3 1/2 totally FABULOUS days in Lucern, Switzerland

Before moving into our apartment in Frankfurt, we did a week long vacation in Switzerland, spending half the time in Lucerne and half the time in Lauterbrunnen.  We were wanting to do a vacation that involved lots of natural beauty and lots of very breathtaking gondolas, as well as some historic sites.  We also were looking for a car-free vacation.  Switzerland was perfect in all these respects!!!  Our first stop, via the super duper fast ICE train from Frankfurt, was LUCERNE.


Getting there...
We bought a Europass from the Rail Europe website (www.raileurope.com).  Based on our need to travel over three days (ie, Frankfurt to Lucerne, Lucerne to Lauterbrunnen, and Lauterbrunnen to Frankfurt), it was cheaper to get a Germany-Switzerland pass that enabled us unlimited travel over 5 days over a two month period.  Some things to know about Europass travel which I did not know...
1.  No e-tickets.  They have to actually ship you your tickets to your home.  So order in advance, and don't lose them.
2.  It's confusingly tricky to use them, there are requirements as to where to write in the dates you use them, and how to write down where you travel.  It seemed we got different information from different train conductors so I still don't know the exact right way, but I do know that there is no crossing out allowed, so be careful with what you write on them!!!
3.  They can be used for trains, boats, and gondolas, but that uses one of your "days" of the five days.

Lucerne!
So we arrived in Lucerne.  It is an absolutely beautiful, totally walkable little city.  The main train station is a short walk from the old town neighborhood where we stayed, and there is an old wooden bridge, and some magnificient architecture, some old churches (in one of which we found a bejeweled skeleton of a saint in glass!!) wonderful restaurants, and gorgeous mountain views.  Plus, it's a great stepping stone for day-trips.  We really loved Lucerne, and Maddie says she wants to own a house there.  There is a tourist information office in the main train station that is worth a look, you can get some great free guide books and maps that explain all that there is to do.

Where we stayed...

As always, we love love love www.booking.com.  We like to stay in simple, small hotels in the old town areas.  We stayed at Hotel sum Schlussel, Franziskanerplatz 12, 6003, Lucerne.  We had a huge, basic room with a crib, and 4 beds right in the middle of everything and it was perfect.

Things to do...EXCURSIONS...

 Mount Pilatus!!!

At the Tourist Information office at the train station you can buy tickets for an excursion to Mount Pilatus, a huge peak where a benevolent healing dragon is said to reside.  We did the "Silver Round Trip" whereby we took a 20 train from Lucerne to Aplnachstad via the Zentralbahn Railway, and got on what is touted as "the world's steepest cogwheel railway."  It was VERY steep.

We then took a Panorama Gondola and an Ariel Cableway to the summit.  It was chilly, and very high up, and we were in the middle of the Swiss Alps.  Amazing!

We went down the other side of the mountain via some smaller gondolas, and found ourselves at a play area and ropes park!  Our kids were too young for the ropes course (but we want to come back) but we loved the summer snow tubing!!!  We also happened upon a gorgeous restaurant and beautiful playground at one of the gondola stops.

Boat Trip to Weggis and Mt. Rigi

Another absolutely ridiculously spectacular day trip from Lucerne (also not requiring a car) is to take a boat from Lucerne (again, getting tickets at the tourist information office at the train station) to the town Weggis.  The boats run hourly, and are absolutely beautiful, with spectacular scenery.  The ride to Weggis is under an hour - just long enough with small children.

Once at Weggis, we decided to explore a bit.  There is a main street with some shops and a restaurant and some small playgrounds.  We ate lunch at a little place along the water, there are several to choose from.

Then, we followed signs on a 15 minute, stroller friendly, walk to the Rigi Bahn, which took us to the top of Mt Rigi (the Queen of the Mountains).  We also took a Cog Wheel railway to a stop along the mountain where we explored for a bit, and then an ariel cable car back to Weggis, and the boat back to Lucerne.  It was awesome, spectacular, and so much fun.

Cool nature thing...SWANS!

When we were researching going to Lucerne, I did not read one thing about the swans.  There are tons and tons of swans that live in the water that snakes through Lucerne.  They are used to being fed and are quite tame.  The town set up these logs on the side of the river that are just high enough to keep the swans in the water, so they cannot chase or follow one through the town.  We loved the swans and the kids picked their favorites and named them.

 Our tips for food!!

Like probably all of Europe, many restaurants in Lucerne are not the most kid-friendly.  There is certainly some fine dining to be had!  We breakfasted and lunched at casual bakeries, but for snacks and dinners... we found some good spots that worked for all of us...

