After leaving my parents in Rome last weekend, they continued their travels throughout Italy by visiting Pompeii, Naples, and Venice before coming to Milan on Thursday. I showed them around Milan for two days before we left for our next destination, Switzerland. Venturing north into the country famous for mountains, chocolate, cheese, cuckoo clocks, and bank accounts, we had an awesome time and I found the Swiss landscape to be the most incredible that I have ever seen.

On Friday evening, we took a train from the Milano Centrale station to Luzerne, a small city located in central Switzerland. The biggest attraction in Luzerne is Mount Pilatus. This mountain is the highest accessible peak in the region and features breathtaking views of the the city and it’s nearby lake. Mount Pilatus features the world’s steepest cog railway and also still serves as a military fortification in case of an attack on Switzerland (the gun emplacements are located just below the tourist viewing gallery). On Saturday, we awoke early and were checked out of our hotel before 8:30 a.m. so that we could reach the summit before the afternoon weather came in and made it impossible to see anything from the top of the peak. Since it is still in the winter in the Alps, the cog railway was not open, so we took a gondola ride up to the top (about 50 francs/person). Although this relatively short ride is pretty expensive, the view was absolutely incredible!

After spending approximately 1.5 hours at the summit, and having listened to a rendition of “Amaing Grace” on the alp-horn, we came down to eat lunch in the city.

After lunch, we visited the second most famous attraction in Luzerne, the “Dying Lion Monument.”  The Swiss have a long, proud history of neutrality, but they also have a storied tradition of sending mercenaries and hired protection across the world, the most famous of which serve the Pope in Vatican City. During the 17th and 18th centuries, a faction of the Swiss Officers and guards were charged with the protection of the French royal family. In 1791, the famed French monarch Louis XVI was forced to flee from his Palace at Versailles to the Tuileries Palace in Paris due to French insurgents during the French Revolution. He was then forced to flee again and ordered his protective guards to stand down and return to their barracks, but this message failed to reach the unit. These brave soldiers fought to nearly the last man and those who were not killed in the resistance were quickly executed by way of the guillotine. Known as the “Lions of Luzerne,” these soldiers are commemorated with this stunning statue carved into a rock face located within Luzerne. Above the statue is an inscription that reads, “Helvetiorum Fedei ac Virtuti,” meaning “To the Loyalty and Bravery of the Swiss.” Of all of the monuments, paintings, and sculptures that I have seen in Europe, this one was the most moving as it was the only one that truly was able to capture emotion and empathy into the work.

On Saturday night, we left Luzerne to head to Wengen, a small mountain village located in the southern portion of the country near Interlaken. In order to reach this town, we had to take a train to Interlaken and then take a cog railway up to Wengen. Located within the heart of the Alps, this small village is a very popular spot to stay for skiers. However, our attraction to this place was it’s close vicinity to three of the most famous peaks in the Swiss Alps, the Eiger, the Monch, and the Jungfrau. From Wengen, there is a unique opportunity to take the Jungfrau expressway up to the highest railway station in Europe, the so-called “Top of Europe,” that is located about midway up the Jungfrau. Due to it’s absurdly high cost (about 165 francs/person!) we decided to just take the train to the Kleine Scheidegg station, which is located at the base of the Eiger.

The Eiger is one of the most famous rock climbing destinations in the entire world due to its treacherous and challenging Eiger Nordwand (or Eiger North Wall). Here is a clip showcasing this famed rock face:

At the base of this mountain, I was completely in awe of the beauty of the mountains in front of me and couldn’t believe that I was standing in front of three of the most famous peaks in the world. For anyone traveling to Switzerland, this is a must-see! We stayed at this station for about 2.5 hours while we walked around small surrounding trails and ate lunch, then headed down. We got back to our hotel in Wengen, grabbed our luggage and left. I headed back to Milan while my parents headed to Zurich to catch their flight home the following day.

It was great seeing my parents over the past 10 days and we had a lot of fun throughout Italy and Switzerland!

Location: Luzerne, Switzerland