Breathtaking Piece of Folly: Train to Lucerne

I wanted to get out of the mountains and see a nearby city and I read somewhere that Lucerne/Luzern has a nice old town section. There's a two-and-a-half hour scenic train trip from Lauterbrunnen to Lucerne so I decided to use it as a day trip and spend a few hours wandering around Lucerne.

When I got on the train I discovered that there were several different types of train car. One seemed to be obviously first class so I looked into the next car and discovered it was full of soldiers so I moved to the car in the opposite direction. This car had huge windows providing unhindered views of the scenery but the train was called "Golden Pass Panoramic" so I thought maybe all the cars looked like that. A woman soon came through the train to check tickets and told me I had a second-class ticket but was sitting in a first class section. I asked her where I should go to reach a second-class car and she said, "Two cars back." I gave her a wincing smile and said, "But it's full of soldiers." She said they would be getting off in two stops (I saw a lot of soldiers during my travels so I think there must have been a base nearby). I put on my best "I'm innocent and travelling alone" face and sweetly asked if I could stay in my seat until the second stop. She hesitated and then gave me a sympathetic smile and agreed. I got to enjoy fifteen extra minutes of comfort and sweeping views.

A view from the train.

When I arrived in Lucerne I went to the tourism office at the train station to get advice on what to see and where to go. I was given a map of the town with a two-hour walking tour marked on it. The walk took me along the river, across the covered bridges, through the old town, past the Lion Monument, past an old church, and along Lake Lucerne back to the train station.

At one point I sneezed while waiting for the light to change at a crosswalk. A woman standing next to me smiled and said, "Gesundheit!" I laughed and asked if she spoke English but she shook her head. I said, "Canada?" and she nodded with a confused look. I said, "In Canada, 'Gesundheit!'" to try and indicate that we say the same thing in Canada. She laughed and nodded so I think she got it. It was so crazy to hear someone say "Gesundheit!" for real. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face for a while.

Chapel Bridge in Lucerne.

A bridge across the Reuss River.

Spreuerbrücke or Mill Bridge, built in 1408, it's the oldest covered bridge in Europe.

Paintings along the ceiling in the covered bridges.

I can't resist a good door knocker.

Lucerne is known for many beautiful frescos painted on the walls in the old town.

Fresco in the old town.

Bertel Thorvaldsen's famous carving of a dying lion (the Lion Monument, or Löwendenkmal). The carving commemorates the hundreds of Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when the mob stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris.