Hian Kok's Picasa Web Album - Swiss Holiday Highlights

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Zurich

We got back to the train station and took the express train to Zurich which was another 1 hour train ride. Armed with the Zurich city map, we did the Zurich city tour. As it was raining, we decided to just walked along the famous Bahnhofstrasse and admire the beautiful watches of Switzerland as well as numerous resplendent shop front. The rain was intermittent so we took shelter whenever the rain got heavy. We stopped by two recommended souvenir shops which were Meng Cutlery at 31 Renweg and Teddy’s souvernir shop at 34 Limmatquai. We browsed through the souvenirs while waiting for the rain to stop. If one is serious about buying souvenirs, it’s better to get them at the souvenir shop at Zermatt. We checked the prices of the cowbells and cuckoo clocks at Zermatt and the prices of these two items were more competitive at Zermatt. However the range was more extensive in Zurich.

Towards the late afternoon, the sun came up and we were able to see more of Zurich beautiful sights. St Peter’s church has the biggest church clock face in Europe. We headed towards the churches again and Grossmunster and Fraumunster churches are well worth visiting for their beautiful stained glasses. Fraumunster Church, which had been painstakingly restored, was the only church that did not allow us to take any photograph. But it was wonderful experience to just sit in the numerous churches and admire the beautiful work of art inspired by God.

Bern

We had actually planned to spend our whole day at Zurich as our flight was at 10pm. But we changed our plans when we checked the weather forecast at Zurich and it said heavy rain. Since we did not get a chance to visit Bern while we were at Interlaken, we decided to take a train to Bern as weather forecast for Bern was better – "just cloudy with possibility of light showers". While waiting at the Hertenstein ship station, the rain fell as hailstones! That was our first encounter with hailstone. The hailstone was small, the size of little pellets, which started to melt immediately upon falling.

The boat we took this morning was different from the previous trip.

The train ride from Lucerne to Bern was about an hour. And we were greeted by sunny Bern. Bern is well worth the visit. It’s a quiet city and its cobbled lanes, lined with sandstone arcaded buildings straddling the pavement, have changed barely at all in over five hundred years.

The perfectly preserved medieval street plan, with its arcades, street fountains and doughty towers persuaded UNESCO to deem Bern a World Heritage Site. With its stately sandstone buildings, historical towers and 11 magnificent fountains, Berne is one the most impressive examples of medieval town architecture in Europe. It is here that Albert Einstein worked, the Toblerone chocolate bar is made, and Emmental cheese, known as Swiss cheese, reached out to the world.

We followed the suggested city trail recommended and marked on the city map. We started from Schauplatzgasse and headed towards the House of Parliament where we had a lovely view of part of the city of Bern.

We again chose to visit the churches. We headed toward Munster Cathedral, an impressive 15th century Gothic cathedral. It has the highest spire in Switzerland: 344 steps above the entrance, 100meters high – very impressive.

And from the garden at Munster cathedral was the lovely view of the river and the city as we were on high ground.

We crossed the two bridges of Nydeggbrucke and Unterbrucke to view and take shots of the bend of the meandering river. And then we headed towards Kramgasse and Marktgasse and window shopped as we sauntered along one of the longest shopping promenades in Europe munching on the hot dog bun we bought at a hotdog stand.

Lucerne and Engelberg

This morning we set off for the Hertenstein ship station to catch the 8.58am steamer to Lucerne. We had another lovely and relaxing cruise on the Lake back to Lucerne. We took a train to Engelberg so that we could visit a huge 12th Century Benedictine monastery. The interesting history of Engleberg which means ‘The Mountain of Angel’ is worth a google or wiki trip. It’s yet another scenic train ride from Lucerne to Engelberg. The landscape is very different and the train climbed steeper up the slopes of the Berg.

We would have loved to stay on to follow a guided tour of the whole monastery but we didn’t have the time as we wanted to see as much of Lucerne as possible. So we just visited the ornate monastery church which was another fine example of Benedictine architecture with several impressive halls and we took lots of pictures! The Benedictine Monastery, built in 1120, formed the center of Engelberg. Presently, there are still about 30 monks living and working in the Engelberg monastery.

