So we fly into Zurich today, gather up our luggage and purchase a train ticket from the airport to Lucerne. Fifteen minutes later we are at Zurich’s main train station and find we are at the end of the line and have to switch trains. This lets us walk through the Hauptbahnhof, one of the world’s busiest train stations, which was a familiar stop for us in 2001 when we were hiking here. There are a lot of memories from that trip: (1) it was our first significant, organized, guided hiking trip, (2) we hiked near the Eiger, the Morteratsch and Roseg Glaciers in the Engadine, and Kandersteg in the Canton of Bern, (3) I fell and broke my elbow while hiking and had surgery in St. Moritz, and, (4) we took a train to Egilasau and found the house where Ross’ great-grandmother lived before emigrating. Anyway, we used the lockers in the train station to store luggage and clothing we didn’t need on various parts of our trip.

Less than an hour after leaving Zurich, we were in Lucerne. The last time we were here was in 1990 and not too much has changed, except the Swiss Franc was equal to about 60 cents then and today it’s about $1. And today a Diet Coke in a restaurant here costs $5. Yikes. And tourists. Lots of tourists. But I don’t remember much from before because we were jet-lagged then too. We do remember the Chapel Bridge, a covered wooden foot bridge that spans the Ruess River.

It was built diagonally across the river in the late 1300s as a mode of transportation for horses, etc., to get across. Of particular interest, are paintings in the trusses of the bridge which depict significant events in the history of Lucerne.

And, Ross’ great-great aunt was involved in painting one of them. Unfortunately, several of the paintings were destroyed by fire in 1933 and hers appeared to be among them. At this point we were pretty tired from our flight but decided to go see The Lion of Lucerne. This carving in stone was done in 1830 and is of a lion, mortally wounded by a spear.

It was done to commemorate the death of nearly 1,000 Swiss Guards who protected Louis XVI of France during the French Revolution. The lion is about 30 feet long and 20 feet tall and is in a quiet little park area.

We took the bus to the lion but walked back along the cobblestones in Old Town and fit in a bit of shopping. Specifically, Sheila bought a charm in a Pandora store. An Edelweiss.

We also stopped at Starbucks to pick up a souvenir coffee cup, another traveling addiction/tradition that we learned from travel friend Debby.

We poked in a few other shops enough to conclude that there are a variety of souvenirs one could acquire in Switzerland including: Swiss Army knives, cuckoo clocks, watches, cow statues, cowbells, Saint Bernard stuffies, and Swiss chocolates.

I found these garden decor pieces interesting – they reminded me of the three-headed woman statue we saw in Belgium.

Dinner was at an outdoor cafe along the river with a view of the Jesuit Church.

Then we called it a night with one more look towards the bridge and headed to the Marriott Renaissance, our home for a couple of nights.

As for a place to stay, it was terrific – located within easy walking and suitcase-wheeling distance of the train station, ditto with the main plaza area and Chapel  Bridge and Old Town. Tomorrow we take a day trip into the mountains.

 

 

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