Rhine Falls, Bern & Lucerne

Rhine Falls

With my body clock on Malaysian time, I woke early and it was a breeze to check-out about 0630.  I stored my bag at the railway station for CHF6 while I go exploring, rather than have to return to the guesthouse later to get it.

I was on the train around 0700 for Schaffhausen where I could connect to Rhine Falls.  Arriving an hour later, I decided to explore the old German town first rather than on the way back.  While it was nice enough, it wasn’t anything new to me.  And with lots of works being carried out, it was hard to get worthwhile pictures.

There were several train stations near Rhine Falls, all with variations of the name Neuhausen.  Google put me on the fastest way which involved a longer walk rather than a longer wait.

I took a walk around the west bank of the falls.  I didn’t venture to the other side, accessible by boat.  It kinda never occurred to me to do that as the falls weren’t significant enough and perhaps subconsciously there was the thought of Swiss prices!  Apparently, it isn’t too dear.

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For the return journey to Zurich, I waited at the closest station.  At the vending machine, I noticed cannabis iced tea!  How do they make sure kids don’t buy it!?

I was on the train to Zurich around 1000 and after retrieving my bag there, onwards to Lucerne around 1100.

Arriving in Lucerne, I took the bus to my hotel the delightful Beau Sejour, across the other side of the river.  Feeling quite good, I decided to make an excursion to Bern.

If I had known that I would be feeling OK, I would have taken my luggage to Bern and stored it at the station there, explored Bern and then come to Lucerne.  That would have saved me around an hour of travel plus time to-and-from the Beau Sejour.

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Exploring Bern

I got to Bern around 1400, after an hour on the train.  I walked from the station along the main street lined with buildings fronted by archways for pedestrians.  In Malaysia you’d call them “go kaki”.

Across the river was a bear pit, now expanded to include a green area by the river bank for the family of three bears to roam.  I wandered back via a couple of churches, Einstein’s old home, the town hall and the parliament building.

The city’s clock tower is supposed to have some interesting moving characters but at 1500, despite a small gathering to see them, there was nothing interesting to report.

After a couple of hours in the very low-key Swiss capital, I was on the 1600 train back to Lucerne.  It was a rather warm train ride, perhaps because the air-conditioning isn’t designed to cope with strong summer sun.

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Picnic dinner

With such awesome weather (and to save money), I bought a salad and a savoury bread roll to have as a picnic dinner at the lakeside park in front of my hotel.  It was a lovely way to finish the day.  I settled into bed around 2000.