Wed, 10/5 and Thu 10/6

Disembarkation day! Viking made an error and included us in an invitation for a walking tour of Basel that was intended for the new embarking passengers. We graciously accepted the invitation but that meant hanging around the ship until 1 PM for the tour. We sat in the lounge and visited and read, etc and, of course, had lunch while waiting. 
Basel is a very business oriented city with huge emphasis on pharmaceutical firms like Roche, Novartis, Bayer, etc and little emphasis on tourism though there were some interesting sites. The Basilisk is the symbol for Basel, a mythical creature described as "a cock with dragon wings, the beak of an eagle and the tail of a lizard." It's seen on many fountains with water coming out of its mouth.

The town hall is a beautifully decorated large building with an inner hall just as elaborate as the outside.

Foyer of town hall

Town hall

The old town is high above the river and there is a viewpoint from which you can see a ferry that ferries passengers from one side of the river to the other. It is attached to a cable over the river and the direction is determined solely by the rudder and the movement of the current of the river.

A highpoint of the tour for me was tasting roasted chestnuts for the first time. It's autumn so the chestnuts are ready and there are stands all over the place roasting  chestnuts. I enjoyed them....I'd try them again.

Me with my bag of chestnuts

After the tour we returned to the ship, claimed our luggage and took a taxi to our hotel near the train station. Basel (and I suppose all of Switzerland) is ridiculously expensive. We had a nice room but nothing special for approximately $260/night. The Swiss feel that an indoor winter temperature of 73 is PERFECT! Our expensive room was quite toasty warm. Then we went next door to a nice Italian restaurant (again, nothing spectacular) and had an exorbitant (but tasty) dinner.
The next morning we took the train to Lucerne. What a gorgeous and picturesque city! Everywhere you look is a post card view.

We meandered around the town on both sides of the river then hiked to the old city wall where there are still nine of the original watchtowers. This was a STRENUOUS walk in which there were some of us that felt that they might not survive. First we walked uphill for perhaps 1/2 mile then climbed about a million steps.

Some of these people are not having a good time

And there were many more

But the view.......

Wall with a tower just visible

It was a beautiful view over the city plus we felt very entitled to lunch after. 
After a nothing special lunch we took a boat ride on Lake Lucerne where we could see the city from a different perspective and also get a better view of the mountains.

It was a great last day with us all together.