The usual morning routine that we are getting good at – breakfast (or snack), pack up and head to bus. Well actually breakfast is not always so good – we only tend to have a small snack. Today we head for Tinghir, with other stops on the way. Maybe the bus will depart on time at 8.00am… but probably not until at least 8.30am. We have suggested to our driver that when the bus stops somewhere, he tells people exactly what time to be back on the bus – not just ‘in about an hour’ as that gives everyone free reign.

We managed to depart close to 8.30am. We drove 100km through desert – vast open landscapes with the occasional random houses or small villages. Again, many people appearing out of nowhere and far from obvious civilised spaces. The landscapes are wide and are changing from day-to-day. Here is a selection of photos all taken from the bus, hence a few random shadows but you will get the idea.

We stopped at Kalaat Valley M’Gouna to take photos, and also get a snack. Kirsteen, Suzanne and myself brought some chocolate to keep us going – Snickers/Moro bars, and Pringles. We also found some Schweppes Tonic in small bottles here – a godsend. This was the best find ever! Our lovely guide on the bus offered to put in the bus fridge for us – what a gem.

There was a village that seemed to be built into the cliffs, and down at the river people were washing their clothes. Today was a bit cloudy but at 10.30am it was already 30 degrees.

As we headed down through the Dades Gorge there were 2 hairpin bends and the bus in front didn’t get around them easily. We passed the other bus which had stopped on the corner, and they all got off. We were parked in the middle of our lane on the edge of the road after passing them and waited. Apparently their bus had bottomed out coming around the corner so they had to walk down the gorge.

We were meant to go for a walk in the Dades Gorge but the road became to narrow for the buses to fit. I think people usually go there in mini-vans, not 50 seater buses! We turned around and headed for the hotel instead to check in. We were meant to check in at 1.00pm, with lunch at 2.0pm. Alas, we were running late so we headed to the Hotel Saghro in Tinghir for lunch at 2.30pm, then those of us that were staying at a different hotel headed there on the bus at 3.30pm. We were staying at the Hotel Bougafer.

By now we had learnt the trick to checking into the hotel was to get to the front of the check-in queue by getting off the bus fast, taking both Suzanne and my passports, and leaving her to get the luggage. The alternative was head to the bar, then the pool, then check in.

I raced off the bus and we were checked in quickly. Got to our room at 3.50pm and we were in and around the pool with a cold beer by 4.00pm. We had to be back on the bus to go to the Todgha Gorge.

We got to the gorge at 5.40pm and it was 41 degrees! There was once again music playing and dancing on arrival, and we crossed a small river for water and refreshments.

The young boy was so cute! He was trying really hard to copy and keep up with everyone else.

There were alot of families at the gorge having picnics, swimming and enjoying themselves. Quite aw few of them had chairs set up in the river!

After leaving the gorge, we stopped and walked through some ruins of kasbahs to catch =the past of the sunlight. There were small children making animals from flax and giving the away for coins, lollies or balloons. I had nothing on me to give so the wee boy told me to take it as a gift anyway, and he also gave one to Suzanne. Obviously NZ customs would not appreciate these in my luggage so I got a photo instead.

We headed back to the Hotel Saghro for dinner. What an amazing setting! We had tables set up outside around the pool. It was beautiful. It was still 37 degrees when we had dinner! We had a lovely evening with music and dancing, and food and wine.

We got back to our hotel around 11.00pm where we sat by the pool with our Cypriot friends for a wine and a chat to end the evening.

Tomorrow we head to the desert to ride into the sunset.

Today is a journey of around 240km. This includes several stops of course.

We were up early, had breakfast and packed up ready to head off for the day. The bus was meant to leave at 7.30am – however in a couple of days we have worked out that nothing will probably run to time. Sure enough, the bus finally departed at 8.25am.

We travelled a long, windy road which was quite red, brown and dusty. There were alot of roadworks going on. It was almost as if there had been several landslides and they were fixing the roads.

Randomly as we travelled, there was small villages in the middle of nowhere, and people out walking. There didn’t seem to anything close by so who knows where they were heading!

