops of mountains below, looking like islands. Oh the views from on top! Plus, we went into the dragons’ lair inside the mountain. Theodore and Sia, you would have been impressed, I think. Legend says that a miner fell into the mountain during the winter and it was the dragons who saved him and flew him home in the spring.
Sunday was a total comedy of errors. We were trying to get to the hotel from which the river cruise would start. We got into city center, dragging eight, count ’em eight, suitcases, three of which were quite large (one of mine included). Someone said take the S7 four stops. So we did. We ended up in a little village that did not have any hotels, much less the one we wanted. So back to city center (CC from now on). Then someone told us to take the S6, which we did and did not find where we were supposed to be. We did this about FIVE times, really. We got so very good at throwing all the luggage on and off the trains, we could do it within a minute! Up the escalator, down the escalator, throw on, throw off, up the escalator, down the escalator. . . . stop and ask, even go to the information desk and ask, but down and throw, throw and up, over and over. I kept saying that the name of the street we were looking for did NOT appear on any of the train signs we took. I suggested that we just go back to the airport and take the hotel shuttle. Finally, they agreed and finally we found Fluganhagen, or whatever airport is in Swiss and off we went finally in the right direction! And lo and behold once we got out of the bowels of the airport and up near the outside there was the Avalon waterways desk! We were there! The lady at the desk laughed and laughed at our story of getting there and took us by our hands to the hotel van. Said get in and don’t get out until you are at the hotel! And don’t forget to get on the bus to the ship! Laughed and walked away.
So now we’re on the ship, we floated on the Rhine through several locks to Strausbourg this morning. Off we went on a tour boat trip to the old town for a tour of the cathedral and then wandering around before taking a taxi back to ship.
The ship is quite nice, our room is European small with twin beds pushed against walls. Where do you put your knee or leg when you want to stretch out??? The food is delicious and the crew very attentive. As I write this, there is French chanteuse (spelling?) with an accordian player in the lounge I’m listening to with one ear.
We’re all having a great time! I really like Noekie’s friends and we all laugh A LOT. What can be better????
So, this was an exhaustive report, but it doesn’t really matter because many of you have already admitted you don’t read this blog or only read part of an entry. I’ll just think of it for me, since I’m losing my memory and need to be told what I’ve been doing.
As Marita always says: HAPPY DAYS — jm