Lucerne is a gorgeous little medieval city located on Lake Lucerne. It is really compact, and flat so as we were traipsing around we felt like we saw a ton, and we were astounded by how flat it was! We booked our trip last minute, and found a great little hotel near the train station, within easy walking distance to everything, perfect for us.
Upon arrival we tossed our bag in the room and headed out for a good lunch. Since moving here I have become an expert at scouring the internet for family friendly restaurants in the cities that we go to...from what I can gather Swiss restaurants are not always super family friendly. We found a really nice Swiss place on the water and settled in for a big lunch!
As you can see here, the kids ate their weight in "things that are white"... or as I like to call it, vacation food!
PS- Isn't that an awesome cheese grater!
With full bellies and happy kids we headed off to tour the city. We walked over the historic covered Chapel bridge which has burned and been rebuilt several times throughout history. In fact someone told us that after the last time it burned the Japanese put up part of the money to rebuild it because it's a very popular wedding destination for them. While I'm not sure if that's true, it was really neat to walk the bridge and notice the old and refurbished paintings under its eaves.
The old city was filled with lights and we loved looking at all the Christmas decorations on the buildings as we walked to the Dying Lion Monument on the other side of the city. This relief is huge and is a memorial to the Swiss mercenaries who dying fighting in the French Revolution.
Near the Lion Monument we decided to take a break from the cold and check out the Glacier Garden. In the late 1800's glacial potholes were discovered in Lucerne and now there is a lovely little museum devoted to these and the history of the area. Apparently, a few ice ages ago Lucerne used to be a very temperate beachside climate!
The best part of the museum however was the "hall of mirrors" We had a blast walking through this until Quinn slammed into a mirror wall... twice. Poor kid, we had a little trouble getting to him, because we were stuck in the mirror maze too! It was one of those parenting moments that you wish you could see a movie of... kid running into a wall, then turning around and running into another wall... you know, you hate to laugh but you just can't help it. Luckily for everyone, our little wrecking ball was not injured. Here are a few pictures of the kids and I playing with the "funhouse" mirrors outside.
The next morning we went to the Swiss Transport Museum and WOW we were not disappointed. That place is huge and really approachable for transportation geeks of all ages, they even have a couple of flight simulators! Here Kevin and Quinn are learning about shunting trains.
I have to say that the highlight for the kids was the full outdoor kid sized construction site where Quinn was able to live the dream and shovel rocks into holes for an hour! So fun. My favorite part of the day was the Lindt Chocolate museum which was a "tour" of Lindt chocolate from cocoa bean to finished product. It was fun to see, and the free samples at the end of the tour were the perfect way to end our very busy day!
Lucerne was a lovely charming little city that we look forward to visiting again!
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