Lucerne

on my second day in Zürich i met-up with a friend who offered to take me to Lucerne (or Luzern if you wanna be German about it).
Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and because of it's location on lake Lucerne it's one of those towns which gets loads of tourists. man, a lot of "Lucernes in that sentence!
i had actually had thought about going here as it's only an hour away from Zürich by train, but instead i got to ride in an audi with electric seat-warmers. mmmm

so off we zoomed passing through beautiful snow covered valleys and little townships with names like "Zug". on a fine day i would have been able to see the swiss alps, but thanks to the snow they were hiding.
i started to feel like the swiss alps didn't exist, as everyone kept saying "they're over there" or "just behind those clouds"... yeah right.

arriving in Lucerne i felt a little disappointed as it looked just like Zürich, only smaller.
i don't know what i was expecting, but i just thought Lucerne would be architecturally totally different.
the town was tiny but still had its charm, narrow cobble stoned streets lined with beautiful buildings flanking the river Reuss and all leading down to lake Lucerne.
when we got to the lake i couldn't even see it as it was snowing pretty heavily.
again, the alps where "just beyond the lake"...




ducked into a little cafe to "de-ice" ourselves.
the coffee in Switzerland has been great. strong and creamy (and expensive).
the actual cafes have all been amazingly old-fashioned reminding me of old coffee shops in Japan.
lots of crimson colored booth seating, well dressed elderly ladies, many many smokers, and these little containers of snacks on the table to hand-pick from.
just about all cafes advertise their "Apfelstrudel" (or apple strudel) served with vanilla ice cream or hot vanilla sauce. had to give it a go, bit sweet but very warming on a cold day.

while sipping coffee the weather cleared so we ventured out again to see the biggest attraction in Lucerne, kapellbrücke (chapel bridge) and its wasserturm (water tower).

this lovely bridge is actually the oldest wooden bridge in europe! now that's something. (built 1333).
it crosses the Ruess river, but why they built it at an angle i don't know. maybe back in the day they just wanted a "long" bridge...
saying that it's europe's oldest wooden bridge is a bit of a lie... some stupid guy dropped a cigarette a few years ago and boof, most of it was destroyed...
anyway, i imagined i was crossing the original bridge, makes it much more exciting.




we then went up the hill to see the old city wall.
me in my city-boy loafers found it a bit hard going slipping and sliding and finally had to grab hold of my friend's huge hand (he's german) otherwise i was never gonna make it to the wall.



to top off a great day sightseeing, i was made a yummy cheese fondue for dinner, this time washed down with swiss wine.


* ps: thanks a million to D&S for the great time!