Lucerne is a beautiful city at Christmas time with lots of lights, decoration and Christmas markets to drink Glühwein at. One of the larger clothing store presented this very cool Advent calendar. I do like the time before Christmas very much, actually more than Christmas itself.
Category: Featured
Chocolate!
I do live in one of the biggest chocolate countries in the world. So last week when I was fortunate enough to be invited to join Andy’s company for an event at Lindt & Sprüngli my introduction to Switzerland was complete. I bet most of you know the Lindt chocolate, you can buy it all over the world. We bought it occasionally during our stay in America and on the trip and our favorite is the chili flavored one.
At the factory in Kilchberg, outside of Zürich, they have a show room which is equipped with marble benches and large pots to keep the chocolate at the right temperature for further refinement. Our group of almost 30 got dressed in baking shirts, apron and hats. The show room was Christmas decorated with Disney perfect trees and golden Lindt chocolate bears.
The chocolatier started to tell us a bit about the company and chocolate but pretty soon we got into the important part of the evening, making chocolates. 🙂
We were shown how to fill champagne ganache in chocolate shells which were later sealed and decorated with powder sugar. We made 28 each and they have to be eaten within a week or so. What a pity! We then got 10 basic chocolates that we could decorate in what ever way we wanted. The chocolatier showed us some tricks and for our creations we could use gold flakes, caramelized nuts and more.
In addition to working with chocolate there were Lindt & Sprüngli chocolate available for us to eat as much as we wanted from. It did not take long until I did not feel like having any more. Such a shame!
A few hours later we went home with our handmade chocolates, slightly sick after having had way too much chocolate but with a big smile on our faces. 🙂
First outing
We have lived in Lucerne since 1 June and from our balcony we see the mountains, particularly the Pilatus. It is regarded as the “house mountain” being the highest peak close to the city. With its 2128 meters it is higher than the highest point in Sweden. Considering our interest in hiking it is astonishing that we have not hiked one single time since we came back to Switzerland. The weather has been fantastic so there was really no reason. But I have to admit that after doing so much hiking during our trip and moving around every day made us lazy and we have enjoyed just staying put for the summer.
The Pilatus is very green this time of year. If you zoom in you can see the red gondolas on the right side of the mountain.
Lately though I have started to feel the urge to get up there again and on Saturday we did our first “real” hike since Tasmania in March. (I am not including smaller walks to see certain sights.) We decided to hike the Pilatus from the Alpnach side which is the most direct route and therefore also quite steep. You start at the Pilatus Bahn station (yes, there is a train going up on this side of the mountain) on roughly 450 m altitude. It starts off on the meadows but rather quickly you enter the forest and do not get out in the open until almost half ways to the top.
Before getting into the forest.
Once above the tree line you soon see your goal for the first time and it becomes very obvious that it is a fair way to go. You can see the switchbacks you have in front of you but you also have a nicer view and it is more alpine with beautiful meadows and steep rock faces. The top of the mountain was mostly covered in clouds so it did not make much sense to take pictures at this point.
What is a hike in the Alps without cows? In the background in the left image you can see the train track.
Being not in the best of shapes it took me about half an hour longer than last time I did this hike 3 years ago. We did not keep that good track of our time, we stopped and talked to fellow hikers on the way, but I think we did the 1700 m altitude in about 3 h and 40 min. My goal is to cut that time with at least one hour. I would be happy with 2.5 h. Andy’s goal is a bit more aggressive but he would have to run part of the time to reach his 1.5 h goal…
At last we reached the peak which is crawling with people. The amount of people that actually hike up is not very large, most come up with the train or the gondola on the north side of the mountain. Recently they renovated the facilities on the top to fit even more people indoors. I guess a lot of the tourists does not realize that it gets quite cold up over 2000 m, especially when the wind is blowing. This way they can get a nice lunch or snack without having to freeze half to death.
And being out of shape we took the train down. 🙂 It is quite a cool train being the steepest rack railway in the world. They say the steepest part is 48% which is quite impressive considering it opened in 1889.
This is the half way station. You can get off and on here if you don’t want to do the complete hike or just get off, stroll around, say hi to the cows and then continue with the train.
Home – Lucerne
The other day I walked around my new home town with my camera and thought I will show you some of the pictures of this beautiful place.
At the waterfront close to our home. The mountain Rigi in the background.
The other side of town
At the quay where most of the tour boats departs.
There are a few bars along the water with great views.
Hikers waiting for the ferry.
The crossing next to the train station. The water tower in the background.
The Kapellbrücke with mountain Pilatus in the background.
In the Old town looking over to the “new” town.
Beautiful facade.
Shopping street in Old town.
Lucerne Fountain on Kapellplatz.
KKL, the cultural center next to the train station. The university is close by and during the day lots of people sit along the water front and eat lunches or drinks beer in some of the outdoor cafés.
Lunch hour at the lake.
Panorama of the Kapellbrücke
Slight change of plan
Some things you can not really plan for, they just happen. A few weeks into our stay in mainland Australia we had to reschedule our flights and fly back to Switzerland due to family reasons. We came from autumn in Australia to spring in Switzerland but got used to the change quite quickly. We were happy to be back in a semi normal life again. As we came back the plan was still to spend summer in Sweden and then probably settle down in Switzerland in the autumn but still keeping all options open.
Just for fun we looked around for apartments in Lucerne and as it happens we found the perfect place. A nice apartment featuring a huge terrace with views of the mountains just next to the train station. Well, we could not resist… So, 1 June we will be permanent residents of Lucerne, Switzerland! This means we have to start working rather sooner than later, unfortunately. But before we get the apartment I will go to Stockholm and enjoy the city for a few weeks.
Well, I did not think that an apartment would decide where we end up but I guess something has to decide. 🙂
Oamaru – capital of Steampunk
Somewhere along the way we had heard that Oamaru is a great little town. We could not remember why but we knew we wanted to pass by. Basically it is known for two things, Steampunk and penguins. The latter I don’t think needs much explaining but the first one might if you are as ignorant as me.
Yellow eyed penguin
Steampunk is a style with the slogan “Tomorrow as it used to be”. It features steam powered machinery in a western 19th century setting. The style can be recognized from many movies (eg Fritz Lang’s Metropolis or Wild wild west), computer games and art work. Oamaru has a small museum dedicated to Steampunk, a playground and art work around the city in Steampunk style. Actually some of the people who live there look Steampunk. 🙂 This in combination with the old Victorian style buildings is fantastic and creates a very special place.
Have a look at the photos and see what you think:
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| Oamaru |