Zurich and surrounding areas

It is expensive, but the trip to Jungfraujoch will never be forgotten. See attached journal. Actually didn't find that many highlights in Zurich itself, nothing wrong with it and we enjoyed our time there, just no real highlights. Found that our day in Lucerne was more interesting.

Quick Tips:

Take the trip to Jungfraujoch. If you are getting lonely to here English spoken or are a movie fan who hasn't seen one on their holiday, go in Switzerland. Movies are shown in the original language with french and german subtitles. All three languages are spoken in Switzerland.

Best Way To Get Around:

Can get almost anywhere you would want to go on foot. We used a cab to get to our room from the train station only because of our luggage, not the distance.

The Stadkeller Restaurant is a tourist trap, but a very good one. Tour groups stop there regularly for a taste of Swiss cuisine and entertainment. The meal starts with a cheese fondue served with about a loaf of bread chunks for dipping. You have a selection for your entree. I had veal strips with pan fries, my wife had weiner schnitzel, beans, fries. The dessert was meringue with apple sauce or ice cream. Food was good considering the number of people being served in a short period of time. After the meal, the entertainment begins. There is folk singing, yodelling, alpine horns, spoon players, flag throwing. Some audience participation is encouraged. Definitely something that is worth doing once. You have to book for the lunch sitting with the entertainment.

Of our 4 nights in Zurich two of the days were spent elsewhere as documented in our other journals. We stayed at the Pension St. Joseph, about a half mile from the train station. Nice place, nothing too special, about $90 US per night. We walked from one end of the city to the other, there is a large lake at one end, very scenic. We went to a movie one evening as they are in English. We toured a couple of museums, the Kunsthaus, which featured artists from Rembrandt to Dali, was very good if you are into art. We toured the Grossmunster cathedral, which has two Gothic towers, which legend says was built there because Charlemagne's horse tripped there. Also toured the Fraumunster, which has stained glass windows painted by Marc Chagall. We windowshopped the Bahnhofstrasse, a very expensive street where you can buy the very best of swiss watches if your pockets are deep enough. We didn't attempt to do any fine dining, but our meals were fine, though not memorable. Maybe we missed the highlights, but we found Lucerne more interesting than Zurich.

Arrange your trip a couple of days in advance. You will see brochures available everywhere. We met at the train station, took a bus for the first part of the journey. Our guide on the bus pointed out all sorts of local sightseeing and anecdotes. We stopped at the town of Brienz and were taken to a large woodcarving shop and store. I negotiated on a large beautifully carved American eagle. They wanted about $12,000 US. We were about $10,000 apart. All sorts of clocks etc. available, beautiful stuff. We drove through Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen where we transferred to our cogwheel train. A cog-wheel train has a center wheel which catches on the tracks like a set of gears so that you can't slip back when you are climbing a steep hill (which we were) Scenery is a prime part of the enjoyment of Switzerland and this whole trip gives you every kind of scenery you can imagine including meadows, hills, cattle, people hiking the mountainsides, large waterfalls, sheer cliffs, permanent glacial formations, to the top of Jungfraujoch where there is nothing to see if you look up. The train traveled firstly up the mountain and then we went inside the mountain and travelled inside about a 1/2 hour. At one point we stopped (inside the mountain) and followed our guide to the sheer face of the mountain and looked out through thick plate glass placed there. You look straight down as far as you can see. Apparently, this was the place where Clint Eastwood filmed the Eiger Sanction. We carried on to the top of Jungfraujoch, one of the three highest peaks in the alps. At the top there is a large cafeteria style restaurant where we had a snack. We walked through a tunnel of solid ice for about a hundred yards where it opened into a room filled with permanent ice carvings. We walked outside where you could walk within about 10 feet of the edge of the peak. You can then take an elevator to the absolute peak of Jungfraujoch and look down. There is nothing to look up at! After seeing our fill we started down. They have dog sleds you can take a ride on. Tips for the trip. Dress with several layers of clothing as the temperature will vary as you climb the mountain. We were there at the end of September and weather wasn't much below freezing at the top. Cost (in 1994) was about $125US. Pay it and go, you won't begrudge the money. If you can't afford that, you can apparently arrange your own trip quite a bit cheaper by taking your own transportation up to Lauterbrunnen where the cog-wheel train starts.

We traveled by train from Zurich to Lucerne (about an hour). The tourist information office suggested a walking tour and lunch at the Stadkeller Restaurant and we did both. Our walking tour included a visit to the famous 'Dying Lion of Lucerne, a world famous monument hewn from natural rock. Sculptured in memory of the Swiss Guards of Louis XV1 from the French Revolution of 1792. Very impressive. We toured through a Jesuit Church (St. Francis Xavier). Very brightly decorated, coloured ceilings, imitation marble. We walked across the famous bridge of Lucerne (Kapellbrucke)which has pictures and explanations of various historical events. Picturesque. Have heard some people spend a half a day there studying the pictures, etc. Many of the pictures were destroyed by fire in 1993 but have since been recreated. Carnival square is another area toured with an interesting history. Our guide had many stories of specific buildings there such as the bakers guild house. Lunch at the Stadkeller restaurant was fantastic. (See separate journal entry). There is an old fort around part of the city with towers. We climbed the clock tower and along some of the walls of the fortress. Would recommend a day in Lucerne and the walking tour we took.