What took place for the first time in the evening of September 19, 1992 with an audience of 300 on the old steamboat "Stadt Luzern", became one of the largest music festival in the German-speaking part of Switzerland with approximately 100,000 visitors over nine days. The incredible ambience around Lake Lucerne with the Open-Air Pavilion, the Culture and Convention Center Lucerne and The Club in the Schweizerhof Hotel is what makes the Blue Balls Festival unique. The festival presents a total of 100 shows, with top-notch international Blues, Jazz, Soul, Funk, World Music, Rock, and Pop acts as well as exclusive exhibitions of renowned photographers from the world of music. Featured photographers in the past years were Danny Clinch, Gered Mankowitz, Michel Comte, Isabel Snyder, Mick Rock and Gavin Evans. All Festival venues, i.e. KKL, the pavilion and the Schweizerhof Hotel, as well as Lucerne Main Station and public parking facilities are located on the Lucerne lakeshore and within five minutes walking distance from one another. Should you decide to take the train to Lucerne and back, you could save 20%: RailAway combo tickets are available at a discount at your nearest train station or by calling Rail Service at 0900 300 300 (CHF 1.19/min.). For more info, visit www.railaway.ch. For hotel information and reservations, call the Lucerne Tourist Board at +41 (0)41 227 17 27, or visit www.luzern.com

 Today's drive was going to be the longest driving day of the tour. We left Paris for Lucerne, Switzerland. Sitting on the coach for such a long period of time is like hell and we tried to pass the time by listening to our IPOD's, reading a book, but mostly we used the time to catch up on some sleep. Me, Amy, and Patrice tried to kill some time by playing Poker. We all knew we were in Switzerland when the landscape became much more rugged, mountainous, and greener. You could just tell by looking at the cars and the homes that the Swiss enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in the world. While stopped at a rest stop, one of our tour mates, Mandy from Toronto left her wallet including her passport. She didn't realize it until we were far from the rest stop and by then it was too late to turn back. Thankfully, Matt phoned the rest stop where they still had her wallet and arranged for someone to drive her back once we arrived in Lucerne. She was in tears and we all felt bad for her. I know I would probably be freaking out as well. A lesson to learn I guess- Keep track of your wallet and passport at all times! We arrived in Lucerne and the first thing we did was to get dropped off in front of a few shops so we can shop for Swiss watches and army knives. Matt recommended a few shops and the symbiotic relationship between tour manager and the shops was so irritatingly obvious. Everyone seemed to buy a watch or army knife for folks back home. I was just content looking around as I had already purchased these things on my last visit. All I really wanted to do was to find a bathroom, which turned out to be a chore in itself.
     We walked over to the river where the beauty of Switzerland becomes apparent. The fresh air, snow capped mountains, and the clean quaint streets really hit me as I was standing there alongside the river. We played with a few of the swans and Suzanne insisted that one of the swans was trying to imitate a ballerina. We walked across the Chapel Bridge which is one of Lucerne's main attractions. I lagged behind everyone else in the group just trying to soak in as much as possible. We all pretty much figured this was going to be one of the spots where we were going to chill out and relax. Little did we know that this was going to be the first of many major party nights. Back on the coach, we headed over to our hotel. Tonight's hotel was not too bad, much better than the previous two hotels. Patrice and I had a decent size room with enough space and a good view of the surrounding mountains and the street below. At dinner, Patrice and I sat with Rebecca and Julie, 2 friends traveling together from Australia. After dinner we all got ready for our nighttime boat cruise around Lake Lucerne.  Once we all boarded our little boat, it became quite obvious that this cruise wasn't going to be about enjoying the sights as it was already dark by this time. This cruise was going to be all about having a few drinks and getting to know the others in the group. We cruised around the lake and were given some information about the surrounding sights, as if anybody was able see anything. We all just sat around having beers, chatting, and taking photos. After about 4 beers, the cruised ended and we all disembarked. Matt led us over to a local bar where we were going to hang out for awhile before heading over to a club. First things first, I headed over to the bar and got myself a vodka tonic, one of many that I would have tonight. As I sat there, some local guy started talking to me about what I was doing here in Switzerland. Then he started asking some personal questions. I hope he wasn't hitting on me! Needless to say, I rejoined our group. We all just sat around a few tables talking and when the music starting playing we started to dance a bit. I think Me, Patrice, Amy, and Suzanne were the first ones up which kind of got everyone else to get up off their feet. At this point, I was pretty drunk and while trying to get low on the dance floor, I dropped my vodka tonic and the glass shattered all over the floor. It was quite embarrassing as I was beginning to resemble the obnoxious American tourist everyone loves to hate.  I looked over at the other side of the bar and it looked like everyone was just staring at us. We all continued to dance for a bit before making our way over to a club. We didn't have to walk too far before we arrived at the club. It was pretty dead and since we already had a few drinks in us, we all pretty much headed straight for the dance floor. Good times for the next 2 hours as we danced away and drank more. A few potential hookups for the night eventually started to form. We all left and most of us were pretty drunk or very buzzed. Rob was completely out of it. He stood in the middle of the street and just started to vomit standing straight up. It was pretty groce and this seemed to trigger my need to vomit. I bent over the side of the road and started to gag but nothing came out. We started to walk back to the hotel when we saw a pizza place that was closing up. We all invaded and purchased a slice. Nothing beats pizza when you're drunk except maybe Del Taco. While walking back, Amy was shit upon by some bird above in a tree. She didn't even notice it until I pointed it out. We were all laughing hysterically after that. Back at the hotel at who knows what time to call it a night!!!

