B64: Europe by Rail (Part 5 of 5)

Our European backpacking adventure in Sept 1991
Part 5 of 5: Lucerne - Paris

So this week’s blog continues with the fifth and final leg of my 1991 European Interrailing/ backpacking trip.  You can read about the first legs covering 1) Dublin/Paris/Brussels (click here), 2) Brussels/Berlin/Prague (click here), 3) Prague/Munich/Florence (click here) and 4) Rome (click here).  

Day 16 - Tuesday 24 Sept 1991 - Rome (Italy) to Lucerne (Switzerland)

Trish’s extract: “I woke up at 5am.  The constant stream of traffic was still roaring by the window so I did not go back to sleep.  At 6am we got up and were checked out by 6:30am.  The colleague had obviously arrived and was watching TV in the dark downstairs.  He was even more grumpy than the other one and had several failed attempts to return our youth hostel cards before he eventually gave us the right ones.  The bus and the metro were both surprisingly busy at 6:30 am, especially the metro.  We were in the station by 7am so we had plenty of time for our 8:10am train [to Lucerne].”

Lucerne Train Station

Mary’s extract: “On the train we were joined by an English lady and a young girl.  They left along the way. We then had an Italian papa, mama and bambino who also left at Milan.  After that we had the carriage to ourselves.  We read, slept, ate crackers and cheese, talked and watched the scenery (in Switzerland) for the duration of the 10 hour journey.  We arrived in beautiful Lucerne at 10 to 6 only ten minutes late.  The station was so clean it was like a hospital.  It is also extremely well organised.  Within 20 minutes we had changed money to Swiss Francs, left in some luggage, got a map and directions to the hostel and were at the bus stop.”

Bus in Lucerne, Switzerland, 1991

​Trish’s extract: “The buses in Lucerne are very well organised in that they all leave from numbered areas right outside the station and have a map of the stops on-board. They also call out the names of the stops as they come up, which is good.  We met two other back-packers on the bus and had no trouble getting checked in at the hostel (IR£8).  Our room was very nice; three beds and a typical Swiss sloping wooden roof.  There were also lockable safes for our luggage in our room.  The bathroom was shared with two other rooms and was also very clean.”

Me resting in our beautiful hostel in Lucerne, Switzerland - Tues 24 Sept 1991

Mary’s extract: “We decided to go back to Lucerne town centre for food.  When we were downstairs, a Chinese/ Australian student we had met on the bus was also going there so we joined him.  His name was Rep and he was a medical student in Australia.  He had left China four years ago and was on the third day of a three week European trip.  When we reached the town centre Rep said he knew where there was a pizza place so we set off in search of it.  Unfortunately, his sense of direction was not b=very good so we ended up back where we started from outside trusty McDonalds where we finally ate.  We had a good chat with Rep; telling him about Ireland and hearing about China and Australia.  We were back at the hostel at 11:20pm just in time for the 11:30pm curfew.”

Lucerne Town Centre

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Day 17 - Wed 25 Sept 1991 – Lucerne (Switzerland)

Trish’s extract: “The latest time for breakfast was 8:30 am and we just made it.  Breakfast was the usual bread and jam but it was also possible to buy cereals and juice.  After breakfast hostellers were required to dump leftover food in a bin marked “For the Compost”. (Mary: This was new to us as re-cycling wasn’t a “thing” in Ireland in the early 1990s!).

Me standing by the River Reuss, Lucerne - Wed 25 Sept 1991

Mary’s extract: “When we had eaten we took the bus into Lucerne town centre and started sight-seeing.  The morning was very cold almost frosty but the day turned out to be sunny and warm. We first visited the covered wooden bridge which has beautiful old paintings along its roof on the inside and is hung on the outside with flowers.  The river (Ruess) was extremely clean and flowed into a lake just outside the town.  Although Lucerne is called a city it seems more like a large town and it is possible to walk most places.”

The beautiful wooden footbridge, Chapel Bridge, Lucerne - Wed 25 Sept 1991

Trish’s extract: “The town is built in the Alps and the scenery around it is beautiful.  On the other side of the bridge we wandered through some shops where items on sale were carved wooden figures, cuckoo clocks, Swiss army knives (100 varieties including various features such as woodsaw, toothpick, nailfile and can opener), embroidery, music boxes and of course, Swiss Watches.”

