The Europe Trip: One Night Only

Lucerne, the next city we were visiting, was about two hours away from Interlaken by train. When I read about Lucerne, I didn't find many tourist attractions. On top of that, the Chapel Bridge pictures I saw on the internet gave me the impression that Lucerne would be pretty similar in term of size and scenery with Interlaken. But it was nothing like what I would have expected. The railway station is much bigger than the ones in Interlaken. The moment we stepped out, the bridge and river Reuss immediately reminded me of Lyon. 

In Lucerne, on our way to the Lion Monument.

We arrived in the morning, which meant we got enough time to explore the city before checking in to our hotel. We stored the luggage at the station and headed to the Lion Monument. It was nice, but under renovation, so the scaffolding was kind of distracting. We didn't spend much time there and we continued to the Glacier Garden that is located next to the Lion Monument. But we couldn't really appreciate rocks and stones from million years ago, so it also turned out to a brief visit only. Good thing that the entrance fee was covered under Swiss Travel Pass, haha.

From there, we went to McDonald's for lunch. It was, according to Linda, the grandest McDonald's she had ever seen because it had a chandelier. After lunch, we walked through the Chapel Bridge and boarded the ferry to travel aimlessly. Apparently there was only so much lake or river cruises one could take in one trip. After a while, the view, no matter how beautiful it was, tended to look the same. My wife was alarmed that it could be quite a long ride, so we alighted at Hafen Weggis to catch the next ferry returning to Lucerne. 

At the grandest McDonald's ever.

That practically ended our sightseeing in Lucerne. We went to Holiday Inn Express in Kriens, which is like another city next to Lucerne. Since it was a holiday called Corpus Christi and raining as well, we didn't do much after our dinner at Subway behind the hotel. The next morning, we boarded the train at Mattenhof Station nearby the hotel, headed straight to Lucerne and changed train to Zürich.  

It took only less than an hour to reach Zürich. We went directly to Meininger Hotel to store our luggage and took the bus to Wollishofen before continuing to Lindt Home of Chocolate. As Audrey wouldn't have any interest in exploring the museum, we stayed at the cafe while Linda and her Mum enjoyed the tour. Not a bad deal, considering that we could have a waffle with ice cream and chocolate, haha.

At the Home of Chocolate.

But that's pretty much the end of it for Yani and the kids. They went back to hotel afterwards while I resumed the sightseeing and returned to the Old Town part of Zürich. It was the liveliest city in the entire Switzerland, I'd say. I walked around as part of my Strava time, checking out parts of the city such as Langstrasse and Lindenhof before walking back to hotel. As I left the Old Town and entered the suburb, I could sense that the atmosphere started to quiet down. At one stage, no houses were seen and there were only cows chewing grass on the side of the highway!

Again we had another train ride on the following day, the third one in the past three days. I received the news that my missing rucksack had been found and sent to Zürich railway station, but our departure time to Sargans was earlier than the opening hours of the lost and found office, so I planned to collect the bag only when I was back to Zürich. As we couldn't find any empty lockers, we had to bring all our luggage throughout our journey to Austria.

Sargans is like one of the last stops in Switzerland before you cross to Liechtenstein. We stopped there and took the bus to Vaduz. I always found Liechtenstein intriguing as it is a small, landlocked country between Switzerland and Austria, so I wanted to have a glimpse of it. Apparently it wasn't as quiet as what I had in mind. I was stunned to see lot of tourists from Mainland China there.

Strolling in Vaduz, Liechtenstein.

Now, Liechtenstein itself, while it is small, it still has a couple of towns. We only visited Vaduz, the capital city. It certainly didn't feel like one, haha. We went to Liechtenstein Center and buildings such as Rathaus are somewhere nearby. We sent postcards, had doner kebab (easily my favorite meal throughout the trip) then got a passport stamp as a souvenir. The journey by bus to Feldkirch in Austria happened right after that. It was so quick that before we knew it, we were already on the train to Innsbruck.

