Switzerland vacation: Thursday in Lucerne

Our original plan on Thursday was to take the Glacier Express train to the eastern side of Switzerland; but, the weather just wasn't cooperating on that side of the country, so we decided to check out Lucerne instead, which is located in central Switzerland.  So in the morning, we took a 2.5 hour train ride (with a few connections) from Zermatt to Lucerne. Lucerne is one of the most heavily tourist-visited cities in Switzerland, mainly because of its historical center town, numerous mountain excursions that are close by, and the famous wooden bridge that goes over the river (its actually the most photographed spot in Switzerland).  So we adventured around for the afternoon checking out Lucerne and all of its sites.  We did a 2 hour walking tour around the city that covered most of the major sites.

In front of the "Lion Monument".  It commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris, France. 

The wooden bridge over the river

Again, love this water color! 

We wrote our names on one of the medieval watch towers

Checking out the medieval walls surrounding the city

The wooden bridge from the other side

After checking out Lucerne we decided to take the train back to Geneva to stay at home for the night since we planned a day trip closer to home on Friday.  Once back home, Ryan came with us for dinner at one of our favorite Geneva restaurants, Chez Ma Cousine, which serves a very simple yet delicious meal - rotisserie chicken, potatoes, and salad.


Here is how we met our cheese/chocolate/wine requirements for the day:

Cheese: Cheese at the hotel for breakfast, cheese in our pasta for lunch
Chocolate: Nutella on bread for breakfast and chocolate cake for dessert at dinner
Wine: Prosecco in our orange juice for breakfast... mimosas!