Day 3: One Last Glimpse of Luzern, Switzerland

On the last day, we had to make our 4:30 pm flight, so we decided to relax and walk into Old Town one last time. So I brought a duffel bag with no wheels...struggles. My friend carried my bag the whole time even to my resistance, but he insisted. Seriously thankfully he did because I honestly do not think I would have been able to make it. My arms are weak... We visited walked along the Musegg Wall and saw the same panoramic view as in the first day, but this day the sun was out this time. We walked to the Lion Monument again, back to the Church of St. Leodegar, and over to Lake Lucerne. We were all exhausted at this point so we decided to call it a day and head over to the train station. This marked the end to our time in Switzerland, so bittersweet, and completely worth it.

Lucerne, Switzerland

View from the sky

xoxo

Day 2: Mount Pilatus, Switzerland

The second day was probably my favorite day of the whole trip. I was fortunate enough to experience the Swiss Apls in all their glory and they were breathtaking. It's like the weather gods knew we were planning to see the Alps on this day because the sky was clear and unlike the previous day, no rain! The transportation in Switzerland is supposed to be one of the best in all of Europe (discovered this from my online research) and I would have to agree. We got on the bus from our hostel to the main station, transferred to another bus, we then walked to the Pilatus station to go up on the panorama gondola, and then made our way to the top on the aerial cableway. On our way, we took a quick stop in the middle of the mountain, there they offered snow opportunities like sledding or skiing. We took some quick pictures of the view of Lake Lucerne and Pilatus. Afterwards, we finally made it to the top of Mount Pilatus. It was like a dream, a very, very cold dream but luckily I had my mittens on stand-by. 

The mountains were nothing I had ever seen before. Yes, I took lots of pictures, but at the top I made a conscious effort to not be so concentrated on the pictures. I wanted to remember everything I saw up there because I did not know when or if I would be back. It called for a moment of reflection and appreciation. I am so appreciative that I was able to see a view like this, I only wish I was able to share this experience with my loved ones. I made a promise to myself up there that one day I would come back with the people I really cared about and loved. For the day, the company I was with would do I suppose... lol Anyways, I cannot explain in full what it was like to be up there and see that view on both sides. One side, the Alps. On the other, a view of Lucerne and Lake Lucerne. I could be up there all day if I wanted to, but my little fingers would freeze off. We decided to go inside for a while to thaw for a bit. I forgot to mention on the top of the mountain there is a hotel. Yes. A hotel. There we found a cafe and I got some hot chocolate. I think it was one of the best cups of hot chocolate I have ever had, definitely hit the spot. 

Swiss Alps

Lake Lucerne

Afterwards, I discovered an entry way to a mini cave wrapping around the mountain. Along the way, it outlined the story behind Pilatus. I do not remember it word for word but the main gist is a mythical story of dragons. That's all I remember, my apologies. At the end, I stared at the view of the city. I really hope one day I can come back. We decided to finally descend after a couple hours and go sledding. This was definitely one of the highlights as I have not been sledding since I was younger. They were old wooden sleds and the trail went all the way towards the end of the mountain. We loved it so much we did it twice. Of course, being clumsy and getting a little too cocky with my sledding maneuvers, I crashed into the snow a couple times. However, I was a professional by the second time, kicking up my feet and going full speed down the mountain. I was even in first place for a while. Sledding was probably the cheapest thing we did in Switzerland and worth every Swiss-Franc penny. We finally made it back into the city, much more tired than we did starting off the day, which means it was successful. We walked along the Chapel Bridge, which was even more beautiful at dusk. Finally, we went home to our warm beds.

Aerial Cableway and Lake Lucerne

 

The cave and I

Cutest little boy eating a pastry in front of a bird who wanted a bite

Being a daredevil...on the easy trail

xoxo

Day 1 1/2: Luzern, Switzerland

This post has been long over due, but I have been somewhat busy with school. The studying part of study abroad had to happen at some point...and it was kind of rough. I definitely did not sleep much this week, but that is okay. I pulled through and now I get to enjoy my weekend without having to worry about school. Wohoo! Okay, so it has been more than two weeks since I embarked on my trip out of Spain. My location of choice: Lucerne, Switzerland. I am so happy I ended up in this beautiful city because I fell in love. There would be moments when I would look around and think to myself, what a way to live. The city is filled with little shops and restaurants aligning the cobble stone streets, beautiful churches, Lake Lucerne, and most importantly, the Swiss Alps. My favorite part of this city aside from the Alps were the houses. I will explain more momentarily as I outline the first day and a half. 

