RTW 2013 | Lucerne

I arrived in Lucerne around 7pm – man what a city! I knew going in that this was going to be a larger city than the other towns I was in; however I was a bit surprised at the size of the train station. All the other stations were at a nice slow pace, but Lucerne was a pretty busy. I never expected Lucerne to be such a busy place from the pictures, but this city is fairly urban. The train station was definitely moving at a much faster pace than other stations I’ve been in. While most other cities had 4-6 platforms, Lucerne had 12 platforms for trains to dock at. This was due to its position in the Bern as a transfer hub.

Anyways, after leaving the station, I tried to get oriented. It’s a little confusing that there’s multiple exits and both a Bahnhofstrasse and a Bahnhofplatz, but I was able to find my way across the river and over to my hotel. Side note: the worst thing when you’re hauling luggage down the street is the fact that there’s cobblestone and you’re luggage-wheels are making farting noises for nearly a kilometer. Yep…love being in the touristy part of town for that one.

I dropped the luggage off at the hotel and went to the coop for some groceries (I figured after a few fairly pricy dinners I should make a sandwich). I ended up picking up some swiss cheese (emmental, appenzeller, etc), prosciutto, and bread. I headed back to the hotel, had dinner, and set off again to check out old-town Lucerne at night.

The town is very pretty at night. On the older buildings, such as the tower on the chapel bridge, or the Jesuit church, there were spotlights that made them look pretty nice at nighttime. There were also a lot of people out late, so it was quite a nice atmosphere. The mixture of cobblestone, old-town feel, and cool crisp nighttime air made for quite a nice evening of sightseeing and wandering to get my bearings straight.

bedtime buddies

The next morning, I visited a few of the sights in town that I saw the night before. One of the most memorable sights in Lucerne is this monument called the Löwendenkmal, or the Lion of Lucerne. It’s a huge sculpture of a dying lion carved into the side of a rock. It commemorates the Swiss Guards who were killed in the French Revolution, when French revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris. Mark Twain once commented that this monument was "the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world."

Other sights in town included the towers and wall that surround the city, the Chapel Bridge (again), and a few old churches. I had to catch a train at 2, so I wrapped up sightseeing and headed back to the station for my luggage and boarded the inter-regional train to Zurich.