The next day we left Sursee, somewhat annoyed at the large bill. But the ever-increasing beauty of the surroundings soon made us forget such things. We always had the snow mountains before our eyes, and although it seemed to us that we had to reach them in a very short time, the way to Lucerne stretched quite enormously, and we found that the peg on the Hauenstein with its twelve hours but, after our way of measuring the ways, had erred greatly.
It was long after noon when we moved into Lucerne. As we had covered only a short distance the previous day, we did not stay long there, and decided to take the three o’clock steamboat to Flüelen. When we had hardly eaten anything in the inn, it was already time to leave; because we had to be on the beach earlier because of the horses. The tickets for the steamboat were not taken in an office, as in our country, but on the ship itself. Special stables, which are placed on deck for the transport of horses and similar animals, were not available, as on the Rhine steamers, because they know nothing about them. Rather, the animals to be crossed were led straight onto the decks, tied with a small rope to the railing of the ship, three or four feet high, and left to their own devices. Horses are rarely run over because they don’t have any, but cattle are all the more so. Beside our two mares three bulls came to stand so close that one of them almost closed an eye of our black horse with his horn.
But we got to Flüelen without any misfortune having happened. There we stopped at the “Adler”. After supper, as is my habit, I leafed through the visitor’s book and, to my delight, found some well-known names. When we are abroad, the smallest, most insignificant thing that reminds us of home often makes an indescribable impression on us. I felt it too when, turning a page, I suddenly found written in large letters: “Auditor Kühn and his wife” and shortly afterwards: “V.A. Lenz from Darmstadt”.