Switzerland, day 2

After breakfast Sunday morning we took another walk around the old town area of Zurich. All the shops are closed on Sundays and the streets were mostly empty. We walked aimlessly while making photographs. Lauren brought along her Rolleiflex and I’m carrying my Hasselblad 503cw.

By mid morning our friend Yen came by the hotel and walked us to the train station which was about a 15 minute walk from our hotel. Along the walk I noticed the Apple store is located directly across the street from a large Swiss watch store. I feel a bit funny wearing my Cupertino watch in this town.

The train station in Zurich is quite large but amazingly well organized. We had our espresso, gave our last hugs and kisses to Yen and boarded our train. Our train was scheduled to leave at 11:34am and guess what time it left? Exactly 11:34am. Everything here runs exactly on time. It gets us every time it happens. 

The train to Lucerne was a little less than an hour which felt like no time at all. Lucerne is beautiful. The Reuss river runs through the center of the city with fountains, shops and restaurants on both sides with bridges connecting it all. There is a gorgeous and famous wooden bridge called the Chapel Bridge. It’s has flowers all along the outside and you can feel the history of this bridge.

By noon we were both starving and had lunch outside at Rathaus Brauerei which sits on the Reuss. We had a delicious pretzel lunch and then walked across a different bridge to the dock and caught a boat to Weggis.

The boat ride on Lake Lucerne is less than hour and absolutely stunning. All around are mountains. 

We quickly checked into our hotel in Weggis, dropped off our bags and then took the local cog-wheel train up the mountain to the very top to Rigi. From there we took a 3.5 hour hike which I will never forget. I don’t have any photographs to share just yet but I can still see in my minds eye the green grass with wildflowers everywhere and panoramic views of the snow covered Swiss Alps and the crystal clear lake. 

After dinner we connected with the kids back home on FaceTime and then crashed for the night.

We do not have any particular plans for today. We may take the boat back to Lucerne and explore or may call today at lazy day and just chill here in Weggis. It feels good to just be here and in the moment.

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(I forgot to mention in my post yesterday, Yen is quite the photographer and adventurer. She spent over a year living and documenting life in a prison in Mexico and published this photo book some time ago. It’s a powerful collection of images. All captured on black and white film.)