Rathaus Brauerai (http://www.braui-luzern.ch) is a great choice.  It's right on the water (the kids can walk down and check out the swans while waiting for food) and has delicious German food.  The pretzels are amazing, and the beer is delicious.  

Da Ernesto Ristorante (http://www.da-ernesto.ch/fotogalleria/) is also fabulous, and is Italian.  We all loved it, and it also is in a good spot for people watching and relaxing.

Friedlis Markthalle  (http://www.luzerner-wochenmarkt.ch/marktstaende/weitermitglieder/friedli/index.html) is right in the middle of town by this beautiful huge flight of steps.  It's tricky to make sure kids (and adults) get their fruits and veggies while traveling.  This is a good fresh produce stand to stock up on healthy snacks.

Overall, Lucerne is a really, special and amazing place.  We really treasured our time there, and could have even spent longer there.  It was fabulous!!!!

Heidelberg, Germany is TOTALLY worth visiting.

We love the travel writer/guru Rick Steves.  We love his show, and his books, and his advice is usually spot on!  However, in his Germany book he suggests not bothering to visit Heidelberg, as it is "stained almost beyond recognition" and "doesn't make it into Germany's top three weeks."  Despite his dislike of Heidelberg, last Saturday we decided to spend the day there.  Here are my tips on doing a day trip to Heidelberg with kids!  It would be worth doing an overnight, but the last minute hotels were too expensive on our most favorite hotel reservation site, www.booking.com, and it is a short train ride from Frankfurt, hence the day trip.

Why Heidelberg?  It's the oldest and most well known university town in Germany, with an adorable old town, handful of museums, fun shopping area, castle, and beautiful cathedral.  Plus, it's really beautiful and historic.

Getting There.  Deutsche Bahn is the train system in Germany - we got a day ticket for 44 Euros, which enabled all five of us to travel from Frankfurt and back on regional trains (not the super fast ICE train).  It took about an hour and a half, no big deal.  When we arrived in Heidelberg Hauptwache (the main train station) we considered taking a bus to the Altstadt (old town) but the busses were crowded for a stroller, and it is only a 20 minute walk, so we walked.  There's a tourist office at the train station that can give you a free, detailed map of the town.

THINGS TO DO!

We looked at Lonely Planet's Germany book, and read the few pages on Heidelberg and easily narrowed our activities down to enough to fill a busy, fun day.  After a quick lunch at one of Germany's countless bakeries, we headed to....

Studentenkarzer and Universitats Museum, Augustinergrasse 2, 3 Euro, closed Mondays.  The Studentenkarzer is the student jail, which was used from 1823-1914.  My kids loved this, and talked about it for days afterwards.  You can see the cells, the toilet, and there is crazy graffiti, poems, and murals all over the walls.

The Studentenkarzer is connected to the Universitats Museum.  We didn't spend much time here but did walk to the second floor to see the old lecture hall, which is really neat.  My kids thought it looked like church.  Nobody was there so we explored the podium area too.
 

Heiliggeistkirche, right in Marktplatz.

This is Heidelberg's biggest and most famous church, built around 1400.  I really like visiting old churches because they are so spectacular and amazing and old, and I love the peaceful beauty of them.  I don't try and get my kids bogged down in the history of them and we only spend a few minutes there, so my children like old churches too, they seem castle-like and magical to them.  We explored it, wrote wishes and gratitude on sticky notes to put on a prayer wall, they wrote their names in a guest book, and we payed a few Euro to climb the tower, which was awesome.  SO many windey steps, and such views at the top!  Totally worth doing!

Schloss Heidelberg (Heidelberg Castle)
At the edge of the old town there is a funicular that takes you right to the castle (Bergbahn Funicular), I believe it was about 12 Euro for our family to go on the funicular and for entrance to the castle.  You can go up the hill further as well, but we didn't, so I can't say what is up there!  We explored the castle on our own, deciding to skip the tours due to the kids short attention spans.  This castle is huge and beautiful, and is partially in ruins, so you can get a good sense of both it's age and imagine what it was like in it's glory.  There are a few cafes, an interesting pharmacy museum (Deutsches Apotheken-Museum) with a kid's area, and a neat basement-ey area with a snack bar where wine or beer was brewed in this enormous barrel.

We also visited the castle gardens (Schlossgarten) and sat out on a picnic blanket and relaxed in the shade.  There are great views of the castle, and some fountains.

Cool Science Thing....

In the fountains at the Schlossgarten there are protected amphibians.  The kids were fascinated by these close up views of salamanders and other little creatures.  There are tons of them!!!

Our Restaurant Recommendation....

