| Murten, or Morat, should be a much more popular stop than it is. It has a well-preserved wall; there are lovely views of the river; and the shopping arcades in the center of the old town are as inviting as any I have seen. But for us on this trip, something seemed to be missing. We were never able to decide what made the difference for us, but Murten just didn't have the appeal that we expected it to. | 
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Near Montreux stands the Castle of Chillon made famous by Byron in his poem, "The Prisoner of Chillon." In the "dungeon," the tourist can see the pillars to which the prisoners were chained as well as the graffiti left by Byron and other 19th century tourists. City buses run from Montreux to the castle. Don't miss the great views across the lake from the castle to the city. |
| The Lion of Lucerne has to be one of the most poignant monuments in the world. It was designed in memory of men from Lucerne who had served as mercenaries for Louis XVI. These men had died at the Tuileries Palace protecting the king. The look on the dying Lion's face is truly one of the saddest I have ever seen. The lion monument is located only a few blocks away from the center of the city and can easily be visited even by the traveler who has just a short layover at the train station. | 
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From the cemetery in the churchyard, we could see up to Gruyeres' old castle. We really liked the little time that we got to spend here. We had visited Gruyeres as a part of one of our student tours and had decided then that we wanted to return. However, getting there without a car involved some hard work. A private train took us from the main line toward Gruyeres; we had to make one exchange, and if the conductor hadn't guessed where we wanted to go, we would have missed it. Finally, from the train station, the walk to the old city is about a mile, all straight up! |
| Stein am Rhein lies in the northeast corner of Switzerland on the Rhine. It was one of the places that we had decided we just had to see. The deocrated buildings make Stein one of the loveliest towns anywhere, but on the day of our visit, the weather was so uncooperative that we didn't get a chance to see it at its best. Instead, we spent most of our time ducking into buildings to get out of the rain. | 
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Liechtenstein may be the only country in the world with a railroad running through it and no train stations. We got off the Swiss train at Buchs and boarded the bus for Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein. It took us quite a while to convince the bus driver that our Swiss rail passes were valid for this trip. In Vaduz, we got our passports stamped at the tourist office (for a small fee, of course), and Brenda got to see the royal couple on their stroll down to the city from the castle. |