THE BEST OF AUSTRIA & SWITZERLAND - 2010

13 days incl. travel, or 12 days from Vienna to Zürich (ZC)

Return to Austria Vacations

Vacation Overview

This journey covers all the highlights of two of Europe’s most beautiful countries. Enjoy 2-night stays in Salzburg, Zermatt, and Lucerne, and a 3-night stay in romantic Vienna. A more relaxed pace provides enough free time to really enjoy the scenic vistas and special included features, like a Danube River cruise, the Sound of Music’s lake country, Mirabell Gardens in Salzburg, Zermatt’s Mountain train, Chillon Castle at Lake Geneva, Berne, Interlaken, a ride on the Glacier Express from Chur to Zermatt, and time in ritzy St. Moritz.

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Add the Oberammergau Passion Play to Your Vacation (ZCO)

Things to see on your vacation: View Vacation Photo Slideshow

A Vacation Story Lion Monument

“The Lion of Lucerne” (Lowendenkmal) is a compelling statue in the north section of Old Town dedicated to the 42 members of the Swiss Guard who were assigned to protect Louis the XVI, Maria Antoinette and their family at the Royal Palace. When the Tuileries was stormed on August 10, 1792 by rioting Parisians at the start of the French Revolution, the king ordered the soldiers to lay down their arms. They were subsequently slaughtered by the crowd and the royal family was captured. Louis had made a big mistake. In 1821 Danish sculpture Berthel Thorwaldsen finished the sculpture, a 30-foot likeness of a wounded and dying lion with a broken lance in its heart and his paw resting atop the fleur-de-lys shield of the Bourbon king. The Latin inscription translated “To the bravery and fidelity of the Swiss.”