Lucerne, Switzerland

I want to see everything in Europe, and I mean absolutely everything.  I call it collecting experiences, you might call it wanderlust.  This world is so amazing, I want to see everything it has to offer me, and I just can't get enough!  But our time here is limited, and the places to see here are endless, and trips cost money, so our chances of seeing everything is not likely.  But I want to see as much as we possibly can, and I sure as heck am not leaving without feeling like we did!  

There are a lot of places we want to see and say that we were there, but that's about it; places that we have no interest in putting a lot of effort, or money, into seeing, but yet still be able to say that we were there.  I have found that day trips through MWR/USO/RTT are the absolute best and easiest ways to see those places.  Their day trips help me to collect experiences, so I can forgive them for their brutal bus rides.

Lucerne, Switzerland, is one of those places that I really wanted to see but didn't want to spend an entire weekend there.  Switzerland is expensive, but beautiful... and I've debated on whether the beauty was worth the money.  For us, it's not.  But that's why I love taking a brutal bus ride, because they allow me to collect experiences without the hassle or cost of Swiss francs.

Lucerne is a popular ski destination surrounded by the Swiss Alps, and has Europe's longest covered bridge- the Chapel Bridge.   

This is where Eric & I had the most expensive lunch we have ever had!  The food was incredible, but the cost was a giant kick to the stomach!  I guess that's Switzerland for ya.... ouch. 

Included with the cost of the bus trip was a boat ride around Lake Lucerne.  It had started to snow by this point, but it was the perfect kind of puffy snow.  The evening was enchanting- we didn't have to worry about driving home, the snow was puffy, and we were able to enjoy a glass of wine on a heated boat on one of the world's most beautiful and pure lakes.

I am so in love with this man, and the way he looks at me.

The downside to bus trips is that a lot of things are packed into one day.  We were awake for 24 hours by the time we got home (unless you're actually able to sleep on a bus, and in which case, you're probably a lot less grumpy than I am right now), and that does a number to my brain and blog writing.  But hey, my collection of experiences is growing!  

When I was younger I was vaguely aware that there was entire world around me, but I had no idea how big it is, and how amazing it, and the people in it, are.  That's what is so valuable about traveling- seeing that the world is huge, and we have got a lot to learn; Seeing that life is good in all sorts of ways, in all sorts of places.  

I might have to resign my heart to the idea that it's impossible to see everything God has put in this amazing world, but I have to at least try to see it all.  If brutally long bus trips are the way to do that, then I am all for it!