Look Who We Found

Before we get into our second day in Switzerland, I'd like to describe our first night more. After we came back in for the night, we overheard the hostel clerks tell other hostel goers not to venture out too late tonight, because some huge storm was about to hit Luzern. We didn't know what this completely  meant, and all we saw when we checked the weather was a few thunderstorms. So we stayed in after we got back to our hostel as it had already started to sprinkle and we saw some nasty clouds rolling in. I was woken up at about 2am to the scariest sounding thunderstorm I had ever heard. Now, first off, those who don't know me very well, I love thunderstorms. They make me very happy and I usually look forward to sleeping to the sound of storms. This storm was not something you slept to. I've never ever heard a thunderstorm this violent. I thought Wisconsin thunderstorms had a few tricks up their sleeves, but they have nothing on the storms here in Luzern. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the fact that the city is completely surrounded by mountains and right next to a large lake. Anyways, that was our first night. Oh, and I forgot to mention how Brett didn't even think about waking up in the middle of it, in fact, he must have thought the loud thunder was a contest to his snoring, because he only got louder... just my luck.

The morning held better promises, as we were better rested (even though we accidentally slept into 10am) and ready for a new day of adventures. We spent most of the rest of the morning and very early afternoon looking for a friend of mine, Alisha. Here are some pictures that illustrate just how that happened....

And that's how we found Alisha. Perfect.

  From there, we had quiet an adventurous day. We walked through the park...

.... pretended to play ping pong on the beach... with our shoes as paddles...

 

... oh! and took a hike up to Brett's school. And when I say hike... well, we had to walk up a pretty steep winding road until we got to this flight of about 500 steps. Wow... what a work out, but it was worth it. So beautiful!

I'm pretty sure anyone would climb all those stairs if this was the view they got once they reached the top! It was also a lot cooler up there, so it was nice to cool off once you worked up that sweat!

Climbing down was the easy part and much more relaxing. My legs are still sore from that climb up. We then headed towards Old City Luzern to show Alisha all that we had discovered the day before. And to our luck, we heard music. How perfect! There was a big group of people circling around this band of about 6 people, 5 brass and 1 drummer. They were amazing! So talented and very entertaining!

I was really excited about the whole thing...

Brett took some great pictures of the sky as the sun started to set.

We were crossing the bridge over the river and suddenly Alisha wanted to do a cartwheel, except she doesn't know how too. Well, she tried a few times and after failing, this girl stopped on the bridge and wanted to show Alisha how to do it. Then I tried of course... only to fall. I'm not very graceful.

 

It was still a lot of fun though. We fought the language barrier; I suppose that you don't need very much language of any kind to teach someone how to do a cartwheel.... plus laughter is understood in all languages.

We took a couple pictures by the famous covered bridge...

Finally, after a long day of exploring, we found a brewery. Alisha and I enjoyed a nice cup of herbal tea, while Brett enjoyed a great glass of rye lager brewed in house!

As for our Day 2... I believe it was a success. Hope you enjoyed :)