Switerland - Lucerne & Zurich

18 Oct (Sat)

Woke up early at 6am this morning for an early breakfast before heading to Interlaken Ost station for the 8.04am train to Lucerne. We were on the Golden Pass Line with breathtaking scenery. Highly recommended! It's autumn so the trees are in varying shades of green, yellow & brown against the backdrop of gargantuan snow cap mountains with a river in the front looks amazing!

Will definitely miss Switzerland! In fact, was already thinking of returning here while enjoying the paranomic view on the train.

Arrived in Lucerne at around 10am and was looking for our hotel which is on the banks of River Reuss, in the heart of Lucerne's old town. 

 

Today is Saturday so we're lucky to catch their fortnightly Reuss River Market. the area was bustling with activities from stalls selling vegetables & fruits to meats, breads, flowers and cafes for breakfast. 

There was also a cheese festival where we got try cheese bites & see Alphorn Blowing performance and even live baby sheep! 

 

We had lunch at McDonalds near Lucerne Station. Gerald had the McEmmentaler burger which was delicious. A mac meal in Switzerland cost a whopping CHF 11.90!

The staff from Collyers Travel whom we got our Eurail Pass from highly recommended Mount Titlis for some fun with snow. Mount Titlis at 3,020m is the highest viewpoint in Lake Lucerne Region. 

Scenic views on the way to Mt Titlis...

 

Especially loved the grass grazing cows with the huge bells around their neck...

After an hour Zentralbahn train ride from Lucerne, we've to take 3 different cable-cars from Engelberg (stopping-by in Trubsee & Stand) before transferring to the Rotair, the first revolving gondola of the world. 

Going up via the Cable Car...

The view from Titlis Glacier Park. 

Locals regularly come up for skiing & snowboarding.

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoyed a generous scoop of Movenpick ice-cream on Mt Titlis.

Lucerne city is more modern & it is extremely cyclist-friendly with dedicated lanes with traffic lights for cyclists. One can only take their bicycles or dogs on the train.


KKL Luzern (Culture & Convention Centre) on Europa Sq, one of the finest concert halls in the world. 

Kapellbrucke Chapel Bridge which was constructed during first half of the 14th century &Water Tower on the background. 

Similar to the other European countries, shops in Switzerland close by evening time. Late night shopping till 9pm is possible on Wed  Thur. Shops close early on Sat and are totally closed on Sun.

We had dinner at Pickwick Pub below our hotel while watching the Man U match live on TV. Totally enjoyed my delicious fish & chips (replaced with salad).. Oh, how I missed vegetables!

19 Oct (Sun)
We decided to make an impromptu stopover in Zurich city before heading to the airport for our flight at 10pm. We therefore woke up early for the 9.10am train to Zurich city.
Took a stroll along Reuss River before checking out from the hotel. Streets was quiet & extremely peaceful around the river with white swan doing their morning cleanup.

Our hotel is totally self-service. Since we've made payment the day before, we just had to drop the key off at a checkout box when making the way out.

Arrived in Zurich after a short 40mins train ride. The train station is big & modern and there was even an Oktoberfest canival in the station today. Tourist info centre in Zurich is very friendly, providing brochures on all regions of Switzerland. 

Walking along Limat River which splits the city centre. 

Dual- towered Grossmunster
13th century Fraumunster
Tower of St Peterskirche, has Europe's largest clock face @ 8.7m diameter.
Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich's infamous shopping street with all the big brands.

Wanted to checkout Sprungli, said to be the mother of all chocolate shops & a legacy in Zurich. Unfortunately it's not open on Sun. 

We head back to Zurich HB Station and to my surprise, there was the Sprungli shop! Happily got 2 small little choco pastry at CHF 5 to try. ;)

We also chance upon Marche. Happily heading in for lunch. Everything is so expensive in Switzerland so we ordered sparingly to share. Simply loved Marche's food.. =)

Train ride to Zurich Flughafen only took 10 mins. Did last minute chocolate gift shopping in Migros & Coop

Our final dinner.. Prosciutto Pizza for me & Emmentaler Burger for Gerald. Finally Kit Kat McFlurry which is not available in Sg yet.