I left on Thursday night, right after my last class of the day. My flight went straight to Zurich. I just want to take a moment to say I have been on my fair share of planes and I have never really been afraid of flying as I usually fall asleep the moment I sit in my seat. However, this flight has traumatized me. Okay, I am being a little dramatic, but I am a little more afraid now than I was before of flying. So, per usual, I did fall asleep right after I found my seat, but woke up unexpectedly to what I thought was turbulence. No. It was our plane taking off the runway and it was so frightening. The plane was shaking back and forth as it was picking up speed. It did not help to see it raining outside my window. My palms were sweating as I was saying silent prayers in my head and telling myself everything would be okay, it's just a little rain, no biggie. Luckily everything was okay, but man, I am officially afraid of flying and turbulence. Gulp. Okay, anyways, once we landed in Zurich we ran around trying to find our train because we had to transfer at a train station that would take us into Lucerne. You see, we were kind of on a time crunch. Our flight was thirty minutes delayed and then to follow, the train going to Lucerne was fifteen minutes delayed. We had to check into our hostel by 12 am. We made it into Lucerne at 11:40 pm. We hailed a taxi and made it to the hostel at oh about 11:54 pm. The hostess was just about to leave, which thankfully she did not...pure luck!

The next day we set out to explore the city of Lucerne. I did a little research prior to my arrival about the must-see locations within the city, so before the day was over, I wanted to make sure I had checked each one off my list. The sky was overcast and it was raining all day, but that did not stop us from exploring. We decided to walk into Old Town and pass through the Musegg Wall that separates the city. I loved walking, although we did get a little lost, we just followed our way to the Wall. On this walk, I fell in love with the homes of Lucerne. Each was completely unique, with old, bright colored shuttered, plants running along the side of the homes, with small details that I had never seen anywhere else. I wish I could go inside them; I can only imagine how beautifully decorated they would be. We crossed the Musegg Wall and discovered a beautiful view of the city. First place we went to in Old Town was the Church of St. Leodegar. It was incredibly beautiful, it had a grand organ and gold painted detail everywhere. We then walked towards Lake Lucerne, which was infested by beautiful, white swans. That was another part that I loved about Lucerne, the swans that swam alone or in large groups flocking toward the bread thrown by visitors or locals. From there, you could see the Kapellbruecke (Chapel Bridge). 

My favorite house in all of Lucerne

Another great house

Part of the Musegg Wall

Church of St. Loedegar

Organs inside the church

One of my favorite pictures...mainly because of the Dalmatian

Swans and Lake Lucerne

Chapel Bridge

At this point in the day, it started raining a lot. We wanted to find some shelter since we were sharing one umbrella and it was cold out. We stumbled across a Jesuit Church I had seen in my research, Jesuitenkirche, so we decided to go inside. Honestly, I think this is one of my favorite churches I have ever visited. The outside definitely did not reflect the beauty on the inside. The saying, "don't judge a book by it's cover," definitely applied here. The inside reminded me of Marie Antoinette and her luxurious lifestyle with the crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and the pink detail aligning the church. The photos I took definitely did not capture the colors that swirled in this church. The ceiling had a large mural on the ceiling in the middle of the church and large organs in the back. I was taking mini memory pictures because I never want to forget how this church made me smile in awe at the beauty. I hope I never forget about this church. The sky finally cleared up and as I looked in the distance, there you could see the majestic Mount Pilatus in all its glory. It was a perfect sight to see and we were lucky to be there for the couple of minutes the sky had cleared.

Jesuitenkirche

Inside

Chandeliers..so fabulous

Mount Pilatus

Afterwards, we continued to walk around. We stumbled across the town hall, which is now a mini art gallery on the first floor. We decided to find the Lion Monument or Lowendenkmal. I did not expect it to be so large, it was incredibly impressive and beautiful. It was sculpted on a cliff in 1820-21 to commemorate the Swiss guards who were massacred in the French Revolution. Afterwards, we shopped around some souvenir shops and decided to finally get dinner as we had been walking for about six to seven hours. We ate some delicious kebabs that definitely hit the spot and the rest of the evening we spent it in an Irish pub watching the opening ceremony to the Winter Olympics in Russia. Oh, great day.

Lion Monument

xoxo