It was hard to leave Wengen. We all wanted to stay just a little bit longer but we knew we would be back one day. It’s not a place we could only visit once and feel like we got enough. We drove to Zurich where we had lunch with my parents and said our farewells. They were headed home after a night in Zurich and we were headed to Lucerne.
We honestly didn’t know what to expect from Lucerne. We wanted to spend a few more days in Switzerland and Lucerne looked like it was in a good location to be able to see different places and activities for the kids. We checked into our apartment and were excited to find it had a rooftop patio with an amazing view of the city and the lake.
We spent every evening up there, eating and watching the sunset.
We spent a lot of time walking around the city and looking at all the architecture. We found our way to the famous Lion of Lucerne monument where the kids sat down and started sketching. It’s a beautiful monument. The detail and time spent carving this gorgeous lion is inspiring.
The Lion was carved into a sandstone quarry in memory of the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris. The kids drew quite a crowd with their sketching, many people stopped to watch them and comment on their work.
When we got there, it was almost empty but by the time we left, it was crowded so I would recommend getting there early if you can. We left the Lion Monument and walked to the Glacier Garden which is very close. This was a cool museum, it is a natural site where scientists found potholes and fossilized palm fronds and shells that gave evidence that Lucerne, 20 million years ago lay on a subtropical seashore.
There is also an alpine garden and a Mirror Maze that dates back to the late 1800s.
We all got a laugh out of the mirrors that distorted your image.
We walked around the city some more and had lunch and fed some ducks.
We saw the Chapel Bridge. 
You will see some swans when you are in Lucerne. They are beautiful creatures but my goodness, they stink.
And they steal your ice cream. Case in point, ice cream in the swan’s beak in the picture below. This is how Olivia will always remember swans, that they stole her ice cream right out of her hand.
She all smiles here after her Daddy comforted her but she was not happy at all when it happened.
We were lucky enough to be there while the World Cup was going on and during Switzerland’s first game. The energy in the air was exciting, there were people at all the restaurants along the river watching the game and cheering. It was a neat thing to experience.
That night from our apartment you could hear the fans cheering and celebrating. Cars were driving through the streets honking their horns and hanging out of windows, celebrating. It was awesome.
We were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed our first couple of days in Lucerne, especially since we didn’t know what to expect.