Switzerland with Lara

Departure

Here we are, telling you about another trip, short but intense. I had four days off and my friend Lara and I decided to visit part of Switzerland. We leave on March 14. When we reach the Swiss border, they make us buy the "highway sticker," we pay 30 euros and they give us 5 francs in change. The Swiss highways are similar to ours, except for the toll booth, which, of course, doesn't exist. After 4 hours of driving we arrive at the gates of Bern, the capital of the Swiss Confederation. We find the hotel right away and, since it's in the very center and in a pedestrian area, we look for a covered parking garage, get a ticket, and pay 40 CHF for 24 hours. We booked the hotel online through what turned out to be the most convenient method, even though I usually prefer to book directly from the hotel's website. We pay 140 CHF for a double room with breakfast, the hotel is called Continental.

(In my opinion, very reasonable for being in a capital city and right in the center…). It's already too late to see the city properly, so we decide to go for a nighttime stroll; the city is quiet and for girls, even alone, there's no reason to be afraid. The next day we go out early and with our inseparable Lonely Planet we set off on the recommended walking itinerary. Our itinerary starts from the parliament square, where there was a market that day; we walk around the building and find ourselves inside a park with a splendid view of the Aare river and the Alps. Then we visit the Cathedral and the beautiful Moses fountain. (Bern is famous for its countless fountains; they all look alike, but they're not..). We continue our itinerary along the river and it leads us to cross the bridge to see the famous "bear pit." You can see 5 bears but we only saw two and they were very cute.

We resume our itinerary in the heart of the city, taking hundreds of photos of the various fountains. We reach the Zytglogge clock tower. It's very beautiful and distinctive, unfortunately we didn't get to see it in action. We also wanted to visit the Einstein museum but... given our very poor knowledge of German, it didn't seem wise. The weather was very favorable so we decide to have lunch outdoors in the square, at a place called Anker. We ate very well!! Our Bernese adventure continues with the discovery of the embassies. They're not far from the center and are easily reachable on foot. We saw the embassies of Great Britain, Canada, Belgium, Austria, Vatican City, and of course the Italian one. It's afternoon and we decide to leave for the second city, Lucerne. After an hour's drive we arrive and park. Here too there's paid parking and a hotel in the center.

Hotel Falken, room only, 105 CHF. We decide to go for the usual nighttime stroll and discover that Lucerne is also a very quiet city.

Second day

After getting up we go to have breakfast at Starbucks… for me, who doesn't like coffee, it's a nightmare, but the muffin I ate was good!! Here too, with our Lonely Planet, we follow the walking route. We start from the famous wooden bridge Kappellbrucke, head toward the cathedral, and then cross the Reuss river again on another, older wooden bridge. We reach the walls where we take a nice walk, and continuing along the route we arrive at the Lion Monument Lowendenkma dedicated to the Swiss soldiers who died in 1792 during the French Revolution. We could have gone to see the glacier museum but we preferred to continue to the cathedral, then we took a walk around the lake and then set off for Zurich. The weather isn't the best; in fact it starts to rain, but that doesn't stop us. We park in the center and, since it's Sunday, the parking is free.

We take a stroll around the center, visiting the two churches of Fraumunster and Grossmunster, both very beautiful. Unfortunately the rain becomes persistent, so we decide to set off for Liechtenstein, our last stop.

Third day

We included the brief visit to Liechtenstein in another trip.

When we arrived in Meinfeld we searched desperately for Heidi's little house but discovered that we'd have to walk a bit and, given the weather… rain… we didn't feel up to it, so we set off for Italy. The return trip was peaceful even though we encountered snow and cold, but when we reached Ticino the sun came out too. Unfortunately, four days passed quickly, but they let us discover a beautiful reality close to home that is just waiting to be explored.

Go there, that's my advice… ah, don't forget to buy chocolate, it's delicious and there are truly so, so many kinds!!!

Bye and see you on the next trip!!!