On this trip I got to see the Alps for the first time! They were so beautiful to look at on the ride over from Strasbourg to Luzern.
We were only in Luzern for one day and the only thing I could think of while there was just how expensive everything was. The Swiss Franc conversion is on par with the US dollar conversion so we didn’t have to worry about complicated math. But we did have to worry about finding actually affordable food. The cheapest lunch we could find was 10 francs for a small, subpar sandwich from Starbucks. And our dinner, subpar Italian food, was 14 francs. We were looking around for over an hour for each meal. Absolutely ridiculous!
I suppose that affected my opinion of Luzern as well. That and the fact that there wasn’t much to do and most of the shops and restaurants were closed. I definitely couldn’t see myself living there but I’m glad I visited. The Kapellbrucke and surrounding Alps were gorgeous and I see why all the residents were so fit. Pretty much everywhere is uphill!
Our first stop was Kapellbrucke (Chapel Bridge). It is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe and the world’s oldest surviving truss bridge (something to do with how the load-bearing part) in the world.
We then walked into the Old Town, trying to find food. I loved how the building facades were all painted.
Our intention was to then head to Museggmauer, the medieval ramparts of the city. Unfortunately it opened in April, so we were a few days early. Too bad, because it would have given us great views of the city!
So we instead headed over to see the Lion Monument. It was carved to commemorate Swiss soldiers who died defending Louis XVI during the French Revolution. It kind of looks like Aslan!
We then ran out of things to do so we decided to enter Gletscher Garten, a glacier garden. 20 million years ago, Luzern was a glacier and the museum shows the scars (and potholes) left behind by it. Pretty cool. It also had a bunch of other random stuff, including some ancient artefacts, some rabbits and fish, some Swiss life objects and finally, most strangely enough, a mirror maze inspired by Spain’s Alhambra Palace.
 |
| I definitely studied this in Art History! |
 |
| The mirror maze was insane! I definitely got a little dizzy inside. |
Luckily we still got a somewhat decent view of Luzern from the viewing deck at the museum.
The rest of the day was spent walking around for a bit and drinking tea in McDonalds before finding the cheapest food for dinner before retiring to our hotel to watch NCIS reruns. Luzern definitely wasn’t my least favourite stop but it was still cute. Stay tuned for our time in Zurich, a city which I preferred much more!
Leave a Reply