1. Creatures, Comforts, Covered Bridges… Zurich to Lucerne. 8/28/2022

Greetings – Today’s adventures… We left our little hotel in the old town area of Zurich right after breakfast and headed to pick up a rental car so we could begin our journey (Zurich to Lucerne to Thun to Bern to Geneva and back to Zurich.. and home). The wait at the rental car place was crazy; it was as if all of Switzerland decided to rent a car. Fortunately, we had reservations, or I doubt we would have been able to get a car. The wait was so long that we befriended people in line including a lovely Mexican family who are currently living in Stockholm! Their 5-year-old son was super excited about the car (my Spanish is probably at his level, so I was able to understand…) but apparently, he thought his parents were “buying” a car that he would have forever, rather than renting. That will be one sad boy when the car goes back to Hertz. We finally got our car …. And it is a very bright blue Alfa Romeo!! We are clearly driving in style. It took us about 15 minutes to figure out how to start the car, how to get into gear, etc. (later we needed to figure out how to turn the car off). Finally, we were on the road. 

We had decided early on that we would drive to the Bruno Weber Park which is about 20 minutes or so from the hotel (and not really on the way to Lucerne, our next stop). We had heard about it in Atlas Obscura, and it did not disappoint. As I understand the story, Bruno Weber—trained as a graphic designer and painter—began to “decorate” his parents house which was located on beautiful grounds (200 acres I think). But the work kept growing and growing (well at least Bruno decided to keep it going) and includes all sorts of phantasmagoric creatures—serpents and elephants with two trunks and snakes and more. Many of the sculptures are covered in colorful tiles.

The structures are mostly concrete and there are hundreds and hundreds of them. .. many larger than life-size. Most can be sat on, stood upon, walked across, climbed on, etc. Some are very obviously situated, and others are almost hidden in the bushes and the ponds… spotting them only as you stumble upon them amid trees and bushes. And it is a photographer’s heaven. Would have liked to be able to stroll uninterrupted without anyone else there and would have liked to see it at different times of day. Should you find yourself in Zurich, this is a not-to-miss spot. Far better than museums and institutionalized art.

After spending a considerable amount of time at Bruno Weber Park, we headed to a lovely restaurant called Winzerhaus located in the totally charming town of Weiningen (sp?), which was about 20 minutes from the Park. We sat on the terrace with the trellises completely overgrown with vines (prompting us to select a wine that came from the grapes above our heads). It was a beautiful day (so far, we’ve lucked out with weather) and we (over-) ate an extremely relaxing meal and were way too stuffed to head to Lucerne, but we did. 

The hour-long drive from Zurich to Lucerne was uneventful except that we got lost several times because Google Maps was a little confusing… and the GPS in the car is in Italian; we can probably shift the language, but we haven’t had the time. And, getting lost when traveling is always more fun than just getting their straight-away.

We arrived at our hotel in Lucerne—having to drive through several pedestrian-only streets and a plaza… the only way to get to the hotel— to drop off our bags; we won’t need the car while we are here in the city, so this lovely Alfa Romeo will live in the hotel garage. Have to say this is probably the most luxurious and stressless travel we’ve done in decades. For those of you who follow this travel blog, you’ll be happy to know that the more typical Tiger/Pyatok travel will resume in December when we head to Ethiopia, Egypt, Jordan, and Israel.

Anyway, the Hotel des Balances is spectacular; our room looks out on the river with a totally drop-dead view.  

After settling in, we headed to dinner at Lucide which is located at the Lucerne Concert Hall and the Art Museum. We also noted that during the days we are here it is the Lucerne Festival, so there are performances throughout the city. Hopefully we’ll catch some of them. Don’t have tickets so we’ll probably just stop by the free outdoor concerts. More about Lucerne tomorrow, but the river is full of fantastic covered wood bridges that date back centuries and criss cross the river. 

Our hotel was originally built in 1178 – nearly one thousand years ago—as two houses/mansions. Over the years as it expanded it was a town hall, a school, occupied by Benedictine Friars, two guild halls, and more. There was some kind of fire in 1893 which caused severe damage and the need to rebuild and renovate, but the foundations are original. It’s a spectacular building with a consciously attentive staff. For those who follow this kind of stuff, the comedian “Emil” began his career at the hotel performing Emil and the 40 Thieves. The front of the building— which is next to impossible to photograph— is painted in a Hans Holbein style (by the former director of the art school, in 1893).

We strolled back from dinner – lots of people strolling – and went through the train station in order to cross two very busy streets that have no apparent pedestrian crossing. So, actually, I think we did it the right way along with the locals.

I’m going to sign off now.. Its pretty late here. More tomorrow. 

All the best –

Fern