I Say Lucerne, the Swiss Say Luzern

J and I ended up spending Friday night holed up in our hotel room while he did some work while I read Bill Bryson's History of Everything. I could tell J felt bad that we were stuck at the hotel, but he made everything better by sharing some of the chocolate he received from his client. The chocolate was from Confiserie Sprungli, the place to get chocolate in Zurich, and it was amazing.

The next morning, J and I hopped on a train for an hour long ride to Lucerne as I had heard it was a very picturesque and charming town.

We started getting more and more excited as we got closer to town as we caught glimpses of the Alps, which were so beautiful that they almost looked fake.

The first thing we did when we got to Luzern train station was buy some gluhwein for J. He was pretty happy.

Once we left the train station, we wandered around and it wasn't long before we saw the charming part of Lucerne, mostly in part because the entire city was dressed for Christmas!

 

Of course, Lucerne had its share of sights to see.

Chapel Bridge, Europe's oldest wooden footbridge...

The dying lion of Lucerne carved into a cliffside in remembrance of the Swiss Guards that were killed in battle in the Tuileries...

The painted facades of the buildings...

The carved doors of St. Loedegar...

But most beautiful of all were the surrounding mountains and Lake Lucerne. The water was so incredibly clear that we could see the lake floor when we peered over the edge from the quayside. And the air was like none I've ever breathed - remarkably fresh with a hint of pine.

 

 

To be honest, I didn't think much of Lucerne as a city aside from its natural gifts. It was much too touristy, and it seemed like there was a H&M or cheap souvenir shop every time I turned around. I wish we had gotten to the city earlier so that we could've made the trip to Mount Pilatus, where you're able to get a phenomenal view of the Alps. We also wasted too much time walking around looking for the entrance to the Museggmauer, a wall that was part of the fortifications protecting Lucerne in the 13th century, which turned out to be underwhelming and closed for the winter!

I'd say better luck next time, but I doubt that we'll be returning unless I'm in dire need of a cowbell with "Luzern" inscribed on it. We were quite ready to leave by the time the sun started to set and happily got back on the train back to Zurich.