Switzerland

We ended up with two tickets to Switzerland a few weekends back (it is a long story) and so with no great expectations, but hoping that it would be as beautiful as everyone had told us, we boarded a plane for Zurich.

We travelled first to Luzern, a pretty little town about 45 minutes south of Zurich. Here we wandered the back-streets and the promenade, before ending up at the memorial to the Swiss soldiers murdered after they laid down there arms during supposed peace talks in the earlys stages of the French revolution. Here we also stocked up on chocolates, which will no doubt

dwindle fast.

Sarah on the lake at Luzern

Beautiful artwork inside the wooden bridge

A memorial to the Swiss soldiers murdered during the French revolution

Mark Twain called this 'the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world'

Next stop was Interlaken, but we meandered our way there, stopping every time we saw another view that made us go 'wow', which was often. The rest of the time the view was obscured by tunnels, which it seems that the Swiss just can't get enough of...however unlike Sydney we never paid a toll for the tunnels. There were lots of cows around, too - even when you couldn't see them you could hear the gentle tolling of cowbells on the wind.

A village by the lake

YAL (yet another lake)

Interlaken was a city of contrasts, mixing some lovely old buildings with some gaudy advertising, and tranquil views with the opportunity to do adventure sports like parasailing. Parents will be pleased to know that we resisted the temptation, and even passed up the chance to go zorbing (rolling down a hill in a giant clear plastic ball).

The view from our hotel window in Interlaken - beautiful, but the bells were very insistent about coming to church on Sunday

Sunset over fondue in Interlaken

Instead we slept in, and then took the slow road around the lake, first to Hunibach, which had a lovely lakeside pathway, and then to Thun, which was pretty in the same way as Luzern - small streets, riverside cafes - it even had a wooden bridge!

Asleep by the lake near Thun

Our final stop was Zurich, which looked like it would have been a lovely place to stop and wander by the lake - except for the thunderstorm which rolled in and sent us running for cover! Our big regret was that we didn't get to go up Schilthorn or Jungfrau in the alps, but when we come back to go skiing we'll have to do that for sure!