Loved Switzerland & will definitely be back someday! =)

Switzerland - Interlaken

My favourite of the 3 countries we visited during these 3 weeks of vacation is Switzerland. The land of the Swiss is 41,285sq km and mountains make up 70%. Switzerland is very nice & clean and extremely scenic.

16 Oct (Thur) Arrived in Interlaken within 30mins after changing train in Spiez.
On the way, we're welcomed by stunning views of Lakes Thun & Brienz. Interlaken at 567m is the starting point to the Jungfrau region.

We check-in to Hotel Blume on Jungfraustrasse, about 5 mins walk from Interlaken West Station.The hotel staff was friendly, the room was very clean & comfortable. At Eur 88/night, it was far nicer than any of our accommodation in the 4 Italian cities. Tap water in lnterlaken is also portable. We got a tourist card from the hotel which would entitle us to free bus & rail rides within Interlaken.

The Swiss are very friendly & helpful. Many of them speaks very good English. The few German greetings I learnt also came in handy.

We decided to explore the main shopping street, Hoheweg, to Interlaken Ost station. Though it was drizzling, it didn't dampen our spirit or good impression of Switzerland.There's many Chinese, Koreans & Indian tourists in Interlaken. Evidential from the loud speaking in the tourist shops that lined Hoheweg, selling from branded watches to bags, chocolates, Swiss army knives & cuckoo clocks.

We had a break at Coop cafe, an Ikea style self-service restaurant popular in Switzerland for affordable meals. I was deciding on what to drink & which cup to use when a nice Swiss lady came by & told me which button label was for hot & cold milk for the chocolate mix which I was holding on my hand, all without me asking! We also checked out the Coop supermarket and was impressed by their good selection of everything.


We decided to have a sumptuous Swiss meal tonight. Went to Buren, a bar cum restaurant recommended by the hotel staff for Kase (cheese) fondue. Food was yummy, a good change from the usual pasta & pizza in Italy.
17 Oct (Fri)
First breakfast in Switzerland is a simple but delicious one comprising of cereals & homemade bread with cheese & strawberry jam at the hotel. Simply loved the bread!
Thereafter we're headed to Jungfraujoch, Top of Europe which is 3,454m a.s.l. Lonely Planet describe the Jungfraujoch to be a must-try one-in-a-lifetime experience which I fully agree. Lucerne & Interlaken forms part of Berner Oberland, where mountains, lakes & alpine villages creates a breathtaking view. The Jungfraujoch journey starts from Interlaken Ost, with stops to change train at Lauterbrunnen (796m) and Kleine Scheidegg (2,061m) before finally arriving at Jungfraujoch. Lauterbrunnen was replaced with Grindelwald (1,034m) on the journey down. The 3.5 hours journey is extremely scenic.
While waiting for our train at Interlaken Ost, was impressed by their systematic & tourist friendliness. They've notice boards with maps cum hotels & adventure sports dirctory. One can dial directly to those in the directory to check their availability for free. You can also check their location on the map by entering their directory code & their location on the map would light up immediately. Tourist info station is also friendly & efficient with many counters & an electronic queue system, a vast difference from the long snaking queue in the Italian cities.
The journey up Jungfraujoch...
Views of the glacier world on Jumgfraujoch. 3 glorious peaks of Eiger (3,970m), Monch (4,107m) and Jungfrau (4,158m).
Amazing views from the Sphinx. we were totally frozen at -7 degrees.
After the Sphinx, we were totally frozen. To defreeze, we got a hot chocolate & piping hot Korean cup noodles at exzorbitant price of CHF 7! The boss of the cafe had a truly good biz case.
Views from the Plateau where one can experience the icy ground, play with snow & take pics with the breathtaking sights. Saw a few Ah Mos who run to the edge, took off their clothes to only summer shorts & slippers for a glorious camera shot before scurrying in. Amazing!
Ice palace where ice cravings were featured.
Two thumbs up for Jungfraujoch!

Switzerland is extremely elderly-friendly, a perfect place to retire with your loved ones. I think it's a good honeymoon destination too.
Relaxing in a cafe enjoying a black forest cake.

Second dinner in Switzerland was at Migros, another popular self-service restuarant near Interlaken West Station. Customers pick & choose their food and pay by the weight. They laterally weigh your plates at the cashier. Much cheaper than last night's dinner but I must say, the Swiss standard of living is really sky high!