Day 5, Lucerne, Switzerland, 2021

My departure from Gimmelwald was difficult. I’ve enjoyed this area so much I’m sad to be leaving. I will return, sooner rather than later.

For breakfast I had an espresso and the rest of my Alp cheese and sausage. I considered getting some more of the smoked sausage and trying to sneak it into the USA (the USDA frowns on meat products crossing the border.) I’ve watched too many of those border patrol shows where people are caught in airports smuggling food that I think it would just stress me out the entire flight home. Anyway, I’ll be back for more.

I said my goodbyes to my new friend who helped me figure out the right hike yesterday. Johannes with his experience of the area and the adventures of Steve and Ash over the last few days show me that I’ve just begun to scratch the surface of this region. I could easily see a whole week here using Gimmelwald as my jumping off point.

Speaking of Steve and Ash, they agreed to give me a lift to the train station this morning so I took the 9:45am gondola down to the valley floor and enjoyed the paragliders landing as the boys made there way to pick me up.

Steve and Ash shuttled me to the Interlaken train station and dropped me off at the CO-OP so I could grab a quick croissant for the train ride to Lucerne. The ride was beautiful.

The train headed past the other lake that Interlaken is in between, Lake Brains. (Interlaken=locked between lakes. Sort of.) The lake had the silty blue green from the glacial runoff. After passing the lake the train stopped and reversed and began climbing out of the valley giving beautiful views down into the valley the further we went up. Eventually we were out of the valley and passing several little towns and villages situated around small lakes.

Around 20 minutes before arriving in Lucerne we began to ride on the coast of Lake Lucerne, another beautiful glacial blue-green body of water.

An overall lack of sleep had me crossing my fingers that my room might be ready for me earlier than regular check-in.

Devine timing won the day when they hotel clerk handed me my room key at around 1:05pm. I thanked her profusely for the early check-in and headed up to my room.

Now that is a European hotel room! Not much bigger than a hallway with a single bed this room is just perfect for one person. I quickly bathed to cool off from the walk from the train station to my hotel and crashed for a coupon of blissful hours.

In the distance from the view above you can see Mount Rigi. More of that at dinner.

First I had to shake off a funk. Going from a village with a population of 130 to a major metropolitan city was an abrupt and unwelcomed change. I just wanted to stay in the room and go back to sleep but I thought this might pass if I got out and walked it off. So I plugged in one tourist sight after another and let google maps lead the way. First stop, the Lion Monument.

The story is a long and interesting one, not interesting enough to type out here so here’s a LINK if you’d like to read more about this 30’ wide sculpture carved into the lovely grotto. For those of you who just want to look at pretty pictures (you are my people) here ya go:

Next stop, Jesuit Church.

I made my way to the church not to go in (it was closed by this point in the day) but as a destination point so I could check out other things along the way. I stopped by a couple of stores to get a few needed items and a new shirt on my way to the church.

Next stop, Chapel Bridge.

Again, lots of history here. The bridge and water tower were built around 650 years ago. The bridge burned down in 1993 and was rebuilt with several of the paintings that are placed under the eves of the bridge restored or preserved. more information HERE.

The funk was starting to pass and I was beginning to enjoy myself and this city.

Next stop, Needle Dam.

A needle dam is a weir designed to maintain the level or flow of a river through the use of thin “needles” of wood. These can be added or removed to control the flow out of Lake Lucerne. In 1968 Lucerne was clever enough to add two turbines to generate electricity from the flow. The water feature pictured below serves the purpose of showing how much electricity is being generated. The bigger the spurt the more energy.

I made a reservation for dinner at 6:30pm at this place.

I made this reservation a week or so before I flew over. I’m glad I did. The reservation put me on the semi-private outdoor balcony with a view of The Jesuit Church and Mount Rigi.

Dinner was just as good if not better than the view.

This was the second most Swiss meal I had and I loved every bite of it while enjoying the view. My funk was officially over.

After dinner I strolled around a bit to and took more pictures since the lighting was getting really nice. I also had some dessert.

It’s around 9:30pm ad I’m going to try and get some sleep. I imagine I’ll wake in the middle of the night (I’ll be adjusted to the time change on my flight home, I’m sure) and edit together a highlight reel of some of the video I shot today.

Woke after 4 hours of sleep (yay!) and took my online COVID test for traveling back home. Test came back negative. (Yay!) I spent a little time editing some video clips from the day together. Now for some more sleep. Enjoy!

Thanks again for following along. Tomorrow is more of Lucerne, then Zurich and then I fly home. ❤️