Paris to Lucerne

I am watching a hawk soar in circles above the treetops. I could be on top of the place I call “My Rock” in the Black Hills in the western part of my state. But I’m not. Instead, I’m on the bus southeast of Paris traveling though the French countryside again. For the most part the kids are sleeping. It occurs to me that when they get on the bus, the students are kind of like cats – they sleep a lot. But cats look more comfortable when they’re sleeping. Some of the students are twisted and contorted in order to find the right position.

The sleep is good: we have allowed ourselves little time to slow down during our brief stay in Paris. We arrived in Paris around lunchtime on Sunday and hit the ground running. After lunch near the train station we arrived at, out local guide joined and led us to a variety of places. Because I tend to wander away from the crowd to take photos, I often don’t listen and therefore don’t know where I’ve been. But I do know that either on foot or through the bus window, we saw many of the great sites in Paris. I hope my photos help to tell some of the story.

Later: We have arrived in Switzerland, our third European country. I think we are about 30 minutes away from our hotel in Lucern. I see snow-capped mountains off in the distance and a very blue and seren lake that parallels the road. Beautiful.

Incidentally, I should mention that our bus driver is from Naples, Italy, and is named Lucca. Lucca was our bus driver two years ago. When he saw me this morning, he smiled and said, “I remember you! Two years ago? Right?” I said, “Right.” Of course, I remember Lucca. I’ll tell you more about him later.

Lucca has bottles of water in a small refrigerator at the front of the bus that he sells for 1 Euro. When I took one and tried to pay, he refused to take my money. He said, “You are my friend.” Lucca is part of the reason I love Italy so much.

But first, we need to experience Switzerland.