Blogs from Lucerne, North-West, Switzerland, Europe

Today has been wet! All day, non stop. This has been the only day since we arrived in Europe where we've had to resort wet weather gear. Fortunately we have all the gear plus umbrellas - raincoats, over trousers, backpacks with covers and good shoes. So, off we went. We discovered a bus outside the hotel to get us to the station and from there we walked. Firstly over the ancient covered Chapel Bridge where at least it was dry. The view of the city buildings from here is wonderful - ancient and detailed buildings, the city wall with it's towers, the clock tower and church spires and the rushing water of the Lucern River. We decided to follow the walking tour map in our books so our next stop was at the Jesuit Church. It ... read more

Our morning started with packing, breakfasting, cleaning up amd walking over to Irvahn's for a coffee before catching the train to Lucern. Sadly, it's time to move on and it has been fabulous to spend physical time with my favourite niece, her kids and her husband, Marc. We returned to our house and Marc drove over to pick up our luggage and take us to the station. The weather was looking dicey so not a day to drive over the Klausen Pass so we had chosen to get the train to Zurich, have lunch, then train to Lucern. On arrival in Lucern, we had to find our Ibis hotel which looked not far on a map. Towing luggage isn't easy when it's for a kilometre. We booked into our rooms and were surprised how small they ... read more

Day 4 – May 29 Today was reserved for an optional trip up the Stanserhorn for a spectacular view of the Alps and Lake Lucerne from above. We travelled by bus twenty minutes out of Lucerne to the funicular station at Stans. The funicular took us a third of the way up the mountain where we transferred to the Cabrio cable car system. The unique feature of this gondola is that it has an open top deck permitting unrestricted views of the landscape all around. At the top of the gondola run is a large viewing platform and restaurant. Leading off from this area are a number of walking trails including one leading to the very summit of the Stanserhorn. Our guide took us on a 45-minute hike to the top and provided insightful commentary along ... read more

My mum and I had booked a journey on panoramic trains in Switzerland. We had started our trip in Basel, travelled to Chur, from there to St. Moritz on Glacier Express, and had spent a (rainy) day in St. Moritz. From there, we had caught Bernina Express to Tirano, travelled to Lugano by bus, and spent a day in Lugano. On Wednesday morning (30thof August), the last leg of our journey was to start. We walked to the train station from our hotel and caught the Gotthard Panorama Express from there. The train goes all the way up Gotthard Pass and ends in Flüelen on Vierwaldstätter See. Our route took us through Bellinzona, the capital of the canton Ticino with its castles. Then we went across fascinating viaducts and through tunnels and ultimately entered the Gotthard ... read more

An exciting day planned. First to Lucerne across the lake by boat and then the afternoon at the Transport Museum. Got off to a disappointing start as when I went to get bread from the campsite shop at 9am I was told it was sold out. As in the afternoon yesterday i had specially gone to the shop to order some but been told there was no need to preorder I was a little taken aback. Order is firmly made for tomorrow and I had nuts and a date for breakfast. Bob always has some Weetabix handy for emergency ‘no bread’ situations like this.😊 We headed for the boat quai for the 10.35 boat across to Lucerne, having checked the timetable yesterday, only to find this boat doesn’t seem to exist. Totally ... read more