Lucerne. Musegg Towers with Panoramic View of the City.

We certainly accomplished a good deal today, and it is a pity that we did not see more for our money. Early in the morning, we had a letter from Tante Lenchen in regard to her meeting us in Lucerne, and so I telegraphed to her and also to this hotel for rooms.

We then had breakfast and took the train for Biel at 9:30. The sky was still overcast, and we couldn’t see anything of the beautiful scenery surrounding Bern, nor could we see much of the country through which we passed.

The Gurten, a long green hill to the south of Bern, where we intended to go to enjoy the scenery, bid us goodbye, looking sort of sad with fog and clouds surrounding it.

We reached Biel in an hour and went right to the watchmaker who has Mama’s watch to repair. We found him at home, 31 Neuengasse. His name is A. Schneeberger, and he has put the watch in first class order, but Mama fell in love with another one which she saw there and which is made to strike by pressing a knob, which is better than the pushing arrangement, and so I bought it for her. I kept the other because I feel satisfied that someday it will come in handy.

We did not see much of Biel, which is celebrated on account of its watch factories. We bought some good fruit and cakes and lunched in the train, and, by 1:22, we were back in Bern and, as it still rained, we took another train at 2 o’clock for Lucerne.

On our route there, we passed through the Emmen tal, a valley which is watered by two rivers and is one of the most fertile in Switzerland. Carefully kept meadows, a fine breed of cattle and neat dwellings with pretty gardens indicate the prosperity of the natives. From here, we get this celebrated Emmentaler cheese.

A pity that the sky remained cloudy, and the mountains remained lost to view, but we enjoyed the nearby views. Nearly all the way from the Bern, we had been climbing up and down and winding around the mountains, which gives you a constant change of scenery, so that you are kept busy looking, whether it is fair or foul weather.

We reached Lucerne at 4:40 and went at once to the Hotel Du Park, which has been recommended to us, and we found it a neat little hotel with very nice rooms and clean beds. The floors here in Switzerland are mostly laid in wood and highly polished, and it is sort of dangerous to walk on them, but they do this to get their children used to mountain climbing, which is a slippery affair, especially on the glaciers.

We did not go out after our supper, but Emily went shop gazing, and all to bed early.

Your Dad.

Lucerne. Pier with View of Hotel Schweizerhof.