Some more Swiss time
Day 2 of the solo-yolo
No one kill me for using that 'solo-yolo' please, it just fits. So anyway, for this day I wanted to head down to Lucerne, which is an hours train ride from Basel. The weather forecast was pretty bleak, but was slightly 'better' down in Lucerne, that is a rain/11 degree high for Basel, and an 8/no rain for Lucerne. It was meant to be nice in Basel again on the Monday, so away we go. Again with the last minute transport bookings, I'd recommend planning ahead and probably booking in advance. I'm not sure if they have the same pre-booking discounts as in London, but it was £48 return which is preeeeettty steep so I'm assuming they would. But hey, that's that. I'd hoped there would be a break in the low foggy cloud so I'd get some Alp action, and perhaps even go up Mt Pilatus (-1 and snowing that day...hmmm) but sadly the foggyness didn't lift so I guess I'll have to head back there one day...
It was a cool place anyway, I went with 100 other tourists into a chocolate shop - oh boy. Somehow I managed not to spend every penny, and 'thought ahead' and got some pick and mix choccys for the walk around (gone literally 0.03 seconds after I paid for them). I saw a toblerone as big as my leg. I do not know how the people work in shops like that. It just smells SO delicious. Anyway. On to some walking.
First stop was the wall. FOR THE WALL. Poor JS. Anyway, the Musegg wall - 'A part of the rampart walls built in 1386; the wall is still almost entirely intact. Four towers are open to the public: Schirmer, Zyt, Wacht and Männli. The oldest city clock, built by Hans Luter in 1535, is in the Zyt tower. This clock is allowed to chime every hour one minute before all the other city clocks.' - thanks Wikipedia.
The last bit which is random, about the chiming, as I was there just before 4pm and thought it was odd that it went before you hear the others from the town start going off. It's kinda cool though, you can walk up the inside of the clock tower and see the pendulum swinging all the way down, with separate little installments of other clocks and how they work. Interesting stuff, but no english on the plaques so eh.
From there I walked along to the Lion Monument, which is a really quite large relief on a cliff face over a pond. When I'd seen pictures of it I just assumed it was going to be small. Like maybe a metre wide type of small. It is actually 10 metres by 6. Pretty neat, it was 'designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen and hewn in 1820–21 by Lukas Ahorn. It commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris.' - again, thank you Wikipedia.
Next was a stroll along the Kapellbrücke, the 'Chapel Bridge' and back through the town. The bridge has paintings on a few of the eaves, but a bunch of it was destroyed in a fire, which you can still see the charring from on one end.
The next day I had planned to walk the opposite way down the river as I had the first day, and after a slow morning start I set off with a packed lunch (super saver Alana), walked one block and decided as it was a nice sunny day, that I would instead sit beside the river for the next two hours and finish my book. Book three of the weekend FYI, it really is nice to have literally no commitments or friends for a short while sometimes, no offence intended.
Anyway, a walk up the river, to, hilariously, Solitude Park', a brief turn around, and back down to a waterfront pub for a pint and some thank you card writing...without a hint of sarcasm, that was definitely my kind of day.
From there I walked along to the Lion Monument, which is a really quite large relief on a cliff face over a pond. When I'd seen pictures of it I just assumed it was going to be small. Like maybe a metre wide type of small. It is actually 10 metres by 6. Pretty neat, it was 'designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen and hewn in 1820–21 by Lukas Ahorn. It commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris.' - again, thank you Wikipedia.
Next was a stroll along the Kapellbrücke, the 'Chapel Bridge' and back through the town. The bridge has paintings on a few of the eaves, but a bunch of it was destroyed in a fire, which you can still see the charring from on one end.
The next day I had planned to walk the opposite way down the river as I had the first day, and after a slow morning start I set off with a packed lunch (super saver Alana), walked one block and decided as it was a nice sunny day, that I would instead sit beside the river for the next two hours and finish my book. Book three of the weekend FYI, it really is nice to have literally no commitments or friends for a short while sometimes, no offence intended.
Anyway, a walk up the river, to, hilariously, Solitude Park', a brief turn around, and back down to a waterfront pub for a pint and some thank you card writing...without a hint of sarcasm, that was definitely my kind of day.
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