Swiss Grand Circle - 15. Lucerne at Last

If pictures told the full story, this would have been the most romantic sunset stroll at Switzerland's most famous lakeshore promenade, flanked by medieval half-timber houses and crowned by an iconic wooden bridge that graces the cover of every Lucerne brochure.


And it was, if we simply ignored the flocks of international tourists swarming the gorgeous Kapellbrücke as the epicentre. After all this was Lucerne, an essential stop for all first-time visitors to Switzerland and especially important for multi-day coach tours passing between Zürich to the north and the Berner Oberland to the southwest.


Prominent in Swiss history as one of the original members of the Confederation, compact Lucerne punches way above its weight in international tourism for a small city of merely 80,000 -- comparable to a small borough of London -- with 9 million annual visitors. This gives Lucerne the enviable problem of more day-trippers per resident than any other city in Switzerland, approaching the level of Venice or Dubrovnik.


And we were guilty of contributing to that statistics on this last leg of our 16-day Swiss Grand Circle, opting to spend our final night at this picturesque town rather than metropolitan Zürich -- for which I don't think anyone would blame us! -- ahead of our morning flight out of Zürich Airport.


In any case, any guilt that we deserved was atoned by spending our night behind bars at the city's former central prison, now converted into a hotel named after its most famous resident who served his time after declining compulsory military service in the 1970s.


And the hotel assigned us exactly the jail cell that held the infamous Barabas himself, featuring a melancholic mural by the incarcerated artist. The heavy steel doors, thick walls and small windows behind bars were non-negotiable.


Except we wanted a larger bed than the small double with a useless bunk provided by the Barabas cell. The hotel staff were kind enough to move us to the library, still behind bars and fitted now with two single beds pushed together. Perusing the 1960s collection of non-fictions that once entertained the cellmates was our evening entertainment in the absence of television.


Steering clear of tour crowds congregating around the Lion Monument, we spent our Sunday afternoon among local families and lovebirds atop Lucerne's medieval ramparts, still largely navigable starting from the Nölliturm at the western edge of the historic quarter.


Arguably the best panorama in town can be viewed for free from the crenellated turret of the 15th century Männliturm, boasting a sweeping view of Lucerne's five-storey skyline across River Reuss in the direction of the mighty Pilatus, less than 10 km to the south as the bird flies.


Four of the the nine watchtowers are open to the public, including an exhibition of medieval clockwork inside the 550-year-old Zytturm. The navigable section of the walls would end after Dächliturm, at the northeastern edge of the historic quarter and within walking distance to the twin Gothic towers of St. Leodegar.


From there it was a short walk to Lucerne's world-famous landmark, the 14th century arcaded footbridge of Kapellbrücke guarded by the even older Wasserturm, the city's medieval defense against raiders approaching from the lake.


A renewed wooden roof now shelters a number of gift shops, underneath the triangular decorative panels dating back to the 17th century and only partially surviving the most recent fire in 1993 when two-thirds of the 650-year-old bridge -- the oldest truss bridge in the world -- was destroyed.


Like most of Switzerland Lucerne's dining options were few on Sundays, limited mainly to the train station area and the tourism district north of the Reuss. We opted for an early meal before a sunset walk along the lakeshore towards the KKL.


One centrally located option was the Rathaus Brauerei, occupying the vaulted basement of the 400-year-old townhall right beneath the city council meetings. From the copper vats in the background flowed the brewery's seasonal and year-round drafts, including a cloudy Zwickelbier with a hint of citrus perfect for a late summer day.


I must have never gotten tired of Swiss rotisserie chicken -- usually the supermarket variety from Migros or Coop -- as I craved it once again for my last meal in Switzerland. But this was no cheap take-out: the flesh was superbly tender and moist and served with a buttery herbed cream for dipping. Great chicken and an even better sauce which I mopped up with the fries.


For my wife, a local rainbow trout from Lake Lucerne, sauteed and served with another creamy sauce of tomatoes and capers. Given the lack of choices for a Sunday evening, this actually turned out better than expected.

Meal for Two Persons

Rathaus Chicken	CHF 24.5
Rainbow Trout	CHF 33.5
Kellerbier 3dl	CHF 5.5
Weissbier 3dl	CHF 6
TOTAL	CHF 69.5 (CAD$97)

Our after-dinner stroll took us along the shoreline to the glassy KKL, Lucerne's high profile concert hall and its 21st century landmark on the water. From the opposite shore beckoned the twin spires of St. Leodegar and neighbouring Grand Casino. The few stores opened on Sundays had mostly closed by 18:00, save for a handful on the underground level of the neighbouring Lucerne Station.


