European trip #3: Lucerne, Switzerland

European trip musings #3: After wrangling the rental car into a space in the parking garage, we set off to see some of Lucerne on foot. Being raised in the suburbs, cities, especially old ones, fascinate me. I always love the architecture of the buildings, and Lucerne was my first glimpse of what lay ahead on this trip. This was where we found our first McDonald’s, which was a 2-story walk up, and actually quite busy. We saw the first Swatch store, of which we would see quite a few. I had forgotten that Swatch was Swiss made, and in the age of Apple Watches, really did not realize they were still around. Here’s a little bit about Swatch, from our good friend Wikipedia: Swatch is a Swiss watch company founded in 1983 by Ernst Thomke, Elmar Mock, and Jacques Müller. It is a subsidiary of The Swatch Group. The Swatch product line was developed as a response to the “quartz crisis” of the 1970s and 1980s, in which inexpensive, battery-powered, quartz-regulated watches were competing against more established European watchmakers focused on artisanal craftsmanship producing mostly mechanical watches. The name Swatch is a contraction of “second watch”, its concept of “low-cost, high-tech, artistic and emotional” watches marketed as casual, disposable accessories. ⌚️⌚️⌚️Since I stopped wearing watches several years ago (since I can’t see them without readers! 🤓🤭) I did not purchase a Swatch watch while in Switzerland. It was cool to check them out, as they are a fun accessory, and I’m glad to see they are still around. #swiss #europeancity #lucerne #europeanarchitecture