Switzerland – days 1 & 2 | alison richards | graphic designer and artworker

On Boxing Day, I flew out to Zurich.

My parents were in Australia for Christmas this year, and so for Christmas eve I'd made myself a nice dinner and enjoyed it with a few glasses of wine. But I spent my Christmas day busily packing warm clothes for a flight to cold, snowy Switzerland. I'd checked the weather - it was supposed to be mostly nice hooray! This was my first time in Switzerland and I was looking forward to snow, blue skies and lots of crazy mountains.

My flight was in the afternoon so I sat in my flat excitedly waiting for the time to tick down - I'd much prefer early morning flights where I just wake up and go! But it finally got to 3pm and I headed out to on the Tube to Heathrow, then landed in Zurich at about 8pm. I bought a train ticket at the airport and went to catch the train, where this nice man helped my onboard with my luggage and told me where to go when we got to the train station in Zurich, it was HUGE! I made it to my hotel, which was very nice, then promptly went to bed, ready for an early morning tomorrow.

The next day I got up early and went to explore Zurich. When I'd been organising this trip, I'd given myself a half-day in Zurich on the first and last days of my trip, so I didn't really have much time today. I was out of the hotel at 8am though and looking around. It was a very drab day, the sky was heavy and grey, and it was cold and drizzly. I wandered around for a while, then popped into Starbucks for a cuppa, before going back to the hotel to pick up my luggage.

I caught the train to Lucerne/Luzern at 11am. The train systems in Switzerland... If you've ever heard how good they are, I can tell you that they definitely live up to it. I had the train app so I just booked tickets on the fly. I'd bought the half-price fare ticket for tourists so that it was automatically discounted, and when the ticket inspector came around, I just showed her the QR codes on my phone. SO GOOD. Also, the trains went through all kinds of snowy conditions that would have stopped the trains in the UK for days!

I made it to Lucerne then went to find my hotel - it was in the centre of town but wasn't very fancy. It also had lots of stairs that I had to lug my bag up! But I dropped it off and went outside to look around and get some lunch.

This is the Spreuerbrücke, one of two old wooden bridges in Lucerne. The original 13th century bridge was destroyed in a flood and this one was built in the 16th century. The little red thing on the side is a little chapel

This was the little chapel. It was really lovely!

These paintings in the roof are called Totentanz, painted between 1616 and 1637.

The Lion of Lucerne, carved out of rock in 1820–21 to commemorate the Swiss Guards who were killed in the French revolution.

The sun started setting around 4:30, and the sky turned into a beautiful kaleidoscope of colours. It was just so beautiful, so enjoy the sky porn...

The Kapellbrücke, the other of the old wooden bridges in Lucerne. This one was built over the Reuss river in the 14th century. It almost burned down in 1993 and has been reconstructed.

This pharmacy is in a beautiful old building. Where the guy is standing, there is a window display showing old medical devices.

I went back to the hotel and got myself ready for dinner, heading out at about 6pm. I was going to a very popular restaurant and wanted to make sure I got a seat! I got there and sat at the bar, taking one of the last seats available in the restaurant! I listened as so many other people came in to try to get a table, only to be turned away. The restaurant was Wirtshaus Taube, and it really did deserve to be so busy - the food and wine that I had there was delicious, and the service was really friendly.

I wandered back through the town to my hotel. Another early morning tomorrow!