There is a lot of great stuff to do in and near Lucerne, Switzerland in two days. That is a true statement that I read on countless blogs written by many people that don’t have our children. The girls have overall been doing very good but many of the great parks we wanted to visit were at least a day trip (2 hours) away at this point we’re past the point of traveling 2 hours for a 2 hour adventure. We needed to find things local, simple and entertaining for our kiddos. Old town we already kind of did, at least to our kids satisfaction.
“Wow these old buildings and their architecture as so interesting, I can’t believe that people have been walking these streets for hundreds of years! Thank you for sharing this special moment with me mom and dad.” – Not Our Children
“I’m tired, who will pick me up?” “What are those statues of? They don’t have any clothes! They are naked, nakedness is gross, eww” – Our Children
Yeah we’ll pass on the historical journey through an interesting city for now. We started off right by sleeping in. We allowed the girls to relax for a few hours before going out to get some lunch and more gelato, yup… more gelato.
We then went to a location called the Glacier Garden to see some more of the history of the area but in a more tactile way. They had red gems that the girls could find with QR codes that played an audio clip explaining what you saw. There was a nice little cafe and then three main sights to engage in. The first one we went into was a cave that took you through a semi-interactive cave projected story of the history the formation of glaciers. It was nice and cool in there and very cool and immersive. Well it would have been if I wasn’t chasing Spencer through it trying to catch up to her like someone you’re following in a dream that’s just around the corner opposite of you no matter how fast you go.
The cave was nice followed by a lot of stairs which tested the strength of my heart medication. Just take your time… Not a rush.
After walking around the top of the garden, checking out the lookout tower and making our way down the the other interactive educational bits we made it to the Labyrinth. What is the labyrinth you ask? Thanks for asking hypothetical person.
This hall of 51 mirrors was built in 1896 for the Swiss National Exhibition in Geneva and has been in the Glacier Garden since 1899. It is modeled after the fairytale Alhambra palace in Granada. The maze offers the illusion of the Moorish palace and its gardens.
On the confusing path through the labyrinth you will meet yourself again and again. It is an expedition into the “Egocene”, that brief moment of a life that everyone can understand as the center of time.
Let me tell ya, they keep those 51 mirrors pristine… One or two of them now have my hand or my right cheek print on them. When we first arrived there were a lot of people in it but the crowds ebbed and flowed. Our girls love of the mirror maze did not though and they stayed in it for over an hour sometimes acting as tour guides for other interested youngsters. Once such girl and her brother we later found out were visiting from the bay area. The world is smaller every day. We chatted with their parents, sat down and relaxed near the cafe while our kids ran around in a walled mirrored brainbreaking maze without a care in the world.
On our way back to the home we stopped at The Lion Of Lucerne, a rock relief in Lucerne, Switzerland, designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen and hewn in 1820–21 by Lukas Ahorn. It commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution. It was very cool, or it would have been if our kids weren’t running across the square to say goodbye to their new friends. Starring at a picture is just as nice I guess.
