Switzerland! -- Lucerne & Interlaken

Right now (when I started to write this...) I am sitting in my bed in Interlaken looking out of the window to the Swiss Alps that surround this town like a walled fortress. During these past several days in Lucerne and Interlaken, Switzerland I’ve been surrounded by some of the most beautiful, picturesque scenery of my life.

On Monday, we arrived at the train station in Paris around 11 a.m. after missing our 6 a.m. train ride to Lucerne. We weren’t too concerned because there were 24 other trains leaving for Lucerne from Paris that day. Our care-free attitudes quickly took a downward spiral when the lady at the ticket counter told us there was no possible way to get to Lucerne, or any city in Switzerland, for at least two more days. This began one of our first real mishaps of the trip. Our hostel in Lucerne was already booked and paid for, and we had no where to stay in Paris. We spent the next six hours in Gare de Lyon trying to find a way to make it, even if we had to go through multiple cities. Around 4 o’clock we thought we had it figured out and had routed a way through Strasbourg to a small city in Switzerland and finally to Lucerne. The train to Strasbourg left in 20 minutes and we rushed to the ticket counter with lifted sprits and hopes that we would make it. Unfortunately, the train we were ready to hop on was at a different station on the other side of Paris. After a day of stressful planning and re-routing we decided it was time to find a place to stay that night so we weren’t left sleeping on a bench in the park. As an after thought, being “stranded” in Paris isn’t the worst thing that could’ve happened. We booked a room in Paris and made our way to the hotel. We ended up having one of our best meals yet at restaurant that was on top of a hill overlooking the city. It was a beautiful way to wrap up our Paris-stay. 

The next morning we hopped on a train at 7 a.m. to Nancy, France, and then changed trains and went to Strasbourg. From Strasbourg we rode to Basel, Switzerland and finally boarded a train to Lucerne. Although it was a hectic and long day of travel, it felt good to have figured out a way to get to Lucerne all on our own, and with taking the long way we were treated with beautiful scenery of the French countryside as well as our first glimpses of the Alps. 

The day we arrived in Lucerne was a beautiful, sunshine-filled day. We had wonderful pizza and pasta at a small Italian restaurant near the lake, took a nap at our new home for the next two nights, and ended the night having a couple drinks at an Irish pub on the lake. 

The next day we had a hike planned, but to our dismay it was raining - I am surprised the whole continent of Europe is not flooded by now. Our response to a bump in our plans was to bar hop all day which was an adventure on its own.

In the morning we decided to commit to the hike we had been denied even if the weather was not ideal. When we woke up it was a little cloudy, but no rain! We packed up, locked our stuff up in the lockers at the train station, and boarded the boat that took us on an hour-long scenic ride to the base of Mt. Rigi. From there, we took a mountain train up the mountain with incredible views of the mountains and lake below. 

All of a sudden, to our surprise, this was our view out of the window.

We were obviously underprepared for a full on blizzard, but we zipped our jackets and put our hoods up and hopped out into the snow. It was a crazy feeling going from sunshine and greenery to literally above the clouds in the snow. We walked up to the peak of the mountain and enjoyed the view.

We decided to walk down the mountain farther and had quite the adventure slipping and sliding through the snow, throwing snowballs and looking down at the lake and towns below. Drew got some great footage on his GoPro camera which he had strapped to his chest during our time on the mountain. I’ll see if I can upload that on here or to Facebook. After an exciting day we took the mountain train to the bottom and all of a sudden we were back in the sunshine and snow-free environment.

We hopped back on the boat, went to the train station and headed to Interlaken! Our time in Interlaken used as our recuperating time. We had planned to go paragliding or hang gliding, but it rained the whole time so we used the time to rest, read and do some more travel planning. The third night we moved hostels and it was one of the best hostels we’ve been so far. We had a balcony with a nice view, free breakfast and a short walk from the main town. We also were able to do laundry for free. We were like giddy little kids in candy shop when we were folding our clean clothes. After traveling every few days and living out of suitcase, I guess it’s the little things. 

Overall, Switzerland was beautiful, relaxing, and full of adventure. The only downside was the high price. It is definitely the most expensive place we will travel, so having our money go a lot farther in Italy has been nice so far. 

I'm putting my Switzerland album on Facebook tonight so look our for that. Next post -- Venice!

Love to my friends & family!

Emily