The way to skiing this year took us from Playa del Carmen to Cancun and through to Zurich and Lucerne. We actually planned a four-day break between when we arrived in Switzerland and when our rental in the ski town started. We try to leave extra time in case some of our bags don’t arrive, or we have very bad jet lag. The jet lag is very different every time we do a long-haul flight. This time, it wasn’t too bad. We didn’t feel too wiped out, but we each had some time awake around three a.m., and all of our bags arrived with us.
Two Days in Zurich
Mike and I had both been to Zurich before, but it had been more than 30 years, and neither of us remembered much.
In fact, I can honestly say, nothing looked familiar. Like most Swiss towns, Zurich is situated on a lake. The town is at the end of the lake, where crossing the water isn’t very far. The “old” town is on one side of the lake, and the “new” town is on the other. Of course, Switzerland is old, so both sides seemed pretty old to us.
The hotel I booked, the Hotel Glockenhof, was within walking distance of the entire town. We also had a traditional German dinner at a shared table on our first night in town. I should also mention that it was really cold and damp.
Walking Old Town Zurich
After a filling breakfast, we spent the next few hours exploring the oldest part of the city. We also walked to a park with historic buildings and some less-than-historic, but interesting, swans. In the afternoon, we walked around the newer part of town. Unfortunately, because it was Sunday, most of the high-end shops I remember from my previous visits were closed. I’m sure Mike wasn’t too upset about that.
On the way, we decided to stop at a bar and restaurant for lunch. I’m not big on German food, but I do have a weakness for spaetzle. So, that is what we ordered. After lunch, we walked back to the hotel across one of the bridges across the lake.
Museum of Swiss History
The next day, we decided to visit the Swiss National Museum. I know people have been living in the mountains of Switzerland for a really long time, but I didn’t realize that most Swiss were actually poor farmers. I should have thought about this because I had a friend whose great-grandfather immigrated to Switzerland. It was also interesting to see how lace and straw products were produced by hand to provide some income to rural households.
Another interesting thing we learned is that the Swiss vote on everything. In smaller towns, votes are taken in town meetings; in larger towns, votes are more automated. But the Swiss vote on things like filling potholes and repairing public works. And that is just the tip of it. The cantons are also very independent from one another and have their own character, language, and culture. The Swiss also fought in lots of wars before the modern era. That might explain their current aversion to war.
After Zurich, our next stop was Luzern, but along the way, we decided to stop off in Zug and have a look at the old town and the lake.
Zug, Lake, Town, and Birds
It was another cold, rainy day when we went to Zug, but I had seen it on the map and decided I wanted to go. It was so misty that we couldn’t see the other side of the lake. The town was just how you would imagine a small Swiss town would look. There were two large churches and well-preserved buildings leading down to the lake. As we were wandering around, we stumbled on a large group of cages with some really beautiful and unusual birds. The ducks were more ornate than I had ever seen, and here were two owls perched close to their fence. I love owls, so I stood there watching them for quite a while. Mike finally had to drag me back to the car to continue our drive to Lucern. The birds were the highlight of the day, at least for me.
Lucerne
The town is also situated on a lake, like Zurich, but it is much smaller. In addition, the lake is much narrower than Lake Zurich. As a result, there is a very old covered bridge leading from one side of the lake to the other. There are also at least two other pedestrian bridges across the lake.
In Lucerne, our trip from the hotel to the old town took us right through the very large main train station. So after breakfast, we followed the city map through the train station to the old town. The first thing we noticed about Lake Lucerne was the number of rather large boats docked. They looked like converted paddle wheelers meant to take visitors around the lake. Many years ago, I actually took one of those boats to the other side of the lake.
One unique feature about Lucerne is that a large portion of the original city wall, with its towers, is still intact on top of a hill looking down on the lake. So naturally, we had to climb up to the top to have a look. Unfortunately, because it was the dead of winter, none of the towers were open. During the summer, you can climb to the top of one of the towers, and there is a museum on the other side. There was an opening in the wall, a gate, and we were able to go back to town by going down the back of the wall.
On the way back to our hotel, we had to stop at the train station for a proper German pretzel and some Swiss chocolate—the first of many.
What did you find interesting about Switzerland?
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