Last night, we were debating whether to take a taxi to our train station or try our luck with a shuttle, metro train, and short walk. It was pretty much a choice of budget versus expediency. We figured if the metro wasn’t open so early on a Sunday morning, we could fall back on our taxi plan. So we left pretty early. Our shuttle took less than five minutes, we caught an express train a couple minutes after arriving at the station, and the walk was quick and downhill. Although we planned to get there a bit early, it took us half as much time as we expected. It was great, because between our lost baggage and bad luck with transportation, it seemed things were starting to go our way. Before we left, we thought through all the unknowns and everything that could go wrong. So it was nice to have unknowns actually work in our favor.

Our lost baggage did teach me a couple things though, although Joylani says she already knew all the things I’m about to write. Firstly, I’ll always carry my glasses/contacts with me. Secondly, I’ll try to spread our important things between our backpacks and daypacks. That way one lost/stolen bag isn’t gonna kill us. It’s like investing. Diversification is key. Ideally you won’t lose anything, but you have to assume you will at some point, so it’s best to spread your assets around. Of course, even that wouldn’t have helped my parents and grandparents, who just flew home and lost 7 bags. Out of seven checked suitcases, zero made it on a direct flight home. Ridiculous.

Luckily, we didn’t have to check anything today though, as we took a train from Paris to Lucerne, via Basel. The train ride was great. I’m a train lover anyways, but the ride was awesome. I dozed off as our train snaked its way out of Paris. When I awoke an hour or so later, we were chugging through rolling fields or yellow and green. Tall clumps of trees dotted the fields and ever few minutes, we’d pass by red-tiled-roofed villages centered around small cathedrals. I enjoyed staring out at the sea this past week, but there’s nothing like riding on a train watching the landscape pass by. As we approached the mountains, we began to see castles and turrets perched on many of the peaks. Although all the cities we’re seen are different from at home, the scenery from the train window was totally different.

We arrived at the Lucerne train station and walked out the entrance to beautiful Lake Lucerne. That was beautiful by itself, but then we turned around and saw the Alps looming above the city. Lucerne is a beautiful place.