It didn’t seem to matter how small the villages were, there were still many satellite dishes and locals with mobile phones.

We knew how high we were at several points along the route thanks to Socrates, our Cypriot counterpart on the bus. 🙂 We had a good group of Cypriots with us. They kept us entertained, and sane!

We stopped at the top of the High Atlas Mountains (2260m) at a small market called Tichka.

They sold everything traditional – tagines, crystals, clay pots, quartz and other stones etc. This is very much like other countries where bargaining is expected – if you touch something they think you want it, and if you walk away they will follow you.

We stopped at another small market place before arriving in Ait Ben Haddou.

It was a very hot day and everyone was feeling the heat. Lunch was meant to be at 1.00pm, but that was never going to happen. It was 3.00pm when we sat down to lunch at the Oasis D’Or in Ait Ben Haddou.

For lunch we had deconstructed salad and breads, tagines (beef (maybe camel)/chicken), couscous and vegetables. We also got a bottle of wine (Rose) which came out warm. We put it in ice, but this didn’t improve the taste at all. In fact, you wouldn’t believe it – Suzanne, Kirsteen and I left it. We couldn’t drink it.

After lunch we were told we were going for a walk to the top of the hill. It was 39 degrees and we had already taken photos of the village up the top of the hill so these white women were not walking anywhere we didn’t need. Expending additional energy in that heat would be just plain stupid! Turns out we weren’t the only ones – many of us stayed behind for nearly two hours at the outside terrace of the restaurant and had ourselves a nice cold beer instead.

The Ksar Ait Ban Haddou is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is a great example of Berber architecture. There were small dwellings inside the surrounding wall (ksar). Some berbers still live in these dwellings.

We left for Ourzazate at around 6.00pm – which was still 40km away. It was still 38 degrees. We were originally scheduled to check in to the hotel at 6.30pm – not a happening thing.

Coming into Ourzazate we passed some film studios – apparently Ourzazate is well known for it’s studios. More on this in a few days time when we visit one.

Ourzazate is a small town located in the south of Morocco, a caramel-coloured oasis highlighted by the cloudless azure of the North African sky. Ouarzazate is the gateway to the south – the desert.

We stopped at the Kasbah Taourirt which was one of the first great Berber architectures built in the 17th century, It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is currently in the process of restorations. Once again there was music, folklore and Moroccan tea. We also went on a tour of the interior of the Cerkas Palace here which was built in 1754.

We finally got to the Hotel Karam Palace at 8.00pm, and it took us nearly 50 minutes to check in to our rooms. We had a quick showers (which was more like a hose – no pressure and it didn’t come out of the shower head). Dinner was changed to 9.30pm so all of us, (which includes Rebecca and Stu from Napier) headed to the bar for a well deserved cold drink. We went for a late dinner at 10.15pm (snack really) and then went back to the bar until midnight. We did manage to find some relatively decent wine tonight at 120 dirrham (around $20 NZD. It was still 37 degrees when we headed to bed.

The bar itself was in the middle, outside which was nice as it was so hot. the barman was really cool and he stayed open late for us. Not just us – we had some of our Cypriot fiends join us too.

Next leg tomorrow – off to Tinghir. Wonder if we will get some different food, and whether we might be on time so we get some free time at the hotel for a swim.

After getting in at 12.40am, a good sleep was needed before facing today. We awoke to a balmy 22 degrees, and heading for a high of 34. We had breakfast at the hotel and met downstairs at 9.30am to head for the Museum of Water Civilisation. No idea what to expect!

The Museum of Water Civilisation was built as a tourist attraction to highlight Morocco’s efficiency in the management of water and the historical role of the Habous (endowments). The 163 million dirham (about 25 million NZD) project was built on 20,000 square meters.

When we arrived at the museum we were greeted by music and entertainment from men in traditional folklore dress playing folk music. This is becoming a theme – and it’s only day one!

This was followed by the official opening of the FIAP Photo Meeting – this included more music and speeches and other entertainment.

