switzerland I - lucerne & mt rigi

the big arch in front of lucern bahnhof.

this picture is really interesting to me.
we just spent a restless night in basel euroairport:
arrived the night before and took an early train out of basel to lucerne.
basically we haven't showered in a day and haven't had enough sleep.
luggage were kept at a left luggage, where we had to find CHF 7 in coins to use the lockers!!
this really frustrates me.

this view is really worth it though.
the water is crystal clear and blue.
switzerland and their clear waters..
i could drown in them

took early boat out to vitznau

this piece of paper covers all transportation in switzerland for 3 consecutive days,
be it bus, train, boats, etc.
mine costs EUR146.
yes, it's a bomb (i still cry remembering the pain when paying for this)
but it takes my mind off worrying about catching trains.

mama enjoying the view.
she's really happy the whole time we were here :)

i got it from my mama

we saw these giants and went shrieking
and we took pictures
and then other tourists followed suit
-.-"

hi handsome
we considered jumping off the boat so he could rescue us lol

the journey to vitznau is one hour long, crossing lake lucerne
i fell asleep half that time, so tired

more giants
honestly, the view was amazing
postcard pictures everywhere

and swans swimming happily..

everyone taking selfies haha

mountain railway

mama trying to find a good spot
there weren't that many people anyway, lol

i would say, it was a 30 degrees climb?
it was steep and the view was pretty

don't you hate it that you are not born a swiss

first sighting of snow!
oh, the feeling is magical.
this coming from someone who never experienced snow,
it is truly something.

a modern condo overlooking lake lucerne

ski!

we joked about stranded skiers just wandering around nowhere and went,
'hey, there's a restaurant!'
and walked in like it's something they do everyday
:P

the view from rigi kulm

this was about time i changed my camera settings to raw format,
then forgot to change it back to jpeg until the next day... -.-"
so all the following pictures had to be edited.
and sorry, i'm not good with lightroom!

again, more chinese/korean/japanese tourists
they all look the same, until they open their mouths and speak
(i can't understand their language but i can distinguish between the three)

even with the snow all around, it wasn't as cold as we thought it would be.
maybe amsterdam already desensitized us..

yeay snow!!

and we got to play snowball fight for a bit..
you'd think they're fluffy and soft, but when all balled up it does hurt!
and cold, and made my gloves wet

that tourist on the right looked so confused lol

mama is happy! (and cold)

lower, where the snow already melted
so you get spots of snow here and there :)

this is just :)

we don't get flowers unless we plant them
and here, flowers just bloom out of nowhere

it was nearing easter :)

mama was tired and thus became childish
i honestly can't have that much fun because i'm the tour guide -.-"

waiting for our boat home
we went back to lucerne from weggis instead of vitznau

titlis is another mountain in lucerne area,
if you have two or more days in lucerne then you have to explore titlis
you get to ski :)

that is kapellbrücke, or chapel bridge
it is really really old

mama watching the swans swim

i love pedestrian bridges :)

how it looks on the kapellbrücke:
totally made of wood.
some of these old paintings are from the 17th century,
but most were destroyed in a 1993 fire.
some were restored afterwards.
we can still see the charred black remains on parts of the bridge.

the hunt for löwendenkmal - the lion of lucerne.
it is really not that far away from lucerne bahnhof.

this is said by mark twain to be 'the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world'.
firstly, this picture doesn't do the statue justice.
it is huge, when i walked in my first reaction was 'wow'.
and the lion looked so morose, so defeated.
you'd never expect a lion to look so sorrowful.

for those interested on the history of the statue:
The Lion Monument (Löwendenkmal), or the Lion of Lucerne, is a sculpture in Lucerne, Switzerland, designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen and hewn in 1820-21 by Lukas Ahorn. It commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris, France. (wiki)

old swiss house.
we only spent half a day in lucerne, at 2.15pm we board a train to interlaken and then lauterbrunnen.