Of Castles and B.B. Kings

Two weekends ago, as I was in the grip of the European Tonsillitis of Doom, I took the time to go infect other locations in Switzerland, namely, Luzern. Normally I would be all too happy to nurse a sore throat by lying in bed with some soup all Saturday long, but this particular weekend was special. It was the start of the highly-respected Luzern Blues Festival, and the entrance to the first night's show was free. When you combine those two phrases ("blues music" and "FREE!!!!!"), there's no keeping me away.

So Simon and I took the train to Kussnacht and hiked 3 or 4 hours along the lake to Luzern. Kussnacht to me embodies all the elements of what makes a town Swiss: a lake, mountains, rolling green hills dotted by a few houses, a bus station, and of course, happy Swiss cows.


Along the way was a castle with a vineyard, rather closed for the season but still impressive to look at.

Once in Luzern, we met up with friends for Thai food (cheap by Swiss standards at merely $20 an entree) and headed to the show at the Schweizerhof hotel. The show ended up being far from free once you included the cost of beverages from the bar, but the venue was lovely, and while the music wasn't B.B. King (or Kim Massie, for that matter), it was a good show with an actual blues band imported straight from the U.S. Though I'm not sure what they were thinking when they played that polka..