The Swiss Adventure (Lucerne, Berne, & Thun)

I have a number of places I plan to visit while I am here in Italy and there are many different ways to get to those places. Obviously Europe is known for its trains but depending the location, the train may not go there or may be quite expensive (such was the case with my trip to Switzerland, pricey tickets). I decided to use Flixbus and take an overnight bus. I had everything planned out (thanks to Lauren for her recommendations!) with three full days with my home base in Bern but making day trips. Unfortunately, the weather did not really cooperate. I had planned to take the bus to Bern which meant a short layover in Zurich. I would then do a day in Bern, a day in Lucerne and then a day visiting Thun/Grindewald. Due to the weather forecasts I then planned to drop my stuff in Bern and head to Lucerne so that I could do a mountain trip on Friday, the only day that called for sun.

Enrico was so kind and took me to the train station to catch my bus and stayed with me for about an hour until I finally left at 11:50pm. It eerily reminded me of the Night Bus from Harry Potter when it arrived. I had planned to take night buses to a good number of my trips since they are cheaper and tend to arrive close to the city center whereas some airports are farther away and more expensive (and often not direct from Verona). After the experience I had, I really questioned whether I should take one again.

I ended up in the very back row which was ok when no one was there but after another stop the bus was completely full. Being in the back meant the row in front of me could lean their chair back but I could not, and so had much less space. The temperature went from freezing to boiling over the course of the trip and I barely slept at all. I was supposed to arrive in Zurich at 6:30am but around 5:30am the bus stopped in Lucerne and I decided to get (which technically I learned was illegal, oops). I just was so uncomfortable and couldn’t handle it and decided I would drop my baggage in a locker and just stay in Lucerne for the day (shout-out to Kori for still being awake and telling me my plan made sense haha).

So, at 5:30am I found myself walking around Lucerne in about 30 degrees and the dark. I made my way to the train station, waited for the bathroom to open so I could change and then stored my stuff. I felt pretty awful, exhausted surprised by my decision to completely alter my plans and in general just still getting over my cold and now thrown into below freezing temperatures. For some reason I thought the sun would rise around 6:45-7am and headed out, it didn’t rise until 8am. I used my phone to pinpoint where I was planning to visit and started.

I have to admit, although I struggled to stay awake and it was freezing, it was kind of cool to see the city come alive. I visited first the famous flower bridge, Kapellbruecke.It suffered a fire and all the hand painted images that decorated the ceiling were ruined. After some time, the bridge was rebuilt and the government decided to have artists paint new scenes but they also left some of the sections burned to remind visitors of the tragedy.

At one point, I sat down on the bridge to just rest and dozed off. I snapped out of it and figured I should keep walking so people didn’t think I was homeless (don’t worry mom, I’m clearly fine now). I tried to make my way to next sight: the lion monument. My maps were acting crazy and sent me up through this neighborhood that was really steep and did not actually connect to the monument and by 7:30am I had walked up a lot of stairs, was even more tired and now just confused. But, I got a cool picture from the view.

I back tracked and eventually found where I figured made more sense to turn and voila, success! To be honest, this monument was on my list to visit but at the bottom since I did not think it would be that impressive. My pictures do not really do it justice, it was stunning. The immense size and emotional detail of the lion were breathtaking, the German name for this monument is Löwenplatz.

I spent awhile just sitting taking it all in and for awhile I had the place to myself. The sculpture reminds me of Aslan from Narnia just before he turns himself over to the White Witch, signifying Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. As some of my favorites books and movies growing up it was cool comparison.

While I was sitting there, these three guys came up and proceeded to have a photo shoot in front of the lion, which I subtly watched. They were so into it: selfies, group shots, multiple angles. I was a bit amused as one guy used two cell phone flashlights to provide more light on one guys while the other one took the photo. It seemed a bit absurd to me that here they were in this beautiful, serene place and yet they did not seem to soak it in at all. This is exactly why I like to take some photos and then put my phone away to really enjoy what I am looking at.

I found a free toilette there (score!) and went off to continue exploring. By now it was almost 9am and the sun had risen but it had not really gotten any warmer due to the cloud coverage. I headed to Museggmauer, a famous ancient wall in part of the city, I passed the first of many images of Swiss army knives. This image reminds me promptly of my brother anytime I see one and the time he had received one as a birthday present and then proceeded to slice open his hand and end up in the emergency room. Bonus points for Ethan if he actually reads this blog 😉

I have to admit, I felt like I was wandering around in a bit of haze all morning, both literally with the weather and mentally. Not the ideal sight-seeing setting. The castle wall has multiple towers and you can walk up them and then walk on the ramparts between some of them. Here some pictures of the wall, from various towers, of the city from the vantage point and inside one of the towers which held a miniature clock museum. I absolutely loved seeing some of the fall colors on the trees, they brighten up a landscape so much! Makes me crave flannel, apple cider and my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

Once I finished there, I gave myself a pep talk and went off to find the “old city”. This area of the city has store fronts decorated in ancient styles, although as you can tell some have been repainted and updated.

