Munich to Luzern [Day Thirteen]

Up WAY to early, and down to the station. Short wait for our train and we were off. I think this is the best trip for scenery we have been on so far. So many small villages, green grass, huge mountains, perfectly still lakes.

Our train was due to arrive in Zurich at 11:44, and our connection to Luzern due to depart at 12:04. 20 minutes to spare. As we were getting closer I realised we were running late. About 15 minutes late! Before the train pulled into the station we had all our gear ready, pack on my back, ready to jump out as soon as it stopped. We ran to our platform to find no train! Luckily it pulled in about a minute later and we made it on no problems.

The journey up to Luzern was again spectactular. We headed closer and closer to the mountains making for more amazing views.

We arrived in Luzern early afternoon. Again the first job was to purchase tickets for our journey the following day. We had planned to travel to Interlarken - a smaller village in the mountains. After some research I had found there was a normal train taking about 50 minutes, and a scenic train, taking a couple of hours. We had planned to spend a few hours in Interlarken, then late afternoon head to Geneva. Problem - currently there are no direct trains to Interlarken. To get there we would need to take two trains and a bus, taking about 4 hours. It turns out the direct trains start up in about a weeks time, GAH!

So we ended up getting tickets direct to Geneva, then headed to our Hotel. We are staying at 'The Jailhouse' - and it is exactly how it sounds, an old converted jail. Its quite cool - all the doors are HUGE wooden things, there are bars over all the windows.

It was good to be in a smaller town after being in so many huge cities. The place seems really nice and friendly. The scenery is indescribable - on the edge of a huge lake with mountains just in the distance.

We decided to follow the recomended walking trail to see the sights. The first stop was Musegg Wall - the city wall built in 1386 which is still very intact. From the wall you look out over the city, lake and mountains - breathtaking views.

We then headed down into the old town and wandered through the narrow streets. We found lots of small city squares, nice churches and fountains. Wandering into some of the small shops we found a HUGE Toblerone, as well as some amazing chocolate shops.


Slightly north of the old town lies 'The Dying Lion of Luzern'. It is a huge lion carved out of a rock face - created in memory of the death of the Swiss mercenaries at the Tuileries in 1792. I'm unsure exactly what that is, but I will endevour to find out at some stage. Cool monument anyway.

Heading toward the lake we found Hof Church - a huge church that towers over the town. At the lakes edge we were once again blown away by the beauty of this place. There were lots of swans, the leaves were orange and falling from the trees - postcard perfect. At this point we decided to get some lunch. We headed to a small cafe and got a sausage roll and some swiss cheese pie. The pie was exactly as described, a pie base, then about 1cm of cheese. We managed to get about half way though it...

As the sun set we decided to find somewhere for dinner. Turns out this place is INSANELY expensive, so we settled for BK. Walking back to our hotel we got beautiful views of the city lights reflecting in the water. A nice way to finish the day.

Next Post - 'Luzern to Geneva'