Inside the monastery was also the ‘Show Cheese Factory’. It’s Switzerland's only show cheese factory showing how cheese is made. There’s also a bistro with a huge variety of cheese and milk products.

Armed with a city guide map which is available in the tourist centre, (the tourist centre is almost always found in the central train station) we looked for the interesting sights of Lucerne. We took the Bahnhofstrasse route to reach Chapel Bridge or Kapellbrucke, the world famous 660 year old bridge which was burnt down and nearly destroyed in 1993 and reconstructed six months later. This bridge was built in 1333 and there are 120 captioned triangular paintings from the early 1500s that chronicle the city’s history. Do take a look at the paintings in the covered bridge which are about Swiss and the local city history including the biogaraphies of the city’s patron saints, Leodegar and Mauritius.

The churches in Lucerne are well worth a visit. There is the Franciscan Church which was built in the second half of 13th century, Gothic style. It has the most ornate pulpit in Switzerland from the period between Renaissance and Baroque era. There’s also the Hof Church, a Benedictine Church which was built in 1633 and was rebuilt after fire destroyed it in 1645. The twin towers of the Hofkirche form an integral part of the townscape. Another church worth a visit is Jesuitenkirche (Jesuit Church). Dating from the 17th century, it is regarded as Switzerland’s first sacral Baroque building and Switzerland's most beautiful baroque church.

We also visited the Lion Monument, hewn out of natural rock in memory of the heroic death of the Swiss mercenaries at the Tuileries in 1792. We also took a walk around the Old City Square with its historical and fresco painted buildings. Here, we took our lunch at Pfistern Restaurant at Kornmarkt 4. Our meal was great with Chardonnay cream soup and fish in pastry puff. The meal came with unlimited amount of bread but of course, we could only take a few slices of the marvellous freshly baked bread. We took a peek at the Musegg Wall and decided against walking the full length of the medieval wall as we wanted to visit Weggis.

Hertenstein and Weggis

Hertenstein is just 30 min scenic walk from Weggis along Lake Lucerne or 30 mins cruise onboard a paddle boat or steamer from Lucerne. It’s an enchanting place with a breathtaking view of Lake Lucerne and magnificent panoramic view of the mountains. It’s an idyllic place, perfect for a peaceful and relaxing holiday. Perhaps it’s because of the tranquil atmosphere that hotels in Weggis and Hertenstein are primarily spa and wellness hotels.

"This is the charmingest place we have ever lived in for repose and restfulness, superb scenery whose beauty undergoes a perpetual change from one miracle to another, yet never runs short of fresh surprises and new inventions. We shall always come here for the summers if we can." - Mark Twain

The walking path at Hertenstein near our hotel was lined with cherry and black berry trees and of course, we had a great time plucking and eating them. We didn’t think anyone would mind as the trees were just along the hiking route and the ground were covered with rotting and ripened fruits that had fallen from the trees through the sheer lack of attention. We gave those bright red or purple fruits on the trees longing for attention the appreciation they are crying out for.

While coming back from Lucerne on our second night at Hertenstein, instead of getting off at Hertenstein, we continued on to Weggis which is the second stop from Lucerne. And from Weggis, we walked back to Hertenstein. The small, idyllic holiday resort of Weggis lies on the shore of Lake Lucerne and at the foot of the renowned Rigi. Weggis offers tranquillity and relaxation in front of a beautiful lake and mountain panorama. It is often termed the ‘Riviera’ of central Switzerland. The walk from Weggis to Hertenstein was another relaxing scenic trail with the lake on our left and beautiful homes and spa and wellness hotels on our right. The hiking sign said that our walk would take 1std 20 min (1 hour 20 min) but I guess we weren’t really strolling as we took only 35 minutes.

When we reached our hotel, there was a brief period of sunlight as the sun sets while we were in our room and Boo managed to catch a few shots of the setting sun and a rainbow. What a lovely end to a great day.