We had a good look through the museum, which included a light display showing the flow of water across the land and how the water is managed.

We had a late morning tea (12.30pm) which included lots of small Moroccan sweet snacks. We took the time to sit outside and relax in the small piece of shade we could find. I took this opportunity to get a couple of photos around the building.

After catching the bus back to the hotel mid afternoon, we had late lunch and some time out to relax. This involved swimming, backing up photos and planning.

Later in the afternoon we headed out to the El Badia Palace (this has been spelt several different ways depending on what you read!). The bus had to drop us a small walk from the palace, and this meant our Men in Black (MIB) walked us through a small medina, some narrow lanes and past peoples businesses, while also avoiding traffic. Who knew you could actually drive vehicles down some of these narrow lanes!

It was during this walk that I became very aware of how rude some photographers were, and how they showed little respect for the local cultures, let alone their fellow photographers. There were photographers going up to people and putting cameras in their faces – despite being told ‘no’; and also cameras being pushed inside doorways. Unacceptable behaviour!!

Here’s a photo that tells you a bit about the history of the palace.

It is no longer used as a palace, but there is alot of restoration work going on. There were several areas of the grounds where the storks had set up house – they have huge nests!

It was interesting to watch the tilers in action – who were laying tiles by hand, one at a time. Of course as we wandered around the palace, there was also an array of entertainers providing more photo opportunities, and the backdrops were great. Here is a selection of photos.

Considering the age of these ruins, the tiling and details are amazing. Truly a pleasure to see.

And here are some of the entertainer photos. I am not sure what it is, but they had this thing about dancing on drums and it got very loud!

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On the way back to the hotel I got a couple of snaps on my phone out the window, including this one. You can park anywhere here I think.

Back at the hotel for a quick break – time for champagne, and then dinner. We managed to have a nice bottle between the girls before dinner. If we knew how little we would get this opportunity in the next ten days we would have had more 🙂

Once everyone had settled into the hotel, it was time for the first adventure. Time to head the Jemaa el-Fna – the central medina (marketplace) of Marrakech.

There were more than 100 horse and carriages lined up outside the hotel waiting to transport us to the markets. This mode of transport is obviously quite popular with the tourists, otherwise I have no idea where you would pull 100 horse and carriages out of a hat.

Road users here a are a mixed bunch, and there appears to be very few road rules – except survival. At roundabout you may see three, four or five ‘lanes’ of traffic merge and fight their way across intersections, around the roundabouts etc, before merging back into 3 lanes – and we were in the middle in horse and carriages!

There are 200 photographers on this expedition, and that means we will have 200 photographers all trying to get ‘that shot’, that ‘perfect image’ while they are here. I think it was at this point I realised I was only get a record of the trip, and not any amazing images. Actually, rephrase that – we know the etiquette of our fellow 16 kiwis (our NZ photographers), so probably battling the next 12 days with 184 others.

The organisers had security to look after us and herd us to the right places – our own Men in Black (MIB). I felt sorry for them trying to herd us through the medina, as we all wanted to get photos of the snake charmers, entertainers, people wandering around.

We were shepherded upstairs into a small café which was packed with other market goers trying to enjoy their snacks and drinks. We had minted tea and went about trying to get photos from above the medina. It was jam-packed and difficult to get photos without pushing in front of people eating – which I wouldn’t do. Here’s a couple of photos to give you an idea…

It appears as though you can buy most things here – lots of fresh juice, fruits, tagines of every size, souvenirs – camels, mini tagines etc, and hats. Heck you could probably buy snakes if you wanted! Apparently they are a protected species here but this doesn’t stop the charmers from having them in the markets.

Once we had finished at the medina, the horse and carriages were back to transport us to the next stop – the Palais Gharnata for a welcome reception dinner. We went down lots of small alleys, through several roundabouts and narrow lanes. http://www.gharnata.com/en/galerie.html

There was music and entertainment to greet us, and the venue was beautiful. It was very difficult to get photos to do it justice. The website has more! One of my photos below is from the website (credited to the website) to give you an idea.