Swiss Army Knives

Mary’s extract: “We went to visit the Glacier Gardens which is an area in the town where potholes, rocks, fossils and other features from glacial times can be seen.   This was a very interesting museum and we learned that Lucerne was once situated near a tropical beach millions of years ago before the glaciers cam and the lakes and mountains appeared.  At the time the Alps were islands in the sea.  The Glacier Gardens were discovered by a Lucerne man in the 1800s when he started to build a wine cellar under his house.”

In the Glacier Gardens, Lucerne - Wed 25 Sept 1991

Trish’s extract: “The Glacier Gardens included a waterfall and pond which was full of salmon and a lookout tower from which we had a good view of the town.  Part of the visit to the Gardens included a look at the Panorama.  This is a painting displayed in a circular dome which goes all the way around the walls in a full circle and covers thousands of square metres of canvas.  It shows the French army surrendering in a war (with either the Russians or the Germans – we are not sure!) being received by the Swiss and given shelter.  It was painted mainly by one artist with 4 assistants and took four years to complete.  At the front of the paintings several props such as helmets, boots and a railway carriage have been added.  The painting is so realistic that it is sometimes difficult to tell where the painting ends and the real-life objects begin.” 

A small piece of the Bourbaki Panorama, Lucerne - Wed 25 Sept 1991

Mary’s extract:  “After the Panorama we wandered through the Hall Of Mirrors at the Glacier Garden. It was fun seeing ourselves multiplied!”

The Healy Twins □ in the Hall of Mirrors, Lucerne - Wed 25 Sept 1991

“….we then adjourned to a small café for Apfelstrudel and coffee.  We also had some iced tea which was tasty.”​

Trish enjoying her iced tea in Lucerne - Wed 25 Sept 1991

Mary’s extract: “While we were having lunch an American tour group passed on their way to the Glacier Garden.  About 10 minutes later an extremely harassed-looking old American lady came running along the street and said to the binmen “Where’s the lion, Sir?”  The lion is a monument to the Swiss guardsmen who died in the French Revolution and shows and injured lion carved into a rock face.  Another American lady passing by earlier had said “Maybe when we’re through with the lion we’ll have some coffee.”  This conjured up images of her and the lion having a few rounds of combat.”

Lion Monument, Lucerne - Wed. 25 Sept 1991

 Trish’s extract:  After lunch we had planned to go to the Swiss Transport Museum by bus.  But it was a really nice day and easy to reach by walking so we had a nice walk along the lake to get there. “

Me by Lake Lucerne - Wed. 25 Sept. 1991

Mary’s extract: “In keeping with the Swiss attention to detail we spotted along the way a dog’s drinking bowl along the footpath with a hand-drawn happy dog and a sign saying “Hundebar”!” 

"Hundebar" - Lucerne 25 Sept 1991

Mary’s extract:  “The Transport Museum was 14F (IR£5.60) but we were allowed to visit for free because of our Inter-rail card.  It displayed a record off all kinds of travel from the earliest models to modern times.  All forms of transport including bicycles, cars, trams, trains, ships, aeroplanes and space travel were featured.  The museum covered a very big are and along the way several film shows were given.   By turning a lever it was possible to select the language in which you wanted the commentary.  We were in the museum until closing time and still didn’t get to see all of it.  They had a very elaborate model railway on which demonstrations were given every half hour.”

My brother's car at the Transport Museum, Lucerne - Wed 25 Sept 1991

Trish’s extract: “We then walked back to the centre and went to the shopping centre under the station where we did some shopping.  The Swiss people are by far the nicest we have come across.  They are, without exception, cheerful in shops, restaurants etc. and don’t mind at all if you don’t buy anything from them.  After shopping we went to a restaurant opposite the station for dinner.  Here we had delicious ravioli in cream sauce with salad and mineral water for IR£8 each.  We were back at the hostel by about 9:30pm but everything was closed so we went to bed.”
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Mary’s extract: “We were sharing the room with an American woman who had come to visit her son who is in the Air Force in Germany, and she was taking trips into neighbouring countries.  We both agreed that today was the best day and Lucerne the best place we have been.”

