Lucerne

A couple of people, knowing we were heading off to Switzerland for a long anticipated 10 day break, suggested I might continue to write about our adventures. I won't say who, just in case you don't agree.

It has been a long day of planes, trains and automobiles (well a bus, a plane and 3 trains), starting with the 08.00 airport bus from Corstorphine. The offer of overnight accommodation from our good friend Glynice gladdened the heart as it also came with free long stay car parking, a lift to the bus stop with our luggage and the chance to use our bus passes to get to the airport. Us wee lads from Lanarkshire do like to save a bob or two.

Even before we reached Switzerland everything ran like clockwork, with only short queues for the bag drop and security and a flight that landed on schedule, despite a brief delay in Edinburgh. The only slight wrinkle was the additional body scan as a result of my wrist brace setting off the metal detector. I forgot it has a stiffening rod inside. On the plus side, the time taken for the scan allowed me to be reunited with my hand luggage just in time to help the security agent confirm that the suspicious object in my luggage was a travel speaker and not a hand grenade.

The trains in Switzerland are everything I had expected. Clean, tidy, on time and with connection that just work. I am reliably informed that the Swiss Railway is based on the Hub and Spoke system. All the express and local trains and buses arrive at key hubs all at the same time allowing passengers to interchange seamlessly between them. Less efficient in terms of rolling stock, but much more efficient in terms of the passengers (thanks Alastair). So Geneva airport to Olten, a platform change, the specifics of which were included in the timetables and also announced by the guard on approach and on to Lucerne within 10 minutes. It was then we fell foul of Swiss efficiency. The connection time for the local train from Lucerne to our hotel was 7 minutes and we had to buy tickets at the machine. As I lifted my case and prepared to board, the doors shut in my face and the train headed on its timely way. Twenty seconds were all we needed, maybe 15 at a push, but that was not to be. Still the next train would be along in 10 minutes.Read more