This wraps up our Swiss Grand Circle in a quick 16 days, too short to do justice to a compact nation blessed with some of the world's most stunning yet most accessible alpine scenery. I would have loved one more day in Bern, and definitely more time in the Berner Oberland for the Schynige Platte-to-First hike, and perhaps one more in Appenzell ...

Swiss Grand Circle - 14. Ballenberg and Lake Brienz Cruise

500 museums to choose from courtesy of the Swiss Travel Pass, and this was our favourite.

Now we’re definitely not museum buffs, though we did visit about a dozen museums across 8 cantons during our time in Switzerland, partly because they were all free for Swiss Travel Pass holders. No other museum came even close to Ballenberg in terms of entertainment value, photogenicity, sheer size and ability to engage family members of all ages for an entire day.


Combining Ballenberg with a pleasure cruise on the turquoise waters of Lake Brienz -- also free for Swiss Travel Pass holders -- became the perfect wind-down after two days of hiking and glacier viewing high up in the Jungfrau and the Schilthorn. Our 16 day Swiss Grand Circle was nearing its end.


Basing ourselves out of a rental apartment in Lauterbrunnen, the decision was tough for our third and final day: the First - Bachalpsee hike followed by a zipline ride, or perhaps a leisurely trip up Schynige Platte, or the legendary First - Bachalpsee - Schynige Platte trail for a serious 11 hour hike. We wished we had a fourth or even fifth day in the Berner Oberland, but that’s just a perpetual craving of every serious traveler.


Our morning started at Interlaken Ost where our boat was just a three minute walk from the train station. With several departures per day in summer peak season, our little ferry would embark on a 90 minute journey down the full length of Lake Brienz, finishing next to the Brienz train station where passengers could seamlessly transfer to trains for Interlaken or Lucerne, or in our case a local bus for the Ballenberg Museum.


Making stops on both the northern and southern shores of Lake Brienz, our boat pulled into the 800-year-old town of Iseltwald where numerous B&B and a cheap hostel has formed a backpacker hotspot, halfway between Interlaken and Brienz to take advantage of this idyllic stretch of the lakeshore as well as the numerous hiking opportunities nearby.


Occupying the tip of a tiny peninsula on Lake Brienz's southern shoreline, Schloss Seeburg was just one of many romantic sights on one of the most spectacular ferry routes in the Alps. On the opposite shore one could spot the Brienz Rothorn railway, a steam-powered cogwheel train climbing 1700m to the local summit.


Waterfalls plunged into perfect turquoise waters reminiscent of Plitvice Lakes. Above the pictured Giessbach Falls is the oldest funicular railway in Europe, a 140-year-old antique that still chauffeurs guests up to the cliff top hotel for a panoramic view.

After 90 minutes our boat arrived punctually -- as one might expect of any Swiss means of transport -- at the small town of Brienz where a short ride on the local bus brought us to our highly anticipated destination.


I feel that the word museum does a great disservice to Ballenberg.

This is far from just an exhibition of old buildings, but a Swiss Cultural Property of National Significance as well as the undisputed national centre for preservation and learning of Swiss handicrafts and traditional construction techniques.


Boasting an extraordinary collection of more than 100 historic farmhouse and functional outbuildings from all corners of Switzerland, Ballenberg Open-Air Museum is larger than the Disneyland in Anaheim and attracts a quarter million visitors -- mostly Swiss -- in its 6 month operating season between April and October. A curious visitor can easily spend a full day or two without getting bored, which is why the museum offers a two-day pass as an option. And of course, visiting is free for holders of the Swiss Travel Pass.


The museum grounds is organized into a multitude of independent villages representing 12 different regions of Switzerland, from Appenzellerland at the Austrian border to the alpine heartland of Berner Oberland (pictured) to the Jura in the far west. As it can take more than 30 minutes just to walk from one end to the other, the presence of an East and a West entrance -- both served by local buses -- turned out tremendously useful to avoid backtracking.


Our favourite was the Central and Bernese Midlands village, a fully functional demonstration farm with its own herd of Swiss dairy cows and impressively preserved farmhouses dating from as early as the 1600s, including the pictured labourer's house from Aargau with a thatched roof.