Dinner consisted of a huge platter of deconstructed salad and breads; platters of small moroccan pastries (like spring rolls etc); Chicken Pastilla with milk and almonds; Meat tagine; and couscous. The tagine was quite dry and had large bones in it – they told us it was veal. Didn’t look like veal, didn’t taste like veal – possibly camel.

After dinner we went back to the hotel by carriages. Our driver liked us so we took the scenic route – past the Sofitel Hotel and the Casino to look at the beautiful lights. After all, in the words of our driver – we had the ferrari model of horse and carriage, and the races proved it. Off to sleep and await to see where the next adventures take us.

Today was an early start – we had to catch the airport shuttle at 5.30am.

Our first flight was Zurich to Paris and we left 15 minutes late. With such a fine transit time between the two flight we were not so confident of getting our next flight. Our travel agent had given us very specific maps to transit between terminal in Paris as this can be a nightmare. The usual time to walk between the two gates is 30-40 minutes.

On arrival in Paris we had to change terminals and gates for the ongoing flight to Marrakech, Morocco. It’s just as well that we were all sprinters in a past life as this came in handy here. We were literally running between the gates. Who thought it was a good idea to have another security check and passport gate during transit only! Damn the French.

We made it to the next flight in time, and with time for a quick little room stop on the way. The flight then left 20 minutes late!!

It’s a 3 hour flight to Marrakech. Over land, across the Mediterranean Sea, over the Middle Atlas Mountains (desert) and into the city – Marrakech.

We arrived in Marrakech, and after having passports checked 3 times in 15 minutes, having to explain to the immigration official that had no idea how to read my tickets that yes, my ticket did actually state Zurich to Paris, and then Paris to Marrakech, and point him to where it stated Marrakech on the boarding pass, I was allowed in. Yay.

The airport was not busy at all, and the first thing that struck me was how warm it was. And we were standing a glass enclosed atrium – what were we thinking. There were group photos taken at the airport and as enough people arrived we were ferried off to the hotel in mini-vans.

The check-in process was a bit slow and most rooms were not ready. Eventually we got our rooms and the air conditioning worked – that was the main thing.

We had a late snack by the pool with a cool refreshing beer. We had arrived.

After a leisurely start to the morning, which included breakfast at the hotel (a luxury), we took the train to the Rhine Falls – near Schaffhausen in Northern Switzerland.

The Rhine Falls are the largest waterfall in Switzerland and Europe. The are 150 metres wide and 23 metres high.

We took our tripods, and ND10 filter with the plan being to play around and see what we could get with our water shots. After all this was playtime and if we got no good photos at least we had seen the falls and had a play around with filters and settings. Furthermore we hadn’t carried our tripods to the other side of the world just to take up space in our suitcase.

We tried short exposures, long exposures, ND10 filter shots (I managed to purchase one in Lucerne), landscape and portrait shots. Lucky for Kirsteen her lens was the same size as mine as she thought she had packed the ND10 which turned out to be in the wrong case! We also held the filter over Suzanne’s camera so she could try as well.

As it had started to rain and was no longer pleasant we headed into Schaffhausen, a little town close to the Rhine Falls. We had a late lunch, and wandered around the town looking at all the beautiful buildings. Alot of buildings here were painted.

It was still raining and not so pleasant out. We knew we had an early start tomorrow so we caught the train back to Zurich late afternoon to make sure we got back before sunset.

We went to the bar for pre-dinner drinks (not gin) and spent time together looking at our photos, backing up to disk, discussing the day, chatting about the last six days and the days to come. This was followed by another lovely dinner at the hotel and an early night. We had to pack and make sure we were ready for the early start in the morning.

Today we were up early and packing. We marched through town with our suitcases on a mission – we had to make the train to Zurich. We caught the train, and got off at the Zurich Airport. We did that as the hotel has an airport shuttle operating from the airport to the hotel! Navigating the airport was easier than we expected, and we had no problem finding the hotel shuttle – clearly marked “Hilton Zurich Airport’ shuttle.

We checked in and were lucky enough to get room upgrades – 3 rooms side-by-side. Just what we needed – thank you.

