Sanders Go Sightseeing: Lucerne, Switzerland (Glacier Gardens & Chapel Bridge)

We started this trip off with EVERYTHING seeming to go wrong. Our alarm didn't go off, we were almost two hours behind schedule, we hit a horrendous traffic jam (thanks, Garmin), we had to rush, rush rush to get to our hotel and get downtown to see the museum and monuments we wanted to hit before they closed, almost missed our dinner reservation (which was an expensive, massive fail)....it was just...craziness.

But, we had FUN!

I don't know how it happened because it seemed we were set for failure; however, our kids had their "listening ears" on, everyone got along, and there were no major meltdowns...and, come on, we were in Switzerland. WIN.

Our hotel was about a 10 minute walk from the train station and a 15 minute walk to the downtown area. We got a decent deal from booking.com at Hotel Ibis Budget Lucerne (179 EUR for two nights). The hotel was just that, a no-frills budget hotel. It was one step up from a hostel (minus the drunk 20-somethings) but it was clean, quiet, cost efficient, and had a nice staff who spoke English well. It also had it's own underground parking garage, breakfast buffet (we chose not to include it in our rate, our kids are not a fan of typical European breakfasts), and a t.v. in the room, which made up for the bed. The bed was hard as a rock (I have a very precise pillow to softness ratio when it comes to sleeping...a.k.a., I like my own bed). But, the kids didn't seem to mind, especially when they realized they got to sleep on the top bunk!

As for Lucerne, we really enjoyed it. The town is really nice and easy to get around and there seemed to be a lot of things to do. We didn't have much time, but we did get to see/do the top three things on our list and that was to see the Chapel Bridge, go to the Glacier Gardens, and sled down Mount Pilatus.

The first thing we did was go to the gardens. We stopped by the Dying Lion of Lucerne monument on the way (it's literally right in front of it). Although we have never heard of it before this trip, it is supposed to be one of the most famous monuments in the world....eh...either way, it was really cool to see.

Mark Twain called it "the saddest and most moving piece of of rock in the world."

Since the Glacier Gardens were about to close (we had about one hour), they gave us 50% off admission (12 EUR for our family of four). Inside you can see the glacier potholes that date back to the Ice Age, climb up a look-out tower over Lucerne, navigate a mirror maze, and visit their interactive museum. Although we could have spent more time here, an hour was about enough (my kids have the attention span of a flea so every time they saw one exhibit and punched a button or did whatever and were ready to go to the next!).

The beautiful view of Lucerne from the top of the look-out tower!
Worth the walk up!

Afterwards we headed back downtown to the Spycher Fondue House. We've heard good reviews about this restaurant, and haven't had fondue in forever, so we were really excited about it....I think we ended up getting our hopes up a little too high because we were not impressed. Swiss cheese is good and all, but you can only dip a potato in it so many times before it just hot, smelly cheese.

The kids wouldn't eat hardly any of it (which is good, because we didn't have to pay for them) and they patiently waited (quietly, I might add) until the chocolate course came. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad. It was just not what we expected (can you say Melting Pot?!) and it was super duper expensive (about 140 EUR, including tip). If you do plan on going though, I would highly recommend reserving a table in advance. If not, and you are not lucky enough to walk in as someone is leaving, you probably won't get in. There were about seven or eight families rejected while we were there (the restaurant is small, with only six tables downstairs).

Once we finished eating we walked down by the river and checked out the Chapel Bridge (the world's oldest covered bridge, dating back to the 1330's). It was really lovely at night, especially with the city's Christmas lights still up! The city's Water Tower was also really cool. The kids were all into the fact that it used to be a torture chamber (sickos). It's also Lucerne's landmark, and according to the tourist office, "the most photographed monument in Switzerland)."