I thought this was so interesting: all the bars that had outdoor seated had these fur seat covers! ^^

I went in Jesuitenkirche, the famous Jesuit church as it was the first built in Switzerland, which although smaller is one of my favorites as the inside is wrought with pink and gold decorations— my two favorite colors! There were art student scattered all around the church sketching various portions.

I passed the flower bridge again and snapped a few pictures on my way to the train station to figure out my trip to the mountain.

By this point it was about 11:30am and had still not cleared up. I was worried about spending all this money on a ticket to Mount Pilatus if it was going to overcast. At this point, my phone data stopped working and I proceeded to have a mini-freak out, having barely any sleep not helping the situation. Turns out that my SIM card does not work in Switzerland and my account had been charged roaming charges as I used it throughout the morning but I had run out of funds. I went to the tourist office where they had WiFi and although last week I couldn’t add funds via the app, it thankfully worked and I kept my phone on airplane mode the rest of the trip (thankfully my hostel has wifi). After seeing cameras from the top of the mountain I decided to buy the ticket and headed off.

I almost feel like this part of my trip deserves its own separate post. I am SO glad I decided to do it. Get ready for some of the most gorgeous views of the Swiss Alps.

I took the train to the bottom of the mountain. Mount Pilatus has a famous funicular set-up because it is so steep. The cog rail used was originally ahead of its time with its engineering capacity to successfully go up the mountain. Typically you take the cable car up and then he cog rail down, but unfortunately the cable car was closed for repairs for two weeks. Here are some pictures from my ride up:

Once I arrived at the top, I was a bit overwhelmed. It was absolutely stunning. The clouds were still present but we had moved above them. You will notice as the pictures go on that they eventually disappear a lot. I was not here where to start and aimlessly walked around. Thank goodness I had dressed so warmly, being at that altitude with the wind was brutal at times. I was surprised to see people hiking down the main valley in my pictures and even at one point saw someone attempted to bike down it. I’m no expert but that seemed like a terrible idea.

I went up to one of the lookout spots, took some pictures and sat down to just take it all in. It reminded me of the song by Imagine Dragons called I’m on top of the world. I felt so small. The fact that places like this exist remind me how good God is and the beauty of the world He created.

I was getting hungry and went to on the of the restaurants which was crazy expensive but also did not have anything I really wanted. There was a booth outside that sold French fries, sausages and drinks and I was just standing there staring at the menu when I heard the people next to me speaking English. What a treat! Being the chatty person I am, I struck up conversation with this couple who invited me to eat with them. It turns out, though now retired, they are originally from Baltimore. When she asked me where I lived I told her Reston/Great Falls thinking that would be more well-known and she told me they had spent three days in Sterling before flying out of Dulles. What are of the odds of that! (Sterling is where I live, FYI). We chatted for about twenty minutes while eating and then parted ways, with me feeling encouraged and more comfortable.

I wandered around a bit more and then took the cog rail back down. I kept falling asleep on the ride down (about 40 minutes) and then I realized the group of three sitting next to me were also speaking English, although two of them were Australian. I can’t recall if I’ve written this before but I have met so many Australians only travels, with the second most common nationality being Canadians. I chatted with them for a bit and confirmed with their friend (who was Swiss) that I was getting on the right train and we parted ways as they were staying in a different city. At this point the sun was out and boy, did it feel good. On my way out I found this helpful image in the restroom…

I got back to Lucerne, grabbed my luggage and took the train to Berne. Fun fact: Switzerland is the second most expensive country in the world. Number one? Apparently, Bermuda. Trains in Switzerland are much more expensive than Italy. I made it to Berne, walked to my hostel and soaked in the sites. I passed what turned out to be the parliament building which actually had a movie being projected onto it. It was so crowded but I stayed to watch a few minutes. It was partially animated and in another language but a cool experience nonetheless.

I checked in, unpacked a bit (top bunk again, ugh) and of course started chatting with one of my roommates. Finn was actually from Maryland and taking a gap year before college and had been in Berne about a week but was leaving tomorrow. I asked if he was interested in showing me around outside a bit and eventually getting dinner. I was still pretty tired but since it was supposed to rain all weekend I figured I should go see the city if I could. We passed the Berne cathedral and a few other nice spots and then ended up getting a typical Swiss meal for dinner: fondue. I actually don’t care for fondue at all but we thought it would be cheaper since we were splitting it but nope, they charged us per person. On the bright side, the wine was great and the salad I had was PHENOMENAL. The second and third pictures below are of a really cool very expensive restaurant in Berne. It was formed out of an old storeroom perhaps?at the entrance all you see is a room with the hanging chandelier but there are hidden stairs down to the eating and bar area. So cool.

I slept well that night. When I woke up it was in fact raining. I left the hostel and starting my list of things to see. Berne is the historic capital of Switzerland and has been noted as favorite city by many people I’ve spoken with. Much of the city was damaged by fire and so it has a slightly more modern look as parts of it were built more recently than one would expect. My hostel was in a great location right in the middle of the city and so I walked down the Main Street in the drizzly rain (that persisted all day) toward a very important first stop: the bears.