It was a 10 minute walk from the hotel to the train station and the trains only go every 1/2 hour. We walked briskly and made it with 2 minutes to spare. A local helped us purchase our tickets from the vending machine – which were still printing as the train was pulling into the station. Just in time we leapt aboard bound for Zurich city central. Swiss timing means there is no room for lateness.

We headed first for a walk up Bahnhofstrasse. This is Zurich’s main downtown street and one of the world’s most expensive and exclusive shopping avenues. Probably not the best day for the girls to think about shopping!

After sitting on a parkbench in a mall outside eating a kebab, Suzanne did think about shopping! We had finally convinced her that carrying a backpack around Morocco would be a much better idea that carrying a small shoulder bag – and she waited until we were on the most expensive street in the world to agree! Needless to say, we found her a lovely backpack and it wasn’t badly priced at all.

We headed towards the river which connected us with Old Town Zurich. This was more like what we wanted to see – narrow lanes, older buildings, cannabis shops (not that we were looking for those), condomeries (who knew they existed), and lots of bars and cafes.

There were some lovely old churches and old buildings scattered throughout the Old Town and on the riverfront.

On the waterfront we found a nice waterside bar where we stopped for refreshments. Suzanne got a glass of sine – but she had to wait until we played before she could drink it. Once the waiter had put it down, I noticed the reflection of the Old Church in the glass.

While I was busy taking photos, Kirsteen also got set up and took some, then Suzanne realised what we were doing and she had a go too. In the interim the re were some Brits and Irish at the next table who thought we were crazy. They wondered what we were taking photos of in a wine glass and what was so special about a glass of wine. An Asian tourist also got in on the act and took one too! Poor Suzanne – lucky she wasn’t thirsty. By this time I had spent some time chatting to the guys at the next table explaining what we could see and why we were taking the photos.

We headed back on the train to the hotel to upload photos, shower and change before heading to the bar for pre-dinner drinks. We decided a night in would be a good plan. We had to make the most of the hotel services not knowing we would be up for once we hit Morocco.

It’s not very often that I would get a gin that took me more than an hour to drink – but this was it. The bowl of the glass was about 3″ high – and the gin inside it was about 2″ of straight gin! A small bottle of tonic was provided on the side!! A challenge.

We had dinner and relaxed at the hotel and had a relatively early night – storing sleep for the future.

We decided last night that we would have a sleep in and a slower start to the day. That was the plan…

The plan was foiled with the sound of drums and church bells at 7.00am that seemed to go on forever – at least 10 minutes! Half an hour later, they went again for another 10 minutes! It was Corpus Christi day and it’s a public holiday. As we were staying beside a church, we were always going to hear whatever was going on. Usually we heard them on the hour striking the number of the hour, so 12 o’clock was always the noisiest.

At this point we decided to get ourselves organised and out. As we left the apartment we heard music, bells, singing etc and quickly realised there was a parade crossing the street to the church. As we scrambled for our cameras and started merrily snapping the parade marched past us. There were firstly children dressed in white, followed by the Blue Brigade (that’s not what they are really called but I don’t know what they were), followed by adults and in some cases their pets, and then the Swiss National Guard in their jester suits (not really).

We took a walk to the famous Lucerne Lion Monument – The Lion Monument in Lucerne is a giant dying lion carved out of a wall of sandstone rock above a pond at the east end of the medieval town. It was designed as a memorial for the mercenary soldiers from central Switzerland who lost their lives while serving the French king Louis XVI during the French Revolution.

The names of the soldiers are listed on the memorial, and there are four Zimmerman’s listed, and from my cousin’s ancestry search it is likely they were distant relatives.

By the time we had finished the drizzle had turned to rain so we headed back to the apartment to get rain jackets / umbrellas and change tack. I decided this was a mobile photography day as carrying a backpack, and camera raincoat was just too fiddly in this weather.

Wandering the city towards our next stop we came across the jester-suit boys again parading through the town. We followed them for a while (well actually, Kirtseen was stalking them). She was trying to get a better photo than the one at the beginning of todays blog where there is a spear coming out of her head – haha.