After the Schloss we were ready for an early dinner and to head back to Frankfurt.  We wandered around looking for a perfectly child-friendly restaurant that was in the shade, not to crowded, and not too full of smokers.  We found the most awesome place!

Schmidts Heidelberg, Hauptstrasse 187, www.schmidts-heidelberg.de
This is a great restaurant with a big menu, in a great location, right in the center of the old town area of Heidelberg.  The food and beer was excellent, and they even have a HARRY POTTER THEMED KIDS MENU.  My daughter is a huge Harry Potter fan (as am I) and this was incredibly exciting to her.  The menu even says (in German) that if you can perform a spell and make food appear, your dinner costs 0 Euro.  The kids found this hysterical.

Overall Heidelberg is awesome and totally worth a short visit.  We loved it!  I don't know what Rick Steves was talking about!

Amy's Review of Moving to Frankfurt as an Expat

***  I see from my stats that this post gets a ton of traffic.  If YOU or a loved one are moving to Frankfurt feel free to comment below and I can help you with anything I have knowledge of, or help you find the right place to figure out what you need!*****


So we arrived here a few weeks ago, and have been so pleasantly surprised at basically everything about Frankfurt!  We are living in Nordend, which is right in the city itself.  We are in a perfect location, right on the U-Bahn (that's the subway, I keep calling it the T), maybe 3 blocks from an incredible park with climbing trees, and tons of structures, and a water area, around the corner from a Rewe (the local supermarket chain), and a 15 minute walk to My Zeil, the huge mall and shopping area in Frankfurt where we keep finding elaborate costumed promotions.  Frankfurt is such an awesome city to live in with kids!  There are so many playgrounds and parks, and they are all incredible.

Also, we do not have a car.  Maybe we will get one.  Maybe we will not.  It is undecided.  Because the train is on our corner, we can get the kids to Frankfurt International School easily on the train, and there is a school bus from our neighborhood as well.  Mike can take the train to work, and the trains are so awesome, fast, and prompt that taking trains has been quick and easy.  It also helps that coming from Boston I am used to bopping around the city with big strollers on public transportation!

And I have to mention all the FESTIVALS.  I had heard Germany was big on festivals, but this is ridiculous.  I feel like everywhere we go, every day, we stumble upon a huge kinderfestival.  They are all free and all have crazy rides, bouncy houses, games, and general awesomeness.  It's to the point where I am on purpose NOT posting photos of them on Facebook because it is silly how many there are!!!

 AND the POOLS!!!  Apparently people here love to swim.  There are something like 13 public pools in Frankfurt.  Some of them are inside, and some are outside.  They are all incredibly reasonably priced, me plus all three kids can swim for 90 minutes or longer for about 5-7 Euro.  We have visited four of them, and Maddie went to two others with her camp.  They all feel like luxury resorts, with slides, and shaded baby pools, rolling hills, landscaped flower gardens, and cafes.  It's amazing.

So overall, moving to Frankfurt as an expat is really fun and easy.  I didn't even address all the other super nice expats I have met, everyone is friendly and looking to do fun activities.  There are social groups, book clubs, and basically it seems like more fun stuff to do than there is time to do it.  If you have the chance to move here, do it!!  :)

Leaving on a jet plane....

We have been in Europe for a month now, and I am just now sitting down to blog.  I feel like I should address how it feels to actually leave home to go to Europe for three years.  It was hard!!

Moving is always inherently difficult, but there were certain things that made it easier, such as having just moved from the Back Bay to Brookline one year ago (almost exactly) so that I was not leaving this super emotional home that had a lot of memories, and also knowing we are renting our home in Brookline and not selling it, and having all the packers and movers help me with the logistics.

However, ignoring the logistics - it was really hard, mostly because I love my life in Brookline, I love all my friends, and all the stuff we do, and our neighborhood, and our neighbors, and our family, and Boston, and the kid's preschool, etc. etc. etc! It would be one thing if I was terribly bored and discontented, then it would be easy to walk away from my life in the US.  But, it was so awesome, and that made it hard!

It didn't change the fact however, that I know that moving here is the right thing for our family!  So anyway, all the packers came, and we had lots of tearful goodbyes, and a few sleepless nights getting ready to go, and then we actually left, after going on some rides and playing at the Devotion Carnival - what a great last thing to do while waiting for our car to take us to the airport.

We got in the car with all 3 kids, a bunch of suitcases and backpacks, and two slightly tranquilized meowing cats, and left.  On our way to the airport there was the most spectacular, amazing, incredible rainbow.  We took this photo out of the car window.

We watched the rainbow all the way to the airport, and it felt like the most auspicious start to this great adventure.  We will miss our friends and family terribly, and that totally sucks, but I think this is a sign that the universe is on our side!