Day 5 - Lucerne

Today our route takes us through the Alps, from the German region to the Italian region. I am lacking the ability to find different words to describe the beauty that we see - I will quote a friend it is freaking "AWESOME".

Leaving Gstaad we head to Speiz Castle, which doesn't open til 2pm, so that was a waste getting up so early. Today it is Swiss Day and a national holiday, roads are busy and things will take a bit longer - so we made an early start.

We found Speiz without a problem which is on Lake Thun and very very picturesque. We didn't go inside but had a lovely walk around the Lake Front.

We then went to Thun, Thun is on the river at the head of Lake Thun. There are a lot of Ferries that travel the lake - Interlaken is at the end of the Lake. We had a stroll around Thun and the whole place was so festive because of it being the Swiss National Day. We stumbled upon this bridge, river gate control thing (I now know that it is to control the level of the Lake, but we didn't at the time) because of the gushing water rapids appear and the locals surf it. We watched for a while and for your water babies it is quite a lot of fun.

Some photos of Thun

After Thun, we make our way to Sigriswill where there is a new suspension bridge - Sigriswil panoramic bridge crosses the 182 m deep Gummischlucht gorge and is 390m long. It wibble wobbles as you walk on it - a little scary but I know a few of you who would not step foot on it. It offered amazing views across the tallest peaks in the Alps and the Lake below. We had lunch here, probably one of the best meals in Switzerland so far.

Then to Interlaken, which sits between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz. Unfortunately for us Interlaken had their Swiss National Day "something" happening and all the roads were closed and we couldn't go where we wanted to and couldn't get out. Someone may have lost their patient hat for a little bit. Anyway, we landed up taking the motorway to Brienz instead of the Lakeside drive. The motorways are incredible, the tunnels and driving is so much easier - but of course less spectacular. Due to Swiss holiday, there was no parking in Brienz - so we continued onto Lucerne.

On the drive to Lucerne we go through the Gotthard Pass, when it came up on the map - we were in a tunnel and the road was like an octopus, turns out the tunnel is 17km long and when we eventually popped out we were on top of the mountains - well sort of. We have read a few things and we think that we climbed 600m, you then go down again. The tunnel is the deepest in the world at 2300m deep (that sounds weird but I guess it is measured from the mountains on top and we are going under the Alps. You go through several tunnels and some of them are about 5km long and you always seem to be going in a circle.

We have now arrived in Lucerne, which I think is going to be my new favourite. It is seriously hard to choose - everything is so gorgeous. Still Swiss Holiday, so town is busy. We did go around and around and around and another around before we got to our hotel. To be fair to the driver who has done an AMAZING job - you have to turn right from a Bus Lane and no-one else is driving in that lane except buses - it just feels wrong. Anyway needless to say that whenever we arrive at a destination we cannot wait to park the car and walk. The Hotel room is great and we can stand up in the shower, the Hotel is very centrally located and we can walk to the Old Town which is what we do after a shower and chillax.

You get free travel on transport in the cities we have visited - not that we have needed it except in Geneva but I think it is a very nice touch. They do make their profit on toilet stops though. It costs GBP1.50 for a toilet stop, that is each and when you gotta go you gotta go. Kaching!

The weather has been extremely hot and we are sweating as we walk out, but we walk through a square where the locals are playing chess and table tennis, kids are on the playground and the outdoor cafes are buzzing. We walked across the Chapel Bridge with Water Tower, back across the river to see the Jesuit Church which is very large and dwarfs the church next to it.

Next stop, the Needle Dam and this is very interesting, again to keep the Lake level at a constant level they control the flow of water with 3 metre long wooden planks that they call needles and they remove them by hand and add them in when they want to stop/reduce water flow. Very simple and pleasant to look at.

It is starting to cool, we then visit the Wine Market and Korn Market, have a drink in the square and watch the people pass by.

The decorations of the buildings and to stories they tell are amazing, it is and was clearly a wealthy thriving city. Dinner at a restaurant on the river, a gelato and gentle stroll home. LOVE Lucern. Night night.

This morning we took a pre-breakfast walk to Lion monument and the City Wall, temp was cooler but heated up as we walked. The Lion monument is a massive sandstone monument of a lion impaled with a spear is about 10 metres long and 6 metres wide and stands behind a pool of water. The proud animal is in its death throes, a front paw resting on a shield adorned with the fleur-de-lys of the French monarchy next to another shield bearing the Swiss cross.

It is also worth pointing out that this morning we saw more bicycles than cars and a little fact that John loves is that there are 202 fountains in Lucerne and all naturally fed and you can drink from everyone of them.

The end.