Switzerland Trip – Part 5: Golden Pass Line and Luzern (22 July 2006)

Quick as I could, I packed up and got out of Funny Farm, regardless of how much noise I made. Made it just on time to the train station and found out to my pleasant surprise that the train was a Golden Pass train, another scenic train, except this didn’t have a surcharge like the Glacier Express. If you like mountains, the Glacier Express is for you. If you like lakes, then take the Golden Pass Line. If you like both, like me, then be nice and let the train companies suck your money, will you? You’ll love it, trust me.


The Golden Pass Line

The Golden Pass Line from Interlaken to Luzern (Lucerne in English) took me through 3 lakes, including the Brienzersee east of Interlaken, stopping briefly at Brienz. All throughout, the scenery was beautiful, but the morning sun obstructed it a little. It’s important to sit away from the sun.








Images from Brienz and the Brienzersee

Reached Luzern bright and early at 0900, found my lodging for the night, the Tourist Hotel Luzern. It’s the most expensive of all my accommodations, but at least it’s decent and anything is better than Funny Farm! My bed wasn’t ready yet, so I dropped my things off and went out to walk around. I was actually hoping for the bed so I could take a short nap before I went out, but it wasn’t possible.

Luzern’s quite small and easily accessible by foot. Not many things to see as well, unless you take a boat ride of a trip up to Mt. Pilatus, but I’m quite “mountain-ed out” already. Set about exploring the sights and did some window shopping as well. Surprisingly, the shops all close at 1600 on a Saturday, and there was a summer sale going on throughout, so I just went to take a look. Not advisable for a backpacker like myself to buy too many things, not to mention the additional headache of how to lug it all back to Singapore, but I did buy another Swiss Army knife, the simple Edelweiss Classic which had a very beautiful Edelweiss shell that I thought is quite uniquely Swiss.


I'm there!


The gate outside the train station

The main sights in Luzern are the Chapel Bridge (seen in almost every single postcard from Luzern), the Lion Monument and the lake. The water’s really clear, you can see the bottom of the river. The bridge is the oldest wooden bridge in Europe, but it’s also beautiful because they’ve put flowers on it in the summer. Together with the water tower, it’s become Luzern’s landmark. The Lion Monument was built to commemorate the Swiss mercenaries who died fighting for France during the French Revolution in 1792. It was sculpted by Bettel Thorvaldsen in 1819, featuring a dying lion, and is carved into the stone.










Sights of the Old Town


The water's crystal-clear


The famous Chapel Bridge


You know it's a conspiracy when they only put flowers on ONE side of the bridge


Water is something you won't miss in Luzern


Music lovers take note! (pun intended)


And the famous Lion Monument


With a zoom-up

So after all that sightseeing, I went back to get my room because I was quite tired from the early day and I needed a nap. I met this lady who was sleeping in the bed next to mine, an Australian who was working in London for 3 years, then touring Europe before she’s going back Down Under, we hung out together for the night, going down to the Blue Balls Festival where we had dinner and listened to the Golden Pride Children’s Choir from Tanzania. I think the African sound is really unique and I quite liked the African song in Civ4. Really enjoyed myself.


Golden Pride Children's Choir


Yup, that's Melissa and myself. I should have used the flash

I walked Melissa back to the room then went out to get some night shots of Luzern, the only chance I’ve ever had to do so. Quite beautiful, though Mt. Pilatus wasn’t lit up, so it didn’t seem like in the postcard.


The Jesuitenkirche at night


The coastline




And the Chapel Bridge

That done with, off to bed and then off to my final destination.

Photobucket: Golden Pass Line & Luzern