Our train journey up from Rome was really stunning - we travelled through snow covered mountains and past turqoise lakes. I guess it's true what they say about the punctuality of the Swiss as our train pulled into Lucern main station in the late evening on Saturday 15 December, right on time. It was a cold and drizzly evening so we quickly got our bearings and walked the short distance along the river to our CouchSurfing host's house. As we walked we kept thinking how the city had such a cool feel to it - it seemed more like a small town than a city. Marcus invited us in and was really polite & hospitable - after being on the road for a while it really is the small things that count :-) Later, he treated us to a traditional swiss fondue - of his mom's secret recipe if I remember? - either way, it was delicious. We had a cool time chatting for the rest of the evening and hearing about his amazing cycling adventure through Asia and the Americas.

Sunday was our day for sightseeing so we were up early and, after a quick breakfast with Marcus, we headed back towards the station to the tourist office. They were very helpful and we walked away with some maps and a list of things that we could do that day. We walked up to the where the Reuss River flows out from Lake Lucern and then followed the river down, stopping at any interesting spots along the way. We found a small Christmas Market (this is the German part of Switzerland after all) which was cool to look around and later crossed the river over the famous Chapel Bridge, a wooden bridge originally built in the 1300's that is somehow still standing... We wandered up some steep roads to the old city wall where we able to get a great view of the city and the lake and the Alps that surround everything.

Heading back down, we (ahem, Monique) felt it would be appropriate to have some real Swiss chocolate for an after-lunch treat... We figured it would be cheaper what with us being in the country and everything... ha ha ha, not really :-/ Anyway, we enjoyed our lunch and some yummy Toblerone on a sunny bench overlooking the crystal-clear river. Later, after wandering the streets a bit more and visiting a few more interesting places such as the Lion Monument and the Church of St. Leodegar, we headed home, picking up a few groceries on the way. It was dark when we got back and Monique wasted no time in rustling up a really good chicken & mushroom pasta! It was cool having Marcus' girlfriend join us and we spent the rest of the evening chatting about their travel adventures and plans for the future. We had another early start the next day so we said our goodbyes before we went to bed.

Monday we took our last walk up the river back to the train station, where we quite easily found our train and climbed aboard for the trip to Paris, our last city on mainland Europe :-/ As we pulled out the station we remarked how even though our time in Lucerne was short, it really captured us and is definatly a place we would like to return to one day, hopefully next time in the summer :-)