Can’t begin to describe how magnificent and picturesque Switzerland is!!! Pictures don’t do it justice. It’s the most majestic place you will ever see. We went to Lucerne and Lugano with an excursion to Mount Titlis. Lucerne was gorgeous and the buildings were all old and beautiful. Love the history of Europe. So many old cool buildings. They have the famous lion carved into the mountain. An old bridge that goes across the lake to create beautiful pictures. And chocolate and cheese galore!! All of Switzerland is just beautiful mountains waiting to be photographed.
Switzerland was also a place I researched a lot. I had planned to go to the Interlaken/Lauterbrunnen area which is very beautiful. Thats one of many things I liked about this trip I didnt read anything on Lucerne and it was a beautiful surprise. All of Europe has amazing train systems but Switzerland has great panoramic trains! I suggest looking into taking one while you are there. I spent 2 days in Switzerland and feel like it was not enough. Definitely go to more than one city and stay at least 4 days. You can take the panoramic train from one to the next! Or Viator is also offered in Switzerland. Some people from my trip took a day trip from Lucerne to the Lauterbrunnen valley with Viator and saw Grindlewald and Gimmelwald! Those are 2 places I am dying to see! Gimmelwald is a town most people dont know about unless they are a Rick Steves fan- his Switzerland show is a must see! Its a very small town that makes its own cheese and sits high on the mountains. Only has 1 bed and breakfast and a hostel maybe a hotel. They somehow made a law that forbids big construction from coming in and building a bunch of non sense so its just breath taking. It is next to Grindlewald a great place to shop. They both are next to some of the best peaks in Switzerland- Jungfrau, Eiger, and Finsteraarhorn! The Lauterbrunnen Valley is a beautiful place to visit and next to Interlaken which is nice as well. Both close by to Lucernce and Zurich which is where the major train station is. I HIGHLY suggest working some, if not all of these into your trip!
Below is a link to the script from Rick Steves show on Switzerland. I would always look up the scripts when I checked out his DVDs and copy and paste what I liked while I watched it. If you are more of a reader & dont want to watch: http://www.ricksteves.com/tvr/jungfraurse214_scr.htm
We took our tour bus to Mount Titlis where we rode in a little gondola that held 6 people up the mountain. Then we got in a cable car to go a little further and then a rotair which rotated the rest of the way up to 10,000 feet!! The higher we got the more snow there was until we couldnt see in front of us.
Up at the top there was also a ice cave inside the mountain!
At the very top you could get out and go ski or just walk around. If the wind blew you couldnt see a thing.
Before we left I took more pictures of the mountains-
After the excursion we went back to Lucerne and walked around. Its just as pretty at night.
Bought some Swiss Chocolate
Then had fondue-
Next day took more pictures of Lucerne
We made a stop in Lugano which has a beautiful lake and good shopping.
After uploading these pictures I thought I should include stuff about the cameras I used. I updated the tips section with it but if you have already read that here it is. I used a combination of my iPhone and a camera- Canon PowerShot SX260. I have the iPhone 5 and it takes GREAT pictures! I couldnt tell the difference between it and my camera when I had them developed. You have to have a camera for zoom though. IPhone’s zoom is horrible so the Canon worked great in those situations. I bought a Canon with a 20X zoom and it was Amazing! Try to have a camera with as much zoom as you can get because you cant always get close to the amazing sites.
Some more pictures of Lucerne~
We drove through several tunnels leaving Switzerland and the longest tunnel in Europe! As we made our way to ITALY!!! The place I most wanted to see and it didn’t disappoint!
Travel Lover 