Early Saturday morning we took the train to St Gallen - the Eastern most part of Switzerland - bordered by Germany and Austria. We spent the morning wandering around the old town of St Gallen and exploring the Abbey Library which is the oldest library in Switzerland and also one of the most important monastic libraries in the world housing manuscripts dating back to the 8th century. We then enjoyed some Swiss hot chocolate before checking-in at our hotel. We tried to find the botanical gardens and a wildlife park, but instead we found the St Gallen firestation - apparently our map reading skills need some refining! Naturally we had bratwurst for lunch - yummy! This was followed by a finicular ride up to the Drei Weieren (3 artificial water basins built above the city) for a pleasant afternoon stroll. We then continued with some more exploration in the town, followed by a drink before exploring some restaurants for dinner. We decided on a cosy restaurant serving all things Swiss-German and enjoyed some Spätzle (a type of egg noodle) for dinner.
Sunday was a full day - we visited 4 cities in 3 countries! We started off taking a train to Rorschach which is on the southern side of Lake Constance, and although the lake promenade was nice, it was Sunday, and Switzerland is a very quiet place on a Sunday, so there was not much happening! We had originally planned to go to Appenzelle ( a historical region of Switzerland) for a tour of a cheese factory, but then realised that the tour was in German only, so we quickly changed plans. We decided to take a boat to Lindau - a small Bavarian Island (but still connected to the mainland) in Lake Constance, but in the German part. This may have been one of the best decisions we made all weekend. Lindau was alive and bustling and we so enjoyed discovering this quaint town with old buildings, cute cafés and stunning views. Of course we had some apple strudel and enjoyed the sunshine! And there was even a South African flag in the flag collection at the entrance to the port. The next train we wanted to catch went through the town of Bregenz in Austria - so we decided to stop here too - this way we would have seen Lake Constance from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The town itself wasn't anything too special, but walking along the lake in the sunshine is always hard to beat. Here we sampled some pineapple flavoured drinking yoghurt which was yummy and then caught our train the Lucerne (and we may or may not have bought the wrong ticket and totally misread the train timetable).
Now, Lucerne is a wonderful place - totally Swiss in many ways, but absolutely gorgeous and just a fun place to visit. We had the rest of Sunday night and the whole of Monday to explore Lucerne. On arrival we headed to our hotel and then decided to talk a walk and find some dinner. Lucerne is definitely a tourist hot spot, so many of the restaurants were over-priced, but we managed to find a spot and have some more bratwurst and roesti. Our hotel had its own pub, so on returning we decided to have a drink and listen to the live music - a band from America. This pub (Mr Pitwicks Pub) is clearly the spot for all the international people in Lucerne, so we felt right at home. Monday morning started with the most delicious pastries and coffee and a walk along the old city wall before snaking our way through the old town and visiting two churches - gorgeous! We then decided to head out of Lucerne for a bit and walked through the country side to visit a castle We then decided to take a boat to Waggis and Vitznau (definitely holiday destinations for the rich), but not before we had some more bratwurst overlooking the lake. I love taking the boat - fresh air, sunshine, peaceful waters and stunning scenerary - so I was quite content. After our excursions in Waggis and Vitznau we returned to Lucerne, had the necessary ice-cream, bought some burger king for the train, and headed back to Lausanne. All in all - a very successful trip.
I really needed a break, and this weekend has left me feeling re-energized and refreshed for the coming busy weeks. Traveling often makes me realize again how blessed I am to be living in Europe and how much Lausanne has become home for me - and this weekend was no exception.
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