So. Last Friday morning, Alex, Jen and I hopped on a plane from Berlin to the airport in Basel, Switzerland, then we had to take a bus into the town and catch an hour train ride to Luzern. I think we all couldn't believe our eyes when we caught the first glimpse of mountains from the train. The tops were still covered in snow, and it was absolutely beautiful! When we arrived in Luzern we grabbed a quick lunch of... bratwurst... (I guess I wasn't ready to leave my German food behind yet) and met up with Katie, Alex's friend from home ( St. Charles). I've made an observation during my travels, that I clearly cannot be without a person from St. Charles. Either I travel with Alex, or I travel with Jen. I stayed with Katie in Luzern, I stayed with Shivani in Barcelona, and one of my best friends at Marquette is Lauren. 5 different St. Charles girls.. can't get enough of them I guess haha.
Funny story: we saw a guy with a shirt that read "You looked better from behind" and we all laugh and Alex says "Yeah, so do you buddy."
Leaving the train station, we took a quick bus ride to Katie's "apartment"/old hospital she's staying in. And lucky girl, right outside her room window is the most tremendous view of the mountains! Each morning when I woke, I popped my head up and saw Swiss Alps. Good morning to me. (In London, I look out the window and I see an ugly brick wall of the dormitory next door.)
After dropped our stuff off and relaxing for a little bit, we walked back into the city for some sightseeing. Luzern is a really small town, so it only took us about 25 minutes to walk to the Lake/train station area. Also, Luzern is in the German part of Switzerland so they speak Swiss German there. But because Swiss German is only a spoken language, they write in German. Our airport (Basel) was in the French part of Switzerland so it was funny to go back and forth between languages. Merci. Danke. Merci. Danke.
We stopped to grab coffee at Bourbaki, a coffee shop/cafe/bar that Katie and her friends go to all the time. It's located in an old panorama, so the circular floor spins once a day... and lucky us, we got to experience it once on Friday and once on Saturday! So fun. After that we walked toward the lake to catch our first glimpse of the fairy tale land that is Luzern.
Blue/teal lake water, white swans floating about, French-inspired buildings and hotels set along the edges (reminded me of what the coast in Nice would look like), and snow-capped Swiss Alps in the backdrop. Somebody pinch me because I think that was a dream. Places like that exist?!?!
Yes, yes they do. Pictures don't lie. But imagine this photo, beautified 10 times... that's what we actually saw. Even though we all took a bajillion and one photos, our photos could not fully capture the beauty of Luzern.
We grabbed some quick dinner at Coop (a grocery store with inexpensive packaged sandwiches, yummy pastries, and all the Swiss chocolate you could dream of), we went to an art gallery opening.
I think Alex, Jen and I left Switzerland a little more hipster because of it. and we also left a little more addicted to chocolate. I honestly can't even think about chocolate after that trip. I ate enough for a lifetime. But it sure was yummy.
Then it was back to Bourbaki for some chill-time with some of Katie's friends from school. She is studying graphic design, and the next day (Saturday) she took us by her school to show us some of her and other students' artwork. Pretty cool if you ask me. They had all recently been to London, so a lot of their work was based off of that trip. Wooooo London!
On Saturday, after grabbing some picnic-y items from Coop, we went to sit by the lake. I could've sat there all day. The weather the whole weekend was mid-70s, clear skies and sunny. Perfect weather, perfect town, perfect day. Then, the group of us, and Katie's friend Lisa (also from America) took a paddleboat out onto the lake. 6 francs each... not too shabby.
**note: The franc is really close to the dollar, but Switzerland is rolling in cash so everything was pretty expensive... which is why we ate from Coop. Also, because Switzerland is so wealthy, so are its people. They dress beautifully, they are all beautiful. End of story.**
The paddleboat ride was phenomenal! Definitely the best part of the trip. While it was a little chilly being out on the lake... Swiss lakes = ice cube water straight from the melting mountains.
After a lovely paddleboat ride, we grabbed some dinner (at Coop, of course!) and hung out at Bourbaki for most of the evening. Upon returning to the hospital/apartment, we went up onto the roof top and had the most BEAUTIFUL view of the sky. Being so far up in the mountains, we realized it was the closest to the stars we'd ever been. And, being in London for these months, and Milwaukee most of the school year, I never see the stars. It was so awesome to see them again :)
On Sunday, we had most of the day, so we met up with some more of Katie's friends and went to the other side of the lake where there was a park. So many of the locals were out and about, laying in the sun, playing games.. and walking tightropes between trees? Didn't realize that was the cool thing to do in Switzerland! Then it was back to Bourbaki for some more chill-time and coffee, then Alex, Jen and I said bye to Katie and Lisa, and hopped back on the train to Basel airport.
Yes, our itinerary was filled with lots of forms of relaxation and staring at the mountains, but that's really all we wanted to do. We wanted an inexpensive, relaxing trip.. and that's what we got. I think we left Switzerland 200% satisfied with our time there.
What a beautiful place. I still can't believe what I was surrounded by all weekend! Such a dream land.
Spain is still my favorite country, Barcelona is still my favorite city. But Switzerland... you.are.wonderful.
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