Next stop was the Musegg Wall and Towers. Once a symbol of power, the Musegg Wall and its nine towers are part of Lucerne’s historic fortifications; forming a striking crown around the Old Town, the wall can be discerned from afar. We had seen this most days as we walked around Lucerne. There were views from the wall right across the city.

Suzanne was the only keen one to climb up the inside of the clock tower. What she didn’t realise is that it was almost o’clock. As the clock struck , the bells sounded and then struck times – very loudly! Poor lady was almost deafened.

Walking back down the hill to town there were many old buildings and houses with old character shutters, statues attached to the houses, and some that we wondered if they were actually used still.

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As it was now raining again we thought stopping for a drink at La Terrazza on the rivers edge was a plan. What a grumpy sour-faced waitress we encountered. We sat at an outdoor table (under cover) and asked if we could just have drinks. She seemed surprised that we said just drinks, and started to remove the cutlery and table settings from the table. We said we might have a nibble, but as we hadn’t looked the menu we weren’t sure. Well, apparently that was all too much so she slapped the settings back down again muttering.

After all that, we thought we would get an antipasto platter. We wished we hadn’t. It was mainly seafood – alot of octopus,a little bit of crayfish, a prawn, and something else fishy we couldn’t identify! There was also one piece of jamon/serrano ham.

We left in a hurry and I left my umbrella there – terchnically not mine as such, but the one that came with my apartment. It turned out not to be a problem though as Kirsteen lent me the one from her apartment and when we departed Lucerne I left it hanging in my room. Haha, now it looks like she lost the one from her room. They were purple and had the apartment name on them so it’s not like it wasn’t obvious where they belong. Maybe some kind swiss soul dropped it back.

On the way home we stopped for a flower sorbet. We had seen them through the shop window every day so now it was time to have one. You choose your own sorbet flavours, and they craft it into the cone to look like a flower.

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After swinging by the church across the road to look inside we headed back to the apartments to have a snack, champagne and review our photos from the day.

We headed out for out last dinner in Lucerne, this time choosing a more upmarket Italian restaurant – Barbatti. We had a lovely meal and a strange waiter who chose when to pretend he didn’t understand us. We did have some good wine though and the food was great.

And that is farewell to Lucerne – tomorrow we head to Zurich. One last photo as a reminder to us all of our favourite confused restaurant in Lucerne.

Today we were up early and had our staple breakfast of eggs, toast and coffee freshly made in the apartment.
We were off for a big day out – a Golden Round Trip Tour to Mount Pilatus (that’s golden as in the best tour, not age related).

We took the boat from Lucerne to Alpnachstad. Lake Lucerne was a picture – blue sky, hardly a ripple on the water, and crisp lines against the beautiful mountainous backdrop.

Kirsteen and Suzanne kept asking which one was Mount Pilatus, and I did a good job of convincing them it wasn’t the huge one we had admired over the last two days, but rather it was “over there”. That lasted for quite a while until we got closer and Suzanne realised there was something up the top of the large mountain in front of us! Then she noticed a wire going down it with moving things – gondolas apparently! 🙂

We went up on the cogwheel train which is the steepest cogwheel railway in the world. It was commissioned in 1889, has a gradient of up to 48 percent, and takes about 30 minutes travel time. It scales the way from Alpnachstad to Pilatus Kulm, passing alpine meadows and striking rock formations. We sat on the left-hand side as I knew when we got above the green meadows of cows with cowbells, and past the open gently rolling walking hills scattered with jagged rocks, that the reality of where we were would be apparent.

As we approached the landing, it was noticeably cooler and the landscape had changed.

We were greeted at the top by a man playing with his horn… of the musical kind. He wasn’t standing in positions that were great for getting good photos, and he was a bit older and tired quickly! But we got the picture and understood the sentiment.

We wandered around the top of the mountain. It was very steep in places, and there were several occasions when I thought that Suzanne and Kirsteen were going to push me over the edge – they both didn’t like heights and this was challenging them. What they didn’t realise at the time, was I was a bit nervous at points as well! I did try and look brave – brave face while thinking my knickers may need changing soon!