On our first day in Innsbruck, my wife and I took turn to see the city as the kids didn't feel like going out anymore once we reached Meininger Hotel. I went to where Hard Rock Cafe is, had my dinner at Gösser's then went back after buying Asian food for my daughters. Then it was my wife's turn to go out. She was scouting for Instagrammable places, apparently. But how do I know that? Because she brought us back to the same spots on the following day, haha.

The Old Town in Innsbruck.

Innsbruck is a nice and calm city, but it was there that I discovered some patterns about cities in Europe. Be it Lyon, Geneva, Lucerne, Zürich or Innsbruck, there is always a river and old town where the people could go and chill. We followed the riverside, explored the old town and returned to the hotel. We left Innsbruck and headed to the last city we'd be visiting: Salzburg.

Looking back, here's one thing I'd consider as a mistake in my planning. The idea of one night only for each city is not good, especially if we have kids tagging along. It was just too fast. Before I got to know the city and started enjoying it, I already moved on to another one. I simply couldn't feel the character of the city. Two or three nights per city would be just nice, just like Geneva and Interlaken...

Hofgarten, Innsbruck.

Liburan Ke Eropa: Semalam Saja

Lucerne, kota berikutnya yang kita kunjungi, bisa ditempuh dalam dua jam dengan kereta dari Interlaken. Ketika saya membaca tentang Lucerne, saya tidak menemukan banyak atraksi turis. Selain itu, foto-foto Jembatan Kapel di internet membuat saya membayangkan bahwa Lucerne adalah tempat yang mirip dengan Interlaken. Ternyata saya salah kaprah. Stasiun keretanya jauh lebih besar dari dua stasiun di Interlaken. Di saat kita melangkah keluar stasiun, jembatan dan sungai Reuss segera mengingatkan saya tentang Lyon. 

Di Lucerne, waktu kita menuju Monumen Singa.

Kita tiba di pagi hari. Ini artinya kita masih memiliki banyak waktu untuk menjelajahi Lucerne sebelum ke hotel. Setelah menitipkan koper di stasiun, kita menuju ke Monumen Singa. Monumen ini sebenarnya megah, tapi sedang direnovasi dan tiang-tiang steger penyangga yang ada di depannya terlihat mengganggu. Beberapa menit kemudian, kita berpindah lokasi ke Taman Gletser yang bersebelahan dengan Monumen Singa. Akan tetapi kita bukanlah tipe turis yang bisa mengagumi bebatuan dari jutaan tahun silam, jadi kunjungan ini pun tergolong singkat. Untung saja tiket masuk seharga CHF 22 per orang tidak perlu dibayar oleh pemegang Swiss Travel Pass, hehe. 

Dari Taman Gletser, kita ke McDonald's untuk makan siang. Menurut putri saya Linda, ini adalah McD paling bagus yang pernah dia lihat karena restoran yang satu ini memiliki lampu gantung kandelar. Setelah santap siang, kita melintas ke seberang sungai melewati Jembatan Kapel dan naik ke feri tanpa tujuan pasti. Dan setelah berpesiar di Danau Brienz, perjalanan serupa di Swiss terlihat mirip pemandangannya. Istri saya Yani melihat peta dan mengingatkan saya bahwa feri ini jauh rutenya sebelum kembali lagi ke Lucerne, jadi kita pun turun di Weggis dan menaiki feri berikutnya yang mengarah ke Lucerne.

Di McDonald's yang megah.

Dengan demikian, jalan-jalan di Lucerne pun berakhir. Kita lantas menaiki bis menuju Holiday Inn Express di Kriens, sebuah kota kecil di samping Lucerne. Karena hari tersebut adalah liburan merayakan hari Corpus Christi dan hujan pula, kita tidak memiliki aktivitas lagi selain makan malam di Subway yang terletak di belakang hotel. Keesokan paginya, kita naik kereta dari Stasiun Mattenhof yang berada di samping hotel, berganti kereta di Lucerne dan melaju ke Zürich.  

Zürich bisa dicapai dalam waktu kurang dari sejam. Kita langsung pergi ke Hotel Meininger untuk menaruh koper dan naik bis lagi ke kawasan tepi danau yang bernama Wollishofen sebelum melanjutkan wisata ke Lindt Home of Chocolate. Karena Audrey tidak berminat dengan museum, kita duduk di kafe sementara Linda dan mamanya ikut tur. Lumayan juga, kita menunggu sambil makan waffle es krim dan coklat, haha. 

