Erstfeld

The stunning sun of Italy and Verona becomes a fading memory as we cross the Swiss border and wind our way once more through the Alps.

The temperature drops quickly, the skies grey and we are soon witnessing falling snow. Although similar to the Austrian Alps, the differences are subtle enough to mark the terrain as Switzerland.

We arrive late in Lucerne, exhausted, though enough time for a quick shop and a visit to the Lion of Lucerne, a stunning monument in commemoration of the Swiss guards.

Exhausted. I hack a hotel room dinner of ravioli soaked in boiling water in a coffee cup, and put myself to bed at 7pm.

More of Switzerland to see tomorrow.

The Lion Monument (German: Löwendenkmal), or the Lion of Lucerne, is 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, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris. It is one of the most famous monuments in Switzerland, visited annually by about 1.4 million tourists.[1] In 2006, it was placed under Swiss monument protection.[2]Read more