Switzerland has been my one of my dream travel destination for the longest time ever. As a young and not very worldly adult, whenever I thought of the possibility of travelling to Europe, I only thought of going to the England and Switzerland. We learnt about Switzerland from our Social Studies textbooks, and it was quoted as a model example of harmony across the different ethnic groups. Growing up, I've not heard a single person speak ill of the country. All I've heard was how beautiful the place is, especially with its enchanting mountains.
So when I chanced upon the promotion fare of only €77 for a return journey by TGV Lyria to Switzerland (from Paris), we immediately booked the trip for our first term break without any second thoughts.
To my dismay much later, most of the mountain railways/ cable cars are closed for maintenance during that very same weekend of 26 to 30 October! There are almost no mountains, which we can go to, that has railways/tramways/cable ways in full operation. Given the rather high price tag, it would be silly to go partially up the mountain and not be able to reach its peak. Hence, I decided that our first trip to Switzerland would just have to be without any mountains!
Another thing I learnt as well, is that while the transportation to Switzerland can be enticingly cheap, the cost of accommodation and transportation within the country itself will make most travellers cringe. A night's stay at a very basic hotel would easily set you back by €120 per night, and a short train ride of an hour will cost about €24. The sums quickly add up, and our trip accumulated to €430 per person just for these two expenditures alone. o-O
Nevertheless, Switzerland is still as stunningly lovely as I had imagined it to be and I'm already dreaming of returning next Spring/ Summer!
****************************************************************
Zurich
Our TGV Lyria train took us from Paris to Zurich in 4 hours. After a much needed night's rest, we woke up to the beautiful autumn sunshine:
 |
| Lake Zurich |
We had a rather tight schedule and were going to leave for the next town at 11:30 am. Nevertheless, we still managed to enjoy quite a bit of its beauty just from the outside.
 |
| View from the courtyard at Grossmünster |
 |
Grossmünster
(An evangelical protestant church in the old town of Zurich) |
 |
| Beautiful retro building on the street |
 |
| Autumn leaves along the lake side |
 |
Fraumünster
(Church and convent once inhabited by the female aristocrats) |
 |
| Fraumünster wasn't open yet when we arrived, but the cloister was. |
 |
| Beautiful frescos by Paul Bodmer at the cloister of Fraumünster |
 |
| Passed by some beautiful window display at a chocolate shop for Halloween |
 |
St. Peter's Church in autumn is just amazing.
Accordingly, it has the largest tower clock face in the whole of Europe! |
If you only have a very short time in Zurich like me, don't give up and spend the time lazing in the hotel room! Zurich is extremely easy to navigate and you can do a quick stroll through Old Town and enjoy the sights like I did. Be sure to grab a copy of the Zurich City Map, which has a helpful list of all the major attractions and their brief descriptions, a handy walking map, and a map of their public transport system. That's almost all you need to enjoy Zurich!
****************************************************************
Lucerne (Luzern)
In just slightly under an hour, we arrived by train to the beautiful town of Lucerne. Similar to Zurich, the town of Lucerne is also next to a lake (Lake Lucerne). However, compared to Zurich, life at Lucerne definitely seems more relaxed.
 |
| Beautiful view of east side Lucerne with Church St. Leodegar prominently in view |
Hungry as we were, we quickly settled down for lunch at Burgerstube, a restaurant with the Wilden-Mann Hotel. We were looking for some cosy local food and were definitely not disappointed! There's lunch menu on offer so we could enjoy ourselves without dipping too much into our pockets.
 |
| The restaurant sits in an old refurbished building dated from more than a hundred years ago! |
I had the set menu of Garden parsley soup, and Pork cordon bleu served with croquettes and colorful vegetables. The cordon bleu was good with the cheese oozing out from every cut. What i liked was that they actually took care in preparing the sides: the vegetables are so good I would have ordered them on their own, and the croquettes are definitely one of the best I've eaten.
 |
| I would come back any time! |
One of the other plus points of this restaurant was that their service was impeccable. The waitress who served us was sincere and very attentive to our needs. When her shift ended in the middle of our meal, she even introduced her colleague who will serve us afterwards. I must say I've never expected such great service and it totally puts some five-star hotel-restaurants to shame.
