Travel Tuesday: Luzerne, Switzerland

Luzerne....

A winter wonderland. I had my first ever snow fight atop Mt Pilatus!

Luzerne down below

The night before we arrived in Luzerne, we were told to pack an overnight bag for our 3 day stay in Pilatus-Kulm*, opened in 1890 -  2132m (7000ft) above sea level.

2 by 2 we were bundled into a little cable car (The Aerial Panorama Gondola) that slowly ascends up to the mountains. 

Down below the city of Lucerne slept under it’s snow blanket, while we rose up into a silent world of our own. Cocooned in excitement and wonder - the majestic pine trees silently welcomed us with outstretched branches heavily laden with snow.

Pine Trees

As we ascended higher, the snow flakes started swirling around us and through the little window of the cable car.

Imagine the South African’s delight when we could see “actual” snowflakes, pretty patterns and all! 

We snapped quite a few photos to get the perfect image of the snowflake before the body heat melted it. I never did get to see another perfect snowflake for the remainder of my trip so I am glad we caught this on camera.

Perfect little flakes

It was -15C (5F) and there we were – throwing snowballs at each other.  Thankfully our tour guide gave us a quick lesson in snow ball making: Never pack the snow tightly, it becomes as hard as a rock. Pack it very lightly so that it explodes when hitting the person. 

Every night we had to dry our jeans over the radiator from being soaked in the snow fights.

Snow Fight!

I bought myself a beanie to warm my head. To this day I still get compliments if I wear it. I say thank you and smile, and remember my shopping trip in a little gift store high on the mountain, overlooking a tiny city.

Our rooms were very spacious and I can remember the circular rooms with windows opening down to my hips. I hung outside trying to get some scenery photos.

Living so high up, you feel as if you are in another world. At 8am the camera kept freezing, but eventually I snapped a shot of Lake Lucerne – the blue is not a filter in the camera, I think it was just that cold.

Lake Luzerne from 2132m high!

We had a day to ourselves in the city where we marvelled at the clean city and pretty little water features.

We crossed Chapel Bridge, the oldest covered bridge in Europe. It is a 204 m (669 ft) long wooden covered bridge originally built in 1333 and is one of the places to see when you visit Luzerne. There are beautiful paintings along the roof of the bridge as you walk, unfortunately a fire in 1993 destroyed most of the original paintings.

Chapel Bridge

We visited The Lion Monument which was carved in memory of the Swiss soldiers who lost their lives during the French Revolution.

The gigantic monument is of a dying lion impaled by weapons. Underneath him is a list of names of the soldiers who lived and died. It is a beautiful memorial.

The Lion Monument: 10m wide, 6 m high

Pretty waterfall

Can you spot me?

We visited some Catholic churches resplendent in gold trimmings and purple finery. The sheer magnitude of the churches in Europe surprised me. I always wonder why everything has to be so ornate when that money could be better spent on the poor.

Catholic chruch

My favourite part of the day (besides buying over 20 slabs of Lindt chocolate) was our visit to the fondue house complimented by the best Hot Chocolate ever. Delicious creamy Lindt chocolate melted into hot milk. I was in heaven!

Authentic Hot Chocolate

Cheeese!

Fondue House (In case you can't read the big sign)

Luzerne was my 2nd favourite city after Venice, and I really cannot wait to go back and visit more in the summer.

*Click here to watch a 1:30 min video of the hotel - recorded in 24 hours. It's beautiful.