Trish enjoying the sun at Lake Lucerne - Wed 25 Sept 1991

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 Day 18 - Thursday 26 Sept 1991 - Lucerne (Switzerland) to Paris (France)

Mary’s extract:  “We checked out of the hostel and went to the bus stop.  It had started to rain by now.  Our train was not until 10:56am so I went in search of some further souvenirs while Patricia looked after the bags.  I went back to a shop we’d been in selling cuckoo clocks and music boxes.  I bought a small music box. Across the road I went into a shop selling embroidery.  The woman was so friendly.  Her daughter had been to Ireland and loved it.”​

Above: The Swiss music box I bought that day - still working 30 years later!!

Mary’s extract: “At 10:56 am precisely we left Lucerne having seen the South American band we had seen previously in Paris and Berlin.  They must have been following us!  We arrived in Basle at 12:10pm.  Here we changed to a different train and went through Customs for the 2nd part of our journey to France.  On the train to Paris we were joined by an Austrian couple and an American man who was carrying a musical instrument case with what looked like a horn, and also a computer among his luggage.  He looked a bit like Daniel O’Donnell with a beard!  He spoke German and carried on a conversation with the Austrians.  At one stage they mentioned leprechauns and we didn’t know if they were talking about US or what.  He then left temporarily and we were joined by a Frenchman.  When the American returned he resumed his conversation with the Austrians and then spoke fluent French with the Frenchman.  Not to be outdone, Patricia and I talked about them all in Irish!  (We later thought that maybe he was a language student and probably knew Irish too!”

Trish’s extract:  “A gang of football supporters got on the train along the route and went up and down the corridors singing a French version of “Auld Lang Syne”.  They took over the “airwaves at one stage and sang over the intercom.  The Austrians remained stony-faced.  The French laughed.”

Basel Train Station

Mary’s extract:  “At about 6:15 pm we arrived in Paris.  It was raining heavily.  We changed our money at the station and headed for the first hostel we had stayed in on Rue Therese.  We found this without much difficulty but it was unfortunately full-up.  However, the girl at the hostel gave us a list of hotels on which the cheap ones were marked.  We picked one on Rue Faubourg St. Denis, near Gare du Nord where we would be getting the train to the airport in the morning, and the girl at the hostel made the reservation for us.”
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Trish’s extract:  “We took the Metro to St. Chapelle and the hotel was nearby.  The proprietor spoke no English so we practiced our (wonderful) French.  Our room was a double on the third floor for 216 F (IR£22).  We only discovered afterwards that there were several other room prices and that we should have bargained with him (in our wonderful French!)  We attempted to open the door with the oddly-shaped keyring instead of the key.  The best description of the hotel is “a cheap hotel”.  The nicest part of it was the window which had a small balcony outside.”

Last Supper - of this holiday at least - 26 Sept 1991

Mary’s extract:  “All of the other guests seemed to be black and male.  We went out for some food and discovered that we were in the Indian/ Lebanese/ African area of the city.  The first “restaurant” we went into was empty except for 4 men at a table who seemed to own the place.  They all stopped talking and stared at us intently.  We didn’t eat there as all they seemed to have were kebabs.  The hotel owner had given us a card for a nearby restaurant where we ended up.  This had a “tourist menu” for 49F (IR£5) which was reasonably OK.  The man beside us was having escargots for starters.  We were not so adventurous and had egg mayonnaise and salad followed by “rumsteak” and roast chicken followed by ice-cream.  At 10pm we went back to the hotel and went to bed having first barricaded our room door!”

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Day 19 - Last Day Friday 27 Sept 1991 - Paris to Dublin via Manchester

 ​Mary’s extract:  “We got up at 5:30 am and left the hotel at 6.  We were not sorry to leave our hotel which had been a little dubious.  We got a metro from St. Chapelle to Roissy and a shuttle bus from there to Charles de Gaule airport.  We checked in for our flight, went through to Duty-Free where I bought some pressies and we had coffee and croissants.  We boarded the plane at about 8am, took off at 8:20 and landed in Manchester at about 1:35 pm local time.  After a 40 minute wait in Manchester the captain announced that there was bad fog in Dublin so we are presently fog-bound in Manchester.  This brings our backpacking inter-railing holiday to an end.” THE END
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My Boarding Pass to Dublin

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So 30 years later, what do I think I learned from that trip?

Lesson #1: Embrace Diversity or Stay At Home!
Europe is an amazing continent.  All of life is there with diverse peoples, languages and cultures living side by side.  Celebrate the differences as much as the similarities.  It would be a much duller world if we were all the same.