After lunch, we continued to explore the lovely old town. Lucerne is very pedestrian friendly and you can most definitely visit all the major sites by foot.
 |
Spreuerbrucke (Spreuer Bridge) is the oldest timber bridge in Switzerland and was completed in 1408.
Similar to the more famous Chapel Bridge, it also features painted panels. |
 |
Nadelwehr (Needle Dam) was installed in 1859/1860.
Till date, it still uses the same system of manual insertion and removal
of timber "needles" to regulate the water flow. |
As you walk through old town, you will inevitably pass by the many shops and even small scale malls. The shops aren't overly touristy and they actually gave an added convenience of food and shopping to the stay here.
 |
Naturally, they is the Swiss Army Knife specialist shop as well.
They are several panels inside the shop showcasing the history and development of the famous army knives. |
 |
| We didn't buy any, but i find it fascinating just to look through the panels! |
 |
| Then of course, more (huge pieces) of chocolates every where! |
 |
| These chocolates are just so oddly cute! |
And then, out of curiosity (and because it looks so delicious) since almost all the bakeries in Lucerne sells it, I decided to buy this from Heini:
 |
| Luzerner Birnenweggen |
And boy, are they so so so so good!!!! The shop attendant tried to explain to me what the filling in (it is not chocolate) but did not succeed in doing so. I taste something similar to a mixture of pear and chestnuts maybe. The texture feels like soft bread/cake filled with azuki paste (red bean paste). I've not had anything like this before and it is totally amazing, you should definitely buy it if you go there!
In Lucerne, you can also find the outlet shop of Kuhn Rikon. For the uninitiated, it just sells kitchenware. But if you were to do more research, you must know that they produce and sell, in my opinion, the best peeler ever. I've used normal peelers and even ceramic ones but they aren't even half as good. This peeler just slides off the skin of even coarse and hard ginger! And at this outlet shop, you get almost everything on discount, seasonal or not.
 |
Get the metallic one. Trust me, you wouldn't regret it.
Swiss made and great as a souvenir as well. |
With
enough shopping done, we continued on our walk to see the famous Löwendenkmal (Lion monument). It's sculptured from natural rock in honor of the more than 600 Swiss guards who died during the French revolution protecting the royal family at Tuileries Palace in Paris. The little park and pond in front of the sculpture created a sad and solemn feel to any visitor.
 |
| The lion dying from a spear wound alongside with the shields. |
Accordingly, they couldn't raise enough money to fund the sculpturing. The artist obviously wasn't too happy about it but didn't want to destroy the artwork with respect to the fallen soldiers. To mock those who didn't support the project, he carved the "cave" in which the lion slept in the shape of a pig. But it was so subtle i didn't notice it at all then! Thumbs up to the passive-aggressiveness of the artist!! >.<
As dusk sets, we took a stroll along Lake Lucerne routing back to our hotel. Lucerne is such a beauty no matter which angle you look at it from... <3
 |
| You can take a scenic boat ride on Lake Lucerne too. |
 |
| The Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke) is the oldest covered wooden bridge in Europe. |
 |
It's hardly surprising why the Chapel Bridge and its tower is the town's landmark.
Unfortunately though, it was partially destroyed by fire in 1993 and while reconstructed, the scars are still evident. |
That ends our day at Lucerne! If you ever need any suggestion on where to stay in Lucerne, we are happy to recommend
Hotel Krone Luzern. It is centrally located, have everything you need and want (including an espresso machine in-room) and most importantly, is fairly priced! Unfortunately thought, I don't earn any commission for any recommendations!
 |
| A bright spacious room is always a good sign! |
 |
The lovely espresso machine with takeaway cups.
The hotel is so considerate to provide an umbrella for you too! |
And then, it's on to
Day Two at Laussane and around, yet another lake, Lake Geneva!
0 comments:
Post a Comment