Retirement at Ballenberg is the ultimate aspiration of all old Swiss farmhouses. When a rural building of significance is ready to be demolished or replaced by a modern version, a team of experts from Ballenberg would study and dismantle the building, stone by stone and wood plank by wood plank, to be reassembled here and restored to its former functionality, complete with native farm animals as was the case of this pig pen from suburban Brugg.


As an authentic working farm, Ballenberg isn’t shy about demonstrating the art of raising livestock for the purpose of turning them into sausages in its century-old smokehouse. Serious visitors can enrol at Ballenberg’s course centre to study the art of meat curing, wood turning or perhaps iron forging in multi-day and even multi-week programs from the country’s leading experts.


The cold-smoked sausages and cured meats, some of which are ready-to-eat for picnics, can be purchased at the village meat shop hosted inside another historic farmhouse. One important note for fellow budget travelers: Ballenberg is one of the rare tourist attractions in Switzerland that actually welcomes visitors to bring their own food and have an old-fashioned family picnic under the tree.


Where we couldn’t afford to splurge in restaurants, we went full-out in our cheap supermarket picnic with some Migros shrimp appetizer (my favourite!), green salad and cherry tomatoes, cured landjäger sausages and rohschinken, Emmentaler cheese and local bread, all washed down with a bottle of white. And if this somehow wasn’t enough, there was the option of picking up a grilled wurst at a hot food kiosk at the next village.


The self-sufficiency of the village was evident in everything from its farm plots full of native vegetables and medicinal herbs, livestock for its own milk, cheese and meats, and a functional water mill to grind its own flour for the resident artisan to churn out fresh bread from its wood-fueled ovenhouse. In fact the ovenhouse produces more bread than the museum restaurants can consume, and the rest is available for purchased at the museum shop.


The village was coming alive on this September day with the potter churning out new stoneware, the weaver creating cushion covers with her hand-operated loom, and the miller at the waterwheel grinding out fresh spelt flour -- all artisan products you can buy at the museum shop. In another month or so the wine press will come into action with the annual harvest of grapes, before the museum closes its doors for the winter.


To demonstrate that rural life isn’t a dying tradition, the museum has converted one of its 19th century farmhouses into a showroom of 21st century comfort with a modernized kitchen equipped with induction cooktops and a convection oven, well-designed storage spaces, airy contemporary bedrooms and a bathroom with a standalone jacuzzi tub. Needless to say this was my wife’s dream house.


While this wasn’t our first visit to an open-air museum -- the Gassho-zukuri Minka-en at Shirakawago and the Black Forest Open-Air Museum in Gutach im Schwarzwald come to mind -- it was certainly the largest and best organized we had ever seen. We could have easily spent the entire day here, but decided to hurry back to Interlaken in the late afternoon for souvenir shopping at the local Coop before the store closed early on a Saturday.


After two days in the mountains and one here on the lakeshore, our memorable stay in the Berner Oberland -- and our 16 day circular trip of Switzerland -- was coming to an end. That evening would be our last in the enchanting village of Lauterbrunnen before we moved to Lucerne for our final night.

Swiss Grand Circle - 13. Family-Friendly Hike Beneath the Jungfrau

We had plenty of warnings ahead of our obligatory trip to the Jungfrau.

Overhyped? Only if you encounter terrible weather.

Most congested mountain in Switzerland? One of the top two or three.

Most expensive second-class train by kilometre in the world? Most definitely.


Everyone loves the Jungfrau’s UNESCO World Heritage pedigree and dreamy scenery, yet most bemoan its daily besieging by masses of multi-national tourists, all converging at Kleine Scheidegg awaiting their exclusive train ride to the legendary Jungfraujoch. But there is a cheap(er) way to avoid most of the crowds as we found out, for novice hikers who wish to enjoy the Jungfrau without the exorbitant prices.


At a fraction of the price charged for a round-trip to Jungfraujoch, one could take the train as far as Wengen before transferring to a cable car up the local mountain of Männlichen, where a flat, family-friendly trail leads straight to the foot of the Jungfrau. From the cable car one can appreciate the steepness of the glacial valley, cleft between 3000-plus-metre peaks and concealed in shadows except for the midday.


Known as the Männlichen-Kleine Scheidegg trail, this 7 km route packs a dizzying punch of Switzerland's most famous landscapes into a well-maintained trail navigable for rugged baby strollers in good weather. Along with the Lavaux vineyard hike above Lake Geneva and the Panoramaweg near St. Moritz, this was one of our three favourite beginner hikes in Switzerland.