Lesson #2: Pace yourself
Whilst we’d all probably like to see as much of Europe as is humanly possible (particularly if it’s your first visit and likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip), I’ve learnt that trying to cram too much in is a mistake.  Not only is it tiring having to pack up and move on every day or two, it also means you only have time to skim the surface of each destination.  These days I always try and have a minimum stay of two nights in each place I visit – preferably three nights or more. My view now is quality over quantity – I’d much rather spend a good few days in a place and really get to know it, than drop in for a day before whizzing off.

Lesson #3: Pre-book transfers
I’ve gone past the stage now of lugging luggage on a bus/ train/ tram.  One of the first things I do now when I have booked my flights to Europe, is to book a transfer from the airport to my accommodation.  I’ve struggled with suitcases up and down flights of railway station stairs and crammed into busy trains with hundreds of commuters, it’s no fun!  In my mind, a pre-booked transfer is well worth the cost. It might cost you a few euros more than using public transport but having a car waiting for you at the airport with a driver to assist with your luggage and drop you right at your door, is gold.

Lesson #4: If travelling by train, reserve your seats
Not all trains in Europe require you to reserve your seat in advance but my advice is to do it.  On the continent, second class carriages are often ‘compartment’ style – the seating compartment, where three people sit each side, is to one side of the carriage with a narrow corridor down the other side.  You will be amazed at how many people are standing and sitting in the corridor.

Lesson #5: Buy Skip-the-Line tickets to attractions you know you will visit
No-one likes wasting their precious holiday time standing in queues but at many of Europe’s major attractions this is what you’ll have to do if you haven’t pre-purchased a ticket.  Back in 1991 when we did the above trip, it wasn’t always possible to buy ‘skip-the-line’ tickets for the Eiffel Tower or whatever.  These days, you can buy ‘skip-the-line’ tickets for the Eiffel Tower and many of Europe’s other major attractions including the Vatican, Florence’s Uffizi Gallery, St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and many more. This does lock you in to a specific date and time, but it will definitely save you the long waiting times in ticket queues.

Lesson #6: Don’t Be Afraid to Talk to Strangers
There’s a saying in Ireland that a stranger is a friend you haven’t yet met.  Obviously I’m not advocating that you take crazy risks and put yourself in harm’s way but when you’re learning through travel, you open yourself up to a world of human interaction. Whether you’re meeting fellow travellers on the road or swapping stories over a glass of wine with a local, you’ll find plenty of people are open to chatting. Strike up a conversation.  If you are fluent in the local lingo all the better.  If not, smile.  You might just make a new friend.

Lesson #7: Patience is a virtue, have it if you can
Travelling teaches you not to sweat the small stuff. Whether you’re facing long lines at the airport or having trouble communicating in a foreign language, you’ll likely encounter many small frustrations on your journey. These little obstacles are a valuable lesson in patience, and at the end of your trip, you’ll be able to deal with almost anything.

Lesson #8: Experiences can last longer than possessions
One of the greatest lessons you’ll learn through travel is that we need very little to be happy. And it’s not cars, phones or clothes that make us happy – it’s our experiences.  When you travel, you’ll form strong bonds with people, learn new skills and create lasting memories.  30 years later I still smile when the memories from that trip come flooding back.

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Bucket List Items Ticked Off in the above Blog 64

Number 7 - Backpack around Europe
Number 34 - Food & Drink - Eat Regional Foods

• Swiss Apfelstrudel in Lucerne, Switzerland

​Number 57 - Travel - 7 Continents

• Europe

Number 58 - Travel - 80 Countries

• Switzerland
• France

​​​Number 60 - Travel - 80 Cities/Towns

• Lucerne, Switzerland
• Paris, France

​​​Number 64 - Travel - Epic Train Journeys

• Inter-railing -  Rome to Lucerne to Paris - 1991

 
Other Blog Posts
Blog 11 - Sydney, Australia
Blog 12 - Hong Kong, China
Blog 17 - Beijing, Xi'an & Shanghai, China
Blog 19 - California, USA
Blog 27 - Scotland
Blog 28 - Barbados
Blog 29 - Canada
Blog 30 - Alaska
Blog 31 - Everglades, Florida

Have you ever inter-railed in mainland Europe?  Tell me about your experience in the comments section below.
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