EUROPE TRIP ‘19 - SWITZERLAND IN SPRING

Switzerland

Jul 8

Dubai – Lucerne

22 May 2019, 08:00 – “Sorry sir, but your passport is not ready for collection yet” says the helpful lady at the VFS-UK (UK Visa application) offices.

So you might think to yourself, but I thought they were going to Europe, why then the UK visa?

Well let’s go back in time a bit.

29 August 2018 – Flights to Zurich booked.
I’m over the moon with excitement as we will be leaving for Switzerland at 15:35 on 22 May 2019 for a vacation we only ever dreamed about until that point.

15 May 2019 – T receives confirmation of a UK work trip just 2 days after our vacation would have ended.
This trip will be 2 weeks long and decided that I would tag along as I have never been to the UK myself.
This left us with 5 working days for the UK visa application process…

This then brings us back to VFS-UK offices.

After quite a few moments of disbelief and anger, we made peace with what happened, moved our flights for 24hours later hoping everything will be in order by then.

23 May 2019, 16:00 – We are having something to eat and drink on DXB, as we are FINALLY on our way.
During our descent, I felt like a little girl going to Disneyworld (something I still want to do though) as I see the Alps covered is what looked like Titanium caps.

The train ride between terminals in Zurich lets you know you are in Switzerland. The soundtrack of cowbells, birds, and some yodeling.
We receive our fancy car (sadly not the Scoobie) and take a direct drive to Lucerne. This was the implication of moving our trip on with 24hours.

Lucerne

Lucerne’s Aldtstad and our GPS were definitely not a match made in heaven. We ended up finding our accommodation much better on foot better than in the car.

Hotel Krone Apartment was extremely spacious, comfy and very pretty from the outside. This meant tour groups would pass, and we would feel like we’re in a fishbowl.
Most of the accommodation we stayed in were apartments. They were all quite nice but lacked a bit of culture and personality. This one was no different but did have a twist with its mystery door.

What will we do with our one full day in Lucerne? It was a beautiful clear day. After going trough a few options, a local city guide had a few suggestions. We decided to do a mount Rigi excursion.

Mt. Rigi

A boat service will take us to Vitznau. In restored cogwheel carriages dating back to between 1871-1911, we will make our way up from there. This will be our first time in a cogwheel, never the less on Europe’s first mountain railway that was built in 1871.
The way down, we will take another root. This time we will stop halfway at Rigi Kaltbad, and take a cableway down to Weggis.

The exciting transport of this trip was only half of the fun. The ever-changing perspective of everything you saw at the foot of the mountain, and the final view right at the top of Rigi Kulm (1800m above sea level) was just jaw-dropping. Apparently, on a clear day (which I think we had) you can see 620 Alpine peaks.

When you arrive at Rigi Kaltbad, and walk away from the crowds, you get to hear the cow bells in the distance. While absorbing some sunlight they sound like wind chimes ringing in the background.

After our trip down with the cableway, admiring all the hikers, and “countryside”, we end up in Weggis before taking the boat back.

Weggis is absolutely beautiful, and the kind of place I can imagine to go and retire one day.

Night in Lucerne

After having a recharge nap, we were ready for the second leg of our day. We went for dinner, which felt like lunch as the sun was still very high in the sky.

Amir, our waiter (the best one on our whole trip) at la Barca made some amazing suggestions. T ate a Tartes flambéed, which were very yummy. A Tartes flambéed is like a pizza without the tomato sauce and with mountain cheese instead of mozzarella.

This would be one of the very few evenings we were still out and about after the sun had gone down. We got to stroll the streets of Lucerne and capture some nightlife photos.

This would be the start of our vacation with some of the best food and drink we have ever had. Since we currently live in Dubai, we are very limited to pork products. This just made the abundance and quality of pork available so much better for us. With that and my love for pastries, we were about to eat some of the best food out there.

Due to our lost day, we were unable to take the scenic route to Lucerne. Refusing to miss out on Interlaken and Grindelwald, we decided to skimp on Lucerne a bit in the morning. We did a quick coffee and pastry as well as a last bit of sightseeing and rather left a little earlier than planned for our next destination.

Interlaken & Grindelwald

We went back on the route a bit to visit these stunning, storybook towns.

Although we did not spend nearly enough time in these two towns, I have to say that they were just so memorable.

In Interlaken we saw parachute jumpers, jumping from the mountain tops, through the departing mist, and onto the lush green field, flowers everywhere, a city train and even a groom in his Jeep wedding car.

Grindelwald on the other side, deep in the mountains and reminded me so much of my childhood times watching Heidi. She always went on and on about the mountains and the thousands of flowers everywhere. The wooden houses with smoke dancing from their chimneys just added to that Swiss picture. Although absolutely beyond beautiful, it was way too busy and touristy for us.