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We encountered some Instagrammers from the USA who decided it was clever to hold a yoga pose at the top, off the track and on the edge. You hear how people fall off the edge of the Grand Canyon while trying to get that Insta photo… well this could have been the same, but thankfully they got down ok.

Going down from the top we went by Cable Car for the first section, and then by gondola to Kriens, We had the front seats by luck – actually by walking fast and getting ourselves just ahead of crazy tourist groups.

From Kriens, we caught the bus back to Lucerne where we reflected on the experience of Pilatus.

P – Petrified, I – Impressive, L – Laughing hysyterically, A – Ass-clenching, T -Terrifying, U – Unnerving, S – Smiling (upon reflection)

We had a late lunch of fantastic burgers at Bahnhofli. They were fabulous, full of flavour and a nice wine helped us relax into the afternoon.

On the way back to apartment we brought some bits and pieces for a platter for dinner and spent the evening relaxing, looking over our photos, uploading, chatting and reflecting etc.

Well it kind of started with a macaron… We actually did have breakfast before packing our cameras into the day pack and heading to the city to retrace some steps from yesterday and get the photos we saw but didn’t get!

On our way to pick up my watch from the jewellers, we stopped at a Bachmann store – one of the leading confectioners in Switzerland. They had these gorgeous tiny macarons in so many different flavours. They were only mini macarons – about 25mm round. After buying some, instead of eating them we thought it would be a good idea to play with them and take photos. I am not sure the guy outside watching us thought we were sane! We know we might not be, but that’s another story.

There is only so much you can do without a macro lens… and we did have the macaron sitting on a ledge, on a box, while we manipulated it into different positions trying to get a good photo!

We meandered around the city playing with our cameras and trying different settings, ideas, in-camera options and sharing with each other.

It was market day along the riverside which had the most amazing array of summer fruits, vegetables, meats, flowers, cheeses etc. Ahh, takes us back to summer. And it certainly feels like summer here at a balmy 28 degrees C.

It took us a long time to cross the river as we played with or cameras trying to get photos of jumping fish and the Chapel Bridge from many different angles. Eventually we made it and by then it was time for wine, and some food.

We found a lovely Mexican Cantina/Bar called Pacifico Mexican Cantina. We had lovely salads with Chicken and Beef, and a great balance of flavours. This went well with a nice Pinot Grigio wine of course.

We sat outside in the shade, and the rest of the tables seemed to be upmarket businessmen. Funny, as we were in our shorts, t-shirts and with backpacks, but we didn’t care.

We all went to the bathroom at different stages, and it was downstairs in a darkish underground area. There was a bright red light shining on the one and only step – and all three of us tripped up the same step (without falling over), despite all warning each other as we went!!

After lunch, we walked around the town on the business side of the bridge before heading back to the apartments.

After checking out our photos, successes and failures, critiquing, laughing etc, Suzanne chose her favourite two images for the day.

Why Suzanne likes it: The apotheke is the oldest working chemist in Lucerne. It also has a dragon on the wall. She didn’t rate it at first, but Kirsteen installed a new app for her and showed her how to use it. After making minor adjustments, she now likes it.

This is Suzanne’s water image. As a result of playing with slow shutter speeds, this is the result – a pleasing one. All this playtime is paying off.

After a pre-dinner tipple, we took the Lucerne City Train. This winds it’s way through the city streets, and is accompanied by an audio guide about the points of interest, and the history of Lucerne. This is a great way to get your bearings before exploring the city yourself.

Heading to dinner, Kirsteen decided to pose like a doorway statue and did quite a good job of it.

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We had dinner at a small Italian Restaurant close to the apartment. We thought there looked liked a few locals so had to be good. It wasn’t that great, mind you the dinner from Monday night is always going to be hard to beat.

During the walk home we came across a concert in the park, which we briefly listened to before heading home.

A good nights sleep before heading to Mount Pilatus tomorrow.