Lucerne, Switzerland

Wow...I know I will say this a lot and that you probably won't believe me this time: but Switzerland really is the most beautiful place on earth.

We left Venice on Friday at 2:30 and got to Lucerne around 11:00. Loooong afternoon of trains. We passed Lake Como on our way, so I gave George Clooney a little shout-out. We checked into our hostel when we arrived (Backpackers Lucerne, I highly recommend it, gorgeous view) and set out to find something to eat because we were starving and needed beer. The place we originally went was closed so we stopped by the restaurant right next to our hostel. It was 11:30 by this time and the restaurant closed at 11:00. However, the owner of the place was SO nice and re-opened his kitchen to make us food. He even gave us to-go cups for our beer when we were finished. The Swiss are good people, let me tell you . . . that would not happen in Venice.

On Saturday morning we got up early. The hostel made a mistake with our reservation so we had to check-out and check back in on Saturday night (they gave us a free Toblerone for our troubles though!). With the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky we could really see the city for the first time and it was incredible. We walked by the water side and saw huge swans with their goslings and ducks with their ducklings. SO cute. Also, every single couple we saw had a baby. It was weird. I also passed the PwC Lucerne office on our way . . . remind me again why I went to law school?

We then walked towards the part of Lucerne that is called the “old town” and saw the famous Lucerne bridge. As we were walking across the famous bridge, we saw heavenly lights once again and stopped into Starbucks. I got a $8 venti latte and it was worth every penny. We then tried to grab breakfast but the waitress kicked us out because we brought our Starbucks in with us. I believe her exact words were “this is not a picnic area.”

After our caffeine rush, we walked around old town. They have tons of cool shops. We stopped in H&M (obviously) and were assaulted by all the safe-sex, stop AIDS advertisements. Let's just say we found a little treat in our bags when we got home.

After a long morning of shopping, we rented a paddleboat and went out on the Lucerne lake. It was lovely and relaxing. The water is crystal clear.

After we grabbed a quick lunch, we went and saw the famous Lucerne lion monument. The lion was carved into the side of a mountain to commemorate the Swiss Guards who died while defending Marie Antoinette in the French Revolution. Mark Twain said it was the saddest piece of rock he's ever seen. I would have to agree, it was pretty moving.

We then went to the most amazing chocolate store ever (if you didn't know, the Swiss are kinda known for their chocolate). They had fresh bars of chocolate with every possible ingredient in them (nuts, candy, cereal, espresso!). We got more than a little and practically ate our entire weight in chocolate.

After a very long day, we went back to our hostel to shower and nap. We got all dressed up and went to a fondue restaurant for dinner (another Swiss specialty). Afterwards we went to this very swank restaurant by the water for a drink and then headed to Treibhaus, a cool little bar, to end the night. There were huge sculptures on the wall made out of cardboard. It was fun but we felt a little out of place because it was full of hipster German backpackers.

Sunday morning we woke up and walked over to see Richard Wagner's house (now museum) which was really close to our hostel. We then walked back to old town where I had the best breakfast ever consisting of hot chocolate and a pretzel.

Our train left at 2:30 and we got back in Venice around 9:00. A long, tiring weekend but totally worth it. I'm definitely going back to Switzerland someday!

More blogs to come about the infamous pub crawl and our upcoming Rome adventures!

Love-Al