Starting from the Männlichen cable car station and passing a children’s playground featuring a ginormous cow-shaped slide, the trail swerves slowly around the eastern slopes of the Tschuggen peak towards the alpine transport hub of Kleine Scheidegg. The inclines were apparently gentle enough for some young ladies in high heels, making it a comfortable 2 hour stroll for these two 9-to-5 workers of average fitness.


One key attraction of the Männlichen-Kleine Scheidegg trail is its near constant and unobstructed view of the Jungfrau’s magnificent north face which, along with her neighbouring peaks of Mönch and Eiger, forms the core of continental Europe’s watershed at 4158 metres above sea level.


An easterly panorama overlooks the Grindelwald valley and its pair of popular resort towns, normally served by the Wengernalpbahn cog rail which did not serve Grindelwald at the time of our visit. That was partially the reason behind us choosing the village of Lauterbrunnen as our home base in the Berner Oberland.


For families requiring more frequent rest stops, a picnic area at the halfway point provides a weather shelter and a few barbecue pits. And if you aren’t the sort to haul your own wine bottles on hikes, the Grindelwaldblick restaurant beckons near the end of the trail with its offerings of hard apple ciders and beers.


Aside from its tempting offerings of beer and wurst, the Grindelwaldblick also features one of the best viewpoints along the route with an elevated pavilion built next to the restaurant, providing the pictured front row view of Kleine Scheidegg beneath the Jungfrau. We started our hike just past 10:00 and arrived at 12:00, in time for lunch before embarking on our most expensive afternoon outing.


Now here’s my next tip for budget travelers. If you’re going to blow your budget on train tickets like we did, you might want to skip the overpriced restaurants by staging your own Swiss picnic on Kleine Scheidegg’s limited number of benches. A shrimp appetizer, a green salad, landjäger jerky, bread and cheese, and a small bottle of sparkling cava, all available from the Coop supermarkets at Wengen for about CHF 10 per person in total.


We needed every franc we could save to pay for the most expensive excursion of our 16-day journey across Switzerland, CHF 110 (CAD$154) per person in tickets to take the cog rail from Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch and back to Wengen later this afternoon. And this was AFTER the 25% discount offered to Swiss Travel Pass holders.


Sticker shock aside, Swiss rail engineering was marvellous to behold as our cogwheel train tunnelled up the mountain’s base and made an intermediate stop at the underground station of Eismeer, boasting an aquarium-like viewing window burrowed out of the Jungfrau’s southeastern face to provide visitors with an up-close view of the Ischmeer Glacier.


The panorama became even more impressive at the terminus station of Jungfraujoch, the highest train station in Europe at 3454 m and straddling the continental divide at the heart of the UNESCO protection zone. Jungfrau’s steep north face would eventually drain into the Rhine towards the North Sea, while the southern glaciers would follow the Rhone into the Mediterranean.


The southern slopes overlook the Aletsch Glacier amid the largest contiguous glaciated area in Europe, 22 km long and an incredible 900 metres deep at the far end. From this vantage point one could pick out the occasional snowshoe track from mountaineers or perhaps resident scientists studying the glacier as a barometer for climate change.


Beneath the ice lies a large underground tourism complex with restaurants and cafés, a snow park, museum, theatre and souvenir shops all interlinked by a series of tunnels, complete with a Lindt shop that seemed to carry limited quantity treats that we had never seen elsewhere.


My favourite spot for memorable photos was the ice palace, ideally with a good enough camera for capturing the translucent walls without flash. We visited a similar palace the previous week at the Matterhorn Glacier Express above Zermatt, but here the lighting turned out much better for photos.


A quick elevator ride to the Sphinx Observatory afforded a bird’s eye view of the snow park below. Renting a snowboard -- or a snow tube for those who would rather sit -- turned out affordable enough that I would have rented my own pair of skis if we had a full afternoon on these slopes. With our limited time I had to settle for a few golf swings of hitting snowballs down the glacier, still enjoyable though less exhilarating.


And I didn’t know at the time that it was possible to spend a night up here!

Not at the train station, but at the Mönchsjoch alpine hut 45 minutes from the station, accessible only via a snowshoe hike. Simple meals and warm beds await, as well as possibly the most spectacular sunrise in the Alps. Too bad we had to return to Lauterbrunnen on the second last train of the day.


On the way back we stopped by Wengen, famous for its car-free status as well as one of the most impressive Skiing World Cup events held annually at the Lauberhorn slopes above town. The spectacular setting come at a cost of higher apartment prices and one more train transfer from Interlaken, which led to us picking Lauterbrunnen as our homebase at the end.