Berne was founded in 1191 and legend has it that it is named after the first animal the inhabitants hunted: the bear. Since then, it has become their symbol and they have almost always had live bears living in the city. I chatted briefly with one of the bear keepers and she pointed out the location of the three bears in their open air home. She pointed out that they were about to go into hibernation and so they probably would not be moving around much. There are three bears: a daughter, father and mother. They are shown pictured below in that order, along with some photos of the surrounding area. They parents are (Bjork, mom) 18 and (Finn, dad) 12 and the daughter, Ursina is 9. They typically live about 20 years in the wild but closer to 30 in captivity. The keeper also mentioned that they love to show off and are normally watching whoever is looking at them, but not know as they were so lethargic.

The path away from the enclosure led me to a steep hill towards my next stop: Rosegarten.

Even in the bad weather, the view of the city and the flowers were beautiful. The flowers reminded me of my sister, Bethany Rose, who I am sure would have loved it.

I then caught a bus back to the city and managed to get on the right one. I had wanted to visit inside the Berne cathedral but it was closed for a private event until 1pm so I returned to the hostel for a bit to sit and relax. On my way there, I walked through one of the many markets and bought this yummy bread/cake/pastry. I also passed by the Zyglotte, which is the clock tower in the city center. At the top of the hour it plays a special music and the figures spin in a circle. It was a bit anticlimactic in my opinion but I did get to witness it.

I went back to the cathedral, which has so many stained glass windows, something I do not feel like I have seen much of so far in my travels. Also of note, every chair around the side (there are 16 “chapels”, really alcoves) had a different symbol on them. I’m not sure why.

I went to Munsterplatform, which is one of the places Finn recommended, it boasted great views of the Aare river, the mountains and what looked like a castle (I visited later, it was just a museum).

I was not really sure where to go after this. I walked around a bit more and then decided to go to Einstein’s bench but took a different path through the city. As I was crossing a road, I happened to come across the two Australians and Swiss girl from the cog rail the day before. We were all shocked and laughing about the odds of us seeing each other again. Sadly, that was the last time our paths crossed. I found Einstein’s bench and debated going in to see his museum but it was about $20 and I just was not in the mood for a museum.

I went to the grocery store to get some food for dinner and made myself comfy in the common room and watched a rom com recommended by Byrnes: Notting Hill. How I had not seen this Hugh Grant classic yet is beyond me, highly recommend.

I went up to my room to get something and passed a guy in the stairwell and noticed he spoke English as well. We chatted for a minute (another Aussie) and I invited him to join me in the common room to hang out. One of his roommates also joined us later (an American) and so Matt and Alec spent my last two nights at the hostel hanging out and chatting about travels and life. Matt had never seen snow fall and the next day it was forecasting snow and he had also planned to go do a hard hike so I was glad to see him the next evening and know he wasn’t trapped somewhere in ridiculous weather conditions. The hostel provided free pasta and rice so I have pasta and meatballs and some great Spanish wine for dinner and finished those leftovers the next night.

Sunday I had planned to go to Thun and Grindewald but a local had recommended I visit Spiez instead of Grindewald. In the end, I just went to Thun. I did not want to leave my hostel. I was tired and it was cold and still rainy but I didn’t come to just sit around all day. I took the train to Thun and wandered around, making my way toward the castle for a tour. I find that any place higher up is worth visiting to get a better view and perception of the city.

Within the castle was a museum and below are some pictures from the various exhibits.

On my walk back to the Kebab place I passed and had decided on for lunch I passed these swans. I have never seen swans this color before!

My kebab hamburger was delicious, hit the spot and was cheap, albeit quite messy.

I then walked the other direction toward Schadau Park, a famous building turned restaurant in a public park on the edge of Lake Thun. I walked around park, found some more roses and sat for a bit to read by the lake. Seeing the cities are cool but seeing the clear, blue lakes and mountains even with fog is arguably better.

I took the train back to the hostel, got comfy and watched another Hugh Grant movie from the hostels collection (this one also started Colin Firth: win-win). Alec joined me for the tail end and an older Irish couple I had met the day before briefly stopped by to chat as well. Eventually Matt showed up and we all exchanged stories of our day before deciding to play cards for awhile. It was a solid way to wrap up the weekend.

I left my hostel the next morning in the same dreary weather and had a few issues but eventually found the local bus that took me to my flixbus. I beat the bus there and thankfully this bus isn’t full. The ride so far has been so much more comfortable and I think it would be well worth an extra cost to reserve a seat in the future. Even in the gloom/fog/rain, going through the mountains is stunning. I was looking out the window at the mountains and thinking they weren’t that tall and then the fog cleared a bit to reveal a much taller mountain behind it. The scenery with the lakes, occasionally waterfalls and snow is so beautiful. A stressful, successful, expensive weekend! They have canceled school today and tomorrow in Verona due to river flooding and so hopefully the rest of the trip will go smoothly. Tomorrow is Clo’s birthday and then Thursday I leave for Budapest! If you have any tips, let me know, we’ll be staying in the Pest part of the city. Cheers!