Last Day In Switzerland

Today is our last day in Switzerland, and our last day together for a few days since Paul has to fly home for some business, so we allowed ourselves some time to sleep in and relax before heading out to do our sightseeing.  Lucerne is a pretty small city so unless you want to go to the nearby Alps, you don’t need much time to see the major sights and attractions.

In the early afternoon, we headed to the Coop department/grocery store on Hertensteinstrasse to pick up gifts for a few people Paul will see in Canada.  Since he can’t check any luggage, we had to pick non-fragile items small enough to fit into his backpack, and pretty much everyone got Swiss chocolate, although I took my time perusing all the different aisles looking for alternative

After getting some lunch at the Coop restaurant (which is similar to Ikea restaurants), we wandered around old town until we got to the Museggmauer, a 14th century city wall with nine big towers still standing on the north side of town.  Paul didn’t want to climb uphill to get to the wall, so I went up by myself and discovered that you can climb some of the towers and walk along the top part of the wall, but didn’t bother since I didn’t want to stray too far.  I took some pictures from the bottom part of the wall (you get a great view of Lucerne and the surrounding Alps from here) and then found my way back to the street where Paul was waiting.

On our way to Hofkirche (Abbey Court Church), which is considered by some to be the most beautiful renaissance-church in Switzerland, we stopped to watch people play Bocce on a boulevard along Lake Lucerne called Schweizerhofquai. I don’t quite understand the game, but it looks like you play in teams of two – one team throws out a small ball, and then the two teams throw bocce balls as close as possible to the small ball and the team that ends up closest wins.  Kind of interesting. 

We finished our day at a restaurant called Swiss Stubli, the only place we’ve seen “traditional” Swiss food that isn’t Fondue!  We tried a mixed grill (made up of different types of pork, ham, and sausages served with potatoe salad) and a dish called “Berner Rosti,” which is bacon and shredded potatoes baked with cheese. The mixed grill was very tasty, but I can’t say I’m a fan of white sausage (which I think is a German specialty) and the Berner Rosti was probably the best thing I’ve tasted since the Indian/Ethiopian food in Geneva so we were both very happy to have found this restaurant. 

All in all, today was a good end our trip to Switzerland, and even though we probably went well over budget, we both think Switzerland is well worth a visit.  Maybe some day we’ll get a chance to come back and visit the Alps!