Friday. Today is our last Eurail day. As I write this, I am sitting on the TGV, bound for Paris. Lorraine has been checking out any empty seats, as ours are facing backwards, which makes her feel sick. She seems to have found one at the end of the carriage. Once again, the TGV is incredibly smooth, fast and quiet. If only it went all the way to Melbourne! We enjoyed our ferry trip yesterday despite the fact that it was quite misty, almost foggy. We did a three hour trip and at the halfway point most of the other passengers got off. They would have been doing the trip up and over Mt Pilatus. You go part of the way by ferry, then funicular and cable car and home on a bus. (I think) I don't think they'd have been getting much of a view because of the fog although the peak of the mountain would be well above it. I saw a picture of the building at the top and I'm sure it was used in a James Bond film. After the ferry ride Lorraine hired an electric bike and rode to the statue of the sad lion while I walked there. It is carved into the side of a hill and honours the Swiss guards who were killed trying to protect Louis XV (?) and Marie Antoinette when the Bastille was stormed. Hundreds of the Swiss guards were killed but the king and queen had already escaped to another prison. It is a beautiful monument and reminded us both of Aslan, from "The lion, the witch and the wardrobe". Lorraine then went exploring on the bike and I wandered back through the old town, doing a little shopping for Swiss chocolates on the way. We were both exhausted after yet another walk in the old town later that afternoon, so we found a cafe just across from our hotel for dinner. It was great to have a simple salad after all the big meals we've been enjoying. This morning, after checking out of the hotel, we took the last of our French cracker biscuits (from the boat) and fed them to the swans and a couple of pigeons who asked nicely. The swans are a real feature of Lucerne and there must be dozens of them on the lake around the town centre. We caught an intercity train from Lucerne to Basel and then the TGV from Basel. We saw a man who thought he'd lost his blackberry and was going through his luggage in a bit of a panic. Met him again on the platform and he told us he'd found it so we told him about how Joe lost his computer and it was handed in. Everywhere we have been we have been impressed by people's friendliness, helpfulness and welcome. I don't think we've had one negative encounter. I just looked back at my last entry and saw the bit about the bottle of wine. Lorraine plucked up her courage to taste it last night and, as expected, it was foul. It went straight down the sink - and good riddance! One less thing to carry. We definitely have to pack lighter in future, and refrain from buying things. Our cases are unaccountably heavier than they were and I am trying to decide what can be thrown out before I go home. The weather forecast for both Paris and London is hot so it looks like the coat will not be needed after all. I didn't think I had bought much but the case is definitely getting harder to close. There will have to be some rearranging. That'll do for now. I'll try to put this on the blog when we get to Paris.