Di Lindt.

Dan liburan di Zürich bisa dikatakan berakhir bagi Yani dan anak-anak. Mereka kembali ke hotel sedangkan saya meneruskan perjalanan ke Kota Tua. Bagian kota ini boleh dikatakan paling hidup dan ramai di Swiss. Saya berjalan sambil Strava, meninjau kawasan Langstrasse dan Lindenhof sebelum berjalan pulang ke hotel. Setelah meninggalkan Kota Tua dan memasuki daerah tepi kota, saya bisa merasakan bahwa suasananya perlahan-lahan menjadi senyap. Di bagian tertentu tidak terlihat rumah. Yang tampak hanya sapi merumput di samping jalan raya! 

Di hari berikutnya, kita kembali menaiki kereta. Ini adalah kali ketiga dalam tiga hari berturut-turut. Saya menerima kabar bahwa ransel saya sudah ditemukan dan dikirim ke Stasiun Zürich, tapi jam keberangkatan kita ke Sargans lebih awal dari jam kerja kantor barang-barang hilang, jadi saya pun berencana untuk mengambil tas saya lagi setelah saya kembali dari Austria. Karena kita tidak menemukan loker kosong, maka semua koper pun terpaksa dibawa-serta. 

Sargans adalah pemberhentian terakhir di Swiss sebelum kita menyeberang ke Liechtenstein. Kita turun di sini untuk berganti bis ke Vaduz. Liechtenstein terasa unik karena ukuran negaranya yang kecil dan dikelilingi oleh Swiss dan Austria, jadi saya ingin sekali melihat kotanya. Ternyata Vaduz tidak sesepi yang saya bayangkan. Ada banyak turis dari Cina di sana.

Liechtenstein adalah negara yang kecil tapi masih memiliki beberapa kota. Kita hanya singgah di Vaduz, ibukotanya yang tidak terasa seperti ibukota, haha. Kita mampir ke Liechtenstein Center dan Rathaus berada tak jauh dari situ. Setelah mengirim kartu pos, kita menyantap döner kebab, makan favorit saya selama di Eropa, lalu meminta cap paspor sebagai suvenir. Kita lantas melanjutkan perjalanan ke Feldkirch, Austria. Begitu sampai di stasiun, kita membeli tiket dan langsung berangkat ke Innsbruck. 

Kita tiba di Innsbruck sekitar jam tiga sore. Yani dan saya bergantian jalan-jalan karena anak-anak tak lagi berminat keluar setelah tiba di Hotel Meininger. Saya mengunjungi Hard Rock Cafe, lalu makan malam di Gösser's dan pergi membeli masakan Asia untuk Linda dan Audrey. Setelah itu giliran Yani yang keluar menjelajahi kota. Dia mencari tempat-tempat yang Instagrammable. Dari mana saya tahu? Karena keesokan paginya dia membawa kita ke tempat-tempat yang telah dilihatnya, haha.

Innsbruck adalah kota yang nyaman dan tenang. Di situ pula saya menemukan semacam pola serupa di kota-kota Eropa. Entah itu Lyon, Jenewa, Lucerne, Zürich atau Innsbruck, selalu ada sungai dan kota tua di mana penduduknya bisa nongkrong dan bersantai. Kita menyusuri tepi sungai, melihat-lihat Kota Tua dan kembali ke hotel untuk meneruskan perjalanan ke kota terakhir yang akan kita kunjungi: Salzburg. 

Bila dilihat kembali, ada satu hal yang saya anggap sebagai kesalahan fatal dalam rencana saya. Semalam saja di satu kota bukanlah ide yang bagus, terlebih lagi karena kita membawa anak-anak. Rasanya terlalu cepat. Sebelum kita bisa menikmati suasana kota tersebut, kita sudah lanjut ke kota lain. Saya tidak bisa merasakan karakter kota tersebut. Dua atau tiga malam di satu kota rasanya lebih pas, seperti yang kita lalui di Jenewa dan Interlaken...