Luzern: Day 1

On Thursday morning we left for Luzern, Switzerland.  It's not that far, so to save some money, we decided to drive.   It took us about 8 hours to get there, and it wasn't a very nice drive because it rained most of the time.  As we drove into Luzern, it was still overcast and rainy :(

Fortunately, after checking into our "five star hotel" (note: this particular "five star" hotel might only be a 1/2 star hotel.  While it was clean (a top priority), it lacked simple amenities, like a phone, alarm clock, shampoo, or adequate shower door...), the weather cleared up a bit so we could walk around outside, see the city, and eat some dinner.

A view from the old side of the "river" to the new.

Luzern sits on a lake, with the old town and new town divided by the end of the lake (which I guess turns into a river?).  The buildings are all beautiful and a mix of architecture from many time periods.

Many of the buildings in Luzern are lavishly decorated with murals, paintings and ornate carvings.

As we were walking along the river, we happened upon this interesting site...

A guy who has just taken an alpine horn off his moped and put it together...

This was apparently in preparation for an alpine horn concert, which we were lucky enough to watch.

We were also lucky enough to see this silly guy posing for his girlfriend in front of the alpine horn players... 

The alpine horn players were awesome, and I think I should probably start one up when we get to NY.  Here's a video:

After the horn concert, we found ourselves a cute pizza place on the river and sat outside to eat.  It was cold, and expensive.  I guess everything in Switzerland is expensive, but two pizzas and three drinks cost us almost $90!!  Yikes!!  Good thing we found the cheap "five star hotel"

The view from the table at our restaurant.