Trip to Zurich, Lucerne and Bern, Switzerland

I went for a nice three days trip to Zurich, Lucerne and Bern cities of Switzerland in September last year with my three equally excited girl friends. I wanted to do a photo blog right after the trip but somehow got busy. However, writing an article long after the travel has its own charm, when you have almost forgotten the details, it makes us relive the moment and feel grateful. Thank god for my dairy, my Instagram account and the pictures on my phone, I have all details captured.

Switzerland is a very very beautiful country, I am sure no one would deny; I am constantly amazed and awestruck by its beauty. The pictures speak for themselves. In Switzerland, it really is “pictures speak louder than words”; there are really no words to describe its beauty.

Well to start with, on day one, we started our train journey from Cornivan Station, Geneva at around 6:00 AM to Zurich; it took us a little more than three hours. Our host, a kind gentleman and a fellow countryman came to pick us up at the Zurich train station.

That's the institute :)

After dropping our stuffs at his place and quickly freshening up, we started our trip around 10:30AM. 

First, being Bhutanese by heart and soul :P, we visited a Tibetan institute/ monastery in Rikon im Tosstal, which took us almost an hour train journey and 30 minutes walk up hills. 

We offered our prayers and circumambulated the small stupa near the institute.

was so excited to see the prayer flags after so long:) 

Since we were running out of time, we grabbed some packaged pasta and lasagna on the way from Coop and had our quick lunch on the train. It took us a little more than an hour train journey from Rikon to Rhine Falls. 

The Rhine Falls is known to be the largest and the most powerful waterfall in Europe. The fall is located on the border of two cantons, Schaffhausen and Zurich of Switzerland. The Rhine Falls is said to be formed in the last ice age,approx 14,000 - 17,000 years ago, by erosion–resistant rocks.

Rhine Falls had been on my wish list of places to visit for quite some time, I was so glad to strike off a place from my wish list. We skipped the boat trip along the Rhine Falls since we were running late and had other places to visit.

From Rhine Falls, we went to Uetliberg, also known as the top of Zurich. A little climb up hills from the train station, Uetliberg is a mountain located in the Swiss Plateau standing at 870m.

The mountain offers a beautiful panoramic view of the Zurich city, the lake and the Swiss Alps. We spent some time watching the beautiful Zurich city, the gorgeous blue lake stretching as far as the eye could see. The paragliders were all over the place. I remembered my own cruise on the lake, few years back. It was an amazing experience.  

We then came back to the city and walked around the largest city of Switzerland and did some shopping. At our host’s place that night, we had a nice Bhutanese dinner (cheese dumplings and spicy chili curry) and few glasses of hot wine which gave us a sound seven hours sleep.

Though it was my second visit to Zurich, I was so happy to see more of Zurich and I am sure there is much more left to see; left it for another time.

Our second day trip was to Lucerne. The places on our itinerary were Mount Rigi (Rigi Kulm), the most famous Kapellbrucke (Chapel Bridge), the lion monument and the glacier garden.

We took a train from the Zurich station directly to the Arth-Goldau station. The picturesque views throughout the train journey, especially when we entered Lucerne was to die for, the green lush fields, the gazing Swiss cows with beautiful bells hanging around their neck, the gorgeous lake Lucerne and the beautiful chalets with colorful flowers in full bloom.

From Arth-Goldau station, we took a cogwheel train, my first experience and a memorable one.  It took us more than 30 minutes to reach Rigi Kulm. The view from the cogwheel train was equally beautiful and truly Switzerland, I mean the kind of image that comes to everyone’s mind when we say 'Switzerland'. We got off at the second last stop and hiked till the top of the mountain.

The cogwheel trains, waiting to take us back!

we hiked till the top :)

Rigi Kulm, also known as the Queen of the Mountains,  stands elegantly at 1798 m, surrounded by three lakes, Lake Lucerne, Lake Zug and Lake Lauerz. 

Thank God for a sunny day, the view of the lake and the Swiss Alps from the mountain was truly spectacular. 

View from 1798m

Almost there!

Left with the last climb :)

The cogwheel train track.

After Rigi Kulm, we came back to Lucerne and the first thing we did was search for a nice Asian restaurant since all of us were starving and craving for some good food. It was past 2:00PM when we finally settled in a nice Thai restaurant and had our Khao Pad (Thai style garlic fried rice), Pad Thai (Thai style Fried Noodles), stewed veggies and jasmine tea. My friends also had some Thai style chicken curry. The food was so yummy that I still feel the taste as I write this. :P

The Chapel Bridge :)

After a heavy lunch, we visited the most famous footbridge, Kapellbrucke meaning the Chapel Bridge, spanning River Reuss. Named after the nearby St. Peter's Chapel, the bridge contains a number of interior paintings dating back to the 17th century, making the bridge the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe. The bridge serves as the city’s symbol; the flowers along the bridge make it more beautiful and attractive.

After walking for a while along the Kapellbrucke, we visited the lion monument and the glacier garden. We also walked around the city.  

All of us were totally exhausted by then and at around half past 5 PM, we settled in a cafe for a glass of Irish coffee to call it a day. 

We slept throughout our train journey from Lucerne to Zurich.

Our third day trip was to Bern, the capital city of Switzerland. In Bern, we decided to visit only the historic old town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site which has the best and most tourist attractions. This was my second visit to the old town. We walked across the bridge spanning River Aare and went to the Bärengraben (the bear pit), this time the bears were not out, I had caught them basking in the sun in 2015. 

River Aare.

Zytglogge       

We walked through the old town exploring extraordinary architecture; we came across several public fountains, old statues, towers and also the gorgeous Swiss Parliament Building. 

The famous Clock Tower, Zytglogge which is a landmark medieval tower in Bern is also located in the old town.

We visited the Einsteinhaus, a former residence of Albert Einstein which is a now a museum.  Albert Einstein is said to have lived in that house from 1903 to 1905 and developed his Theory of Relativity there.

 

Einstein-haus

The structure with the green dome roof is the Swiss Parliament Building

Having been too overdosed with Swiss history and also too much of walking, we left Bern a little earlier than the rest of our trips, to give a good rest to our brains and legs. 

It was a fun and a happy trip, overall.

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