Something about this place will always stick in my mind, and that is because of one thing: small elevators. The best thing I can think of about this place is that it's so close to everything you need to be around, such as Lake Lucerne and the city center. The rooms are nicer than what you'd expect, and they are equipped with a television with many channels (albeit it's only a 14"). There is no mini-bar or safe, and the closet didn't even have any hangers. The one thing I've never gotten use to is the European outlets, and my universal plug didn't seem to work. I was told that there would be free wireless internet, but it ended up being the most expensive rates of the entire trip. It came out to around 17 Euros for 24 hours. What a bummer. The bathrooms are clean, but there are no hairdryers and very few towels. There is a nice Thai restaurant attached to the hotel, and the Penthouse bar and club on the top floor is welcoming as well. The average rate for a room is reasonable. I had a double room that I shared with my brother, and I was told that it came out to around $300. Seems reasonable, but I booked the hotel as part of the Insight tour... so we might have been charged a bit extra for amenities and what not.

From the moment I arrived in Switzerland, I knew there was something special about it. The people at the train station were great in directing me to this hostel, and the scenery as I walked blew me away. When I arrived at the hostel, I had already expected a similar treatment - and I was not disappointed! The friendly staff member there took me in and instantly shared with me about the fun things to do around town, reccommending things I may not have heard about already. I was then taken to a very large room with six beds. I quickly befriended the people in my room and we ended up spending the next few days together around town. There was a lovely lounge area and the views around the hostel were wonderful, even out our windows. Breakfast hit the spot with an assortment of foods. Reccommended if you are ever in Lucerne!

Thank heavens we're leaving Venice... I'll finally be getting over the weather that's been eating away at me. I just hope Lucerne will be better. I hear that there's some sort of festival going on. Plus, we get to go back to Verona to catch up and see what we missed. It's not a big deal, but it's always good to see new things. I've been getting tired lately, but at least I've been able to treat my allergies or sore throat (whatever it is) with proper meds. Now whatever is left for me to is just to get better and get some more rest.

We got to Verona around 11 AM... did some window shopping and some souvenir shopping, but otherwise... nothing that big. Luckily I found my camera in the bottom of my backpack, so I was able to snap a few shots of the streets and the town square. I got a great deal on a salami and prosciutto sandwich for only .50 EU. Italy has been very kind to me food wise... but weather and health wise... ehhh...

