Destination 3 – Lucerne, Switzerland
Where? In the attic of the ‘The Bed + Breakfast’
When? Wednesday 27 May – Monday 1 June
Official language? German
Interesting facts I’ve learnt about Lucerne:
- The city’s most famous landmark is the beautiful Kapellbrucke (Chapel Bridge) originally built in 1333 making it the world’s oldest sheltered bridge in Europe.
- The water level of Lake Lucerne is manually regulated by timber planks known as the ‘Needle Dam’.
- The Musegg Towers, of which there are 9, have guarded the city since the 13th century. The Zytturm Tower houses the city’s oldest clock dating back to 1535. It is given the privilege of chiming one minute before all the other clocks in Lucerne.
- The ‘Crying Lion of Lucerne’ rock sculpture commemorates Swiss soldiers who were killed in 1792. Well-known American Author, Mark Twain famously praised the monument saying the Lion was “the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world.”
The Kappelbrucke (Chapel Bridge)
The Crying Lion of Lucerne
A snapshot of thoughts and insights I have gained over the past few days in Lucerne:
- My favourite sort of accommodation is a bed and breakfast. The lovely ladies working here make us feel so welcome, it’s as though we’re staying at a friend’s place. Everything is more personalised so we feel as though we’re really being looked after, not just any other guests in a chain hotel. The breakfast here is top notch too! There’s only 8 rooms in the house so the food isn’t bought in bulk like it would be at a hotel. The breakfast produce feels as though it’s been carefully selected. It’s fresh, tasty and a delight to wake up to each morning.
- My new dream job is a Chocolatier, why did I never think of this before?!
- The clock that sits above the church nearby our attic chimes every 15 minutes. Yes, a little irritating, particularly through the night but very handy when getting ready as I know exactly what time it is, and how much time has gone by, without looking at my watch or phone! I wish we had one in Lesmurdie!
- ‘Lucernians’ love to cycle! Just as there were small dogs everywhere in Geneva, there are people pedaling along on bicycles everywhere you look here!
The street view of ‘The Bed + Breakfast’.
Our room in the attic. So much space and natural light!
Bikes lined up, row after row, at the Lucerne train station.
Just as we were starting to perfect ‘Bonjour’ in Geneva we travel to Lucerne where we’ll now have to get our heads around the German greeting, ‘Guten Tag’! Lucerne (spelt Luzern here) falls into the German-speaking region of Switzerland.
Not only has the language changed but also the scenery. We are now surrounded by mountains! You can catch glimpses of different mountains looking out of each separate window in our room. Some of them are snow-capped and look so incredibly beautiful! There’s definitely something about snow, I suppose from living in sunny WA, that just gets me so excited!
Snow-capped mountains!
Instead of catching glimpses from our windows we decide to get to the top of one nearby, Mount Pilatus. It was a really spontaneous trip we decided to make late on the Friday morning. We decide on a ‘Golden Round Trip’ which includes a ride on an aerial cable-car, a panorama gondola, the steepest cogwheel train in the world and then a boat cruise. We had to make sure we timed everything perfectly to ensure we made the last boat trip back to the city centre of Lucerne. Thankfully, it just happened to be one of those days where everything went our way.
We rode up on the panorama gondola 1416 metres above sea level to ‘Frakmuntegg’, a stop part way up the mountain. Here John and I have a go at the luge which is down a long and winding silver half pipe track. After pelting down, we get pulled up backwards on our carts giving us the opportunity to take in the most magnificent view of Lucerne.
An aerial shot of the luge track.
We take one more luge ride down before deciding to get a move on further up the mountain to the very top, ‘Pilatus Kulm’ 2132 metres above sea level. The temperature has now seriously dropped to icy levels! We decide to get active to warm up so we follow one of the trails around the top of the mountain to the summit. It’s only just been re-opened after a heavy snowfall about a week earlier. We start walking the trail very cautiously, slipping here and there on the sludgy snow. It’s only until we get further along that we realise the start of the path was the best of it. It only gets more narrow, more snow-covered and far steeper as we go along! There’s only a thin railing between us and the sheer rocky edge! After an hour of concentration and exhaustion, carefully choosing each step we take, we make it to the summit! I’m so knackered that I can’t initially even lift myself from the bench for a photo!
