SCAND2003-05

IDEAS Homes for Vacation & Long-Term Rentals

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Woke up at 7 AM with a sore throat and I�m guessing I caught Dimitrii�s cold.

Finally got going at 8 because I had convinced Dr. Urs Thomann to get at least one patient for me to see at his clinic on Sunday, since we had missed all of them by getting into Luzern too late on Friday due to all the Russian visa problems. Even though it was Sunday morning, one lady was waiting for us at 9AM, so I drove the 15 miles to his clinic in Sursee. The lady had ThinOptX lenses in both eyes and they looked great. I took photos to send back to the company by email. Upon leaving I realized the gas was empty and luckily found a station open. A man filling his tank was able to tell me how to do it. Gas here is now $4.25-5.25 per gallon. I got back to Luzern just in time to make it to the 11 AM Mass at St. Maria in der Au Franziskanerkirke which on this Sunday had a choral group singing Bach music before and during the Mass. Even Marcia got up in time to hear the music before the Mass, it really was a special occasion. St. Monica�s should consider doing the same. But during the Mass it was even better. It was a unique experience. I went back to the hotel and had a cappuccino, then packed and we checked out of the hotel. I tried to do email at the hotel but was unsuccessful, so after an hour I gave up.

We were supposed to head to Mainz, German (near Frankfurt) to see patients of Dr. Burkhard Dick. We then discovered that Monday was a big national holiday (Pentecost) in Germany and we couldn�t do it Monday but he�d scheduled 14 patients for me on Tuesday. Now we have to kill and lose an extra day from our trip. We decided to go to Zurich since Marcia had never seen it and I was there for about 1 hour in 1974. So Marcia drove the 35 miles to Zurich in 40 minutes.

We checked into our first 5 star hotel (and hopefully our last) on the trip. It was called the Baur Au Lac on Tal Strassa. It was absolutely splendid.

Since it was now 8:30 and they had a treadmill in the spa, I used it for my run and by 9 PM we were hunting around for a place to eat. We walked around the old town which was very quaint and interesting and after finally finding that most of the places that were recommended were closed, we finally settled on the Restaurant Kronenhalle, which is well known for its famous art hanging on the walls (Picasso Chagall & Miro).

We had wine and aqua before I had my omelet and Marcia had gazpacho. Then we both decided to have their special which was called �Veal Kronenhalle�. Well, they brought us the meal which was very good but after we had eaten it, they brought us the same amount to eat again. It was like eating the same dinner twice. Believe me, we were really full and appreciated the dinner very much, especially the double helping of escalloped potatoes. For dessert I had a cherry �Eis� cake and Marcia had strawberries with cream.

After dinner we ambled down the main street where all the action was going on and stopped and had Champaign and cappuccino at the Odeon outdoor cafe.

I woke up at 9, and 12:30 but finally got going at 1 PM. I did my run on the treadmill in their spa looking out over the Zurich Lake (absolutely beautiful) until I finally had to finish running in the streets that run along the lake.

It was really nice with people and families enjoying the day all along the way. We sadly checked out of this beautiful hotel and had a cappuccino in the garden patio before leaving. We then headed on our way to Germany and the city of Mainz.