Lucerne

We left La Spezia bright and early Sunday morning and drove back up Italy and over the border into Switzerland. Cameron wanted to drive up over the St Gotthard Pass (a road that goes up over the mountains).

So, over the mountains we went. It was lucky he wanted to go this way, as there was a huge line of traffic waiting to go through the Gotthard tunnel (a 16.4km tunnel through the mountain).

When we got close to the top of the pass there was ice on the road and it started snowing.  

Bit slippery on the ice and snow as we don't have winter tyres. When we came down the other side there were some cars stuck, couldn't get enough grip to get up the pass. Luckily for them the snow plough wasn't far away, we passed it further down the mountain.

It was 11 degrees when we pulled into our hotel at Meggen, just out of Lucerne, so we stayed in our hotel room for a while, then Cameron and I sat in the bar chatting. We had a beautiful meal in the hotel bistro and then had an early night.

Monday we had breakfast in the restaurant (included in the rate), ham and cheese croissants, Yummo, and then went sightseeing in Lucerne. It only got to 10 degrees, I thought about buying another jacket but couldn't see me wearing it much at home.

We saw Chapel bridge (a covered bridge that dates back to 1332, but was partly destroyed by fire in 1993, and rebuilt). 

                                       

Then we walked across through town

The town is beautiful, full of old buildings, paintings and towers. There are large squares at the edge of most blocks with fountains in the middle of them. Just so pretty.

We then walked to the city walls, and up the stairs of the towers to see the views. Again, they didn't disappoint.

We then wandered down to have lunch and a walk around the stalls they had at the waterfront for the Lucerne Autumn Fair. Cameron and Matthew both had pastries from one of the stalls, and whilst I was eyeing off jewellery and souveniers, they were eyeing off fairy floss and toffee apples. We headed back to the hotel, where I had a nap and Matthew and Cameron played on the internet, but not before taking photos of the beautiful mountains.

Later, while having drinks at the bar, the receptionist told us that St Gotthard Pass was closed. They had 30 centimetres of snow, apparently we must have been one of the last vehicles over the pass.

Monday night we walked to dinner with some people we met (a South African brother and sister who live in London, and are of German descent) We ended up having dinner with them, and a lovely night. So nice to talk to different people. 

Tuesday morning, we made a detour to the Lion Monument in Lucerne (a sculpture of a lion in rock to commemorate the Swiss Guards who were massacred during the French Revolution in 1792).

Then it was off to the Black Forest and Triberg, where we're staying for the next two nights.