Switzerland Journal Day Four (Part One): October 11, 2009
We arose early because we had a day of travel through the Alps ahead of us. We took the train out of Zurich to Luzern where we would transfer over to a train to Meiringen – where Sherlock Holmes tumbled to his death over the Reichenbach Falls. On our very first itinerary Luzern was a stop on our journey, but we had eliminated it as we weren’t sure of travel times. As we would quickly learn on our trip we wouldn’t need as much time in the places we visited because the rail and bus systems in Switzerland are so damn efficient. WHY, OH WHY CAN’T WE HAVE RAIL IN THE UNITED STATES?!?!
Sorry about that. It makes me grumpy.
Anyway, we arrived in Luzern and having a better understanding of the rail system decided to have a peek outside of the rail station. Lo and behold, we spied a beautiful site unfolding before our eyes. In front of us was a river and across the river was the type of postcard cityscape one would imagine seeing all over Switzerland. To the right a boardwalk tucked up against the Lake of Luzern with a Ferris wheel in front. In the distance was a backdrop of lovely mountains kissing the sky. To the left was the main tourist attraction in the city – Kapellbrucke, a.k.a. Chapel Bridge – a 670 foot long bridge which is also one of the oldest in all of Europe. It was originally built in 1333, but a fire destroyed much of it in 1993. The city rebuilt it. In the middle of the bridge is a water tower which, according to wikipedia, had been used over the years as “a prison, torture chamber, watchtower, and treasury.” We took pictures of it so it could continue to hold the distinction of being the most photographed landmark in Switzerland.
As I’ll continuously note as I continue this journal, I lost most of my photos while in Lausanne. One photo I truly regret losing is of graffiti on the boardwalk. With the historic city, lake, and mountains in the background someone had written “Welcome to Compton” on a railing. Amused me, it did.
After roughly 20 minutes snapping pictures and taking in as much of the beautiful city of Luzern we could before our train was scheduled to leave, we boarded for our journey into the Bernese Oberland so we could see Meiringen.