After about 15 minutes of being at the Mount Pilatus summit when I finally manage to stand up for a photo!
We realise it’s not long before we need to be back to make the cogwheel train ride down the mountain so we bolt back down and around as fast as our feet will carry us. Somehow, we make it back in time, take the cogwheel train down the mountain (I snooze the whole ride down!) and then take a relaxing boat cruise back into Lucerne. What an amazing experience. We woke up that morning not having a plan for the day to finishing the day having made it to the summit of one of Switzerland’s most iconic mountain tops!
A lone chapel perched on Mount Pilatus!
One thing we’ve taken to doing in Lucerne is eating a picnic dinner in the garden of our bed and breakfast house. It’s a far cheaper option than eating out every night! We eat as late as 9pm because the sun is up here well into the night. It only starts to disappear from about 10pm! We walk to one of the nearby supermarkets and pick ourselves an assortment of fresh produce such as cherry tomatoes, plums, nectarines, blackberries and then some crackers, cheeses and cold meats. So delicious!
On the topic of delicious, one of my definite highlights of the holiday so far has been our day trip to a nearby town called Interlaken to make chocolate at the ‘Funky Chocolate Club’! We arrived to the little cosy shop at about 9.30am with our stomachs groaning as we’d left Lucerne before the 7am breakfast start time. As we wander around, looking at all the chocolate goodies, we feel even more hungry! There’s the normal wrapped bars but there’s also chocolate in all sorts of shapes – spanners, skulls, spoons, salami and even penises!
5 cheeky reasons why chocolate is better than men!
A chocolatier by the name of Michaela, co-owner of the Funky Chocolate Club, apologies to us for not starting on time and kindly treats us to a hot chocolate while we wait. This isn’t just any hot chocolate made of powder, this one is real warm melted chocolate with milk that’s frothy on the top. The best I’ve ever tasted!
We get started in the ‘Chocolate Lab’! We begin by learning some interesting facts about chocolate. Some of which include:
- Chocolate originated in Mexico and was then brought to Europe.
- 70% of the world’s cocoa beans come from the Ivory Coast in Africa.
- Lindt chocolate comes from Ghana in Africa.
- There is a particularly rare and coveted chocolate called ‘Porcelana’ (‘porcelain’) that is made from larger and lighter cocoa beans that are less-widely produced.
- Some say that in 10 years, chocolate may be so rare that it will cost as much as caviar! This is due to the increasing demand globally and the difficulty associated with growing the cocoa pods in the perfect conditions.
John and I temper, seed and pipe our chocolate into trays and then decorate the flat side of the bars before they head into the fridge to set.
Looking like proper Chocolatiers with our chef hats and aprons!
All the different toppings for our chocolate bars!
We pick up our homemade choccie about an hour later feeling proud of our efforts! How amazing would it be to make chocolate for a living?! It’s officially my new dream job!
Stoked with my giraffe print chocolate (I’d already eaten half at that point!)
The quaint town of Interlaken.
Couple selfie shot!
We blitz 18 holes of mini golf (John wins, whatever) and then bid goodbye to Interlaken to head back to Lucerne. We’ve got to get some washing sorted before we pack for our train ride to Munich tomorrow. The next couple of hours after returning to our attic consist of John and I soaking our dirty washing in the sink with liquid hand wash! Ahh the life of travellers! We then string up our sodden clothes all over the bathroom, in the hallway, on the staircase railing, over the wooden rafters in our room- literally everywhere! How’s that for glamorous!
We enjoy our last breakfast in the sunlit dining room on Monday morning. It really is a beautiful room. There’s a giant canvas map on one wall that John and I have looked at each morning curiously discovering islands we’ve never heard of before.
Lucerne has such natural beauty and a undeniable country charm with it’s mountains, chiming clocks and locals getting about with pedal power. I can definitely see why this place is a magnet for tourists. A little slice of Swiss paradise.
Big Kid Me - Travel Adventures 