After we left Verona, it was up to the alps we went. One thing I can't stress more is the views from the top of these mountains. I managed to get a few pictures from the top, but I won't upload them until I get back. The ones that I'm about to put up are the ones from my mom's camera. She went nuts with the pictures. Every pit stop we made, she had to buy all the Swiss chocolates that she could find. I mean... it's ok... but for a person that doesn't eat any chocolate... come on!

When we got to Lucerne, there was a big festival! Full of music and beer... damn. Someone was bound to get trampled. There's not much I can say about it.... other than the fact that the entertainment was very lively. Maybe the pictures will describe it better than me.

I'm not going to bother blogging about the other day. It was just a bunch of excursions, horse rides, and eating. We shopped around for a bit, and I bought a Swiss Army pocket watch. That was pretty much the highlight of the day.

Oh sad sad times! Today is my last day in Luzern. Tomorrow I head back to Zurich and then fly out to London. It's been a bit crazy the past 2 days. Summer has really come to the party and made it a really nice time.

So in my travels I have seen many mountains and completed many challenging tasks. I now say pfft to the Eastern Suburbs! I've climbed two mountains and a hill. Go suck on that! I can take on any Australian "hill" any day! Though I do hope all that walking and climbing has done my legs some good :)

So today was up to see Mt Pilatus. Hopped on the boat to go on the cogwheel train. It took so long! It advertises itself as a romantic boat ride, my monkey's bum! I had to listen to 50 school children chattering haha. But I did like Mt Pilatus. Unfortunately the sunny day from down in Luzern didn't quite make it to the top of the mountain. It was super foggy up top and didn't get my 360° view :(

So tonight Sebi and I are going to have some Swiss food (at my request of course). I'm going to miss the pastries...until I get to France. What are we doing Australia? Why are we getting so many foods wrong?!? Though they don't have milk with their tea here, which is very odd, but I am feeling I have grown to like strong black tea! I'm sorry Jessica!

Next stop London and Contiki tour!

I tried fondue last night. I searched the entire Interlaken to find the cheapest and ended up at the Best Western(!). So having experienced my fondue, I'm going to have to say I don't love it. I'm not even sure if I like it all that much. I think it was because it took so long to get the stuff hot enough for dipping. I don't know. Maybe I wasn't doing it right. But the love ain't there...

In other news, I went on the Golden Pass Panoramic train to Luzern. Very nice train and very good view. In my cleverness, I chose a seat that did not have facing seats. That way I was more enclosed and comfy. Sadly to say I out smarted myself! The train got to the first main station, then travelled for an hour and half backwards.

Today was also the first day I have worn my summer clothes. It is about 25°, nice and sunny. I brought out my skirt and pretty top to wear (a girl needs to feel pretty every now and then, even on backpacking travels)! Good thing I didn't wear my dress (the beige one with the ribbon below the bust and flower patterns on the bottom), because I went to see a most beautiful church. Highly inappropriate attire, even if I was just visiting.

Tomorrow I am off on a boat ride and a train trip up to Mt Pilatus. Apparently there is a 360° view of Switzerland. Camera on the charge! Then it's back to Zurich on Friday and sadly bye bye Switzerland.

Drive to Lucerne in Switzerland-with a very quick lunchstop on the way, food was awful

Best optional yet!  Took gondolas to mount pilatus to see beautiful snow capped mountains, got some lovely pics.  Many australians from the tour had never seen snow, this is only my second time and its much prettier than queenstown. Even the gondolas up and down were really fun,  a small one that fits four half way up and then into a much larger one to get to the top.  Great place to relax, chat and drink a yummy hot chocolate, didnt even feel the cold, although i was wearing my suede coat with the fake fur lining, never cold in that coat, best thing i brought with me

Swiss francs are odd looking but cool and have similar worth to the australian dollar so didnt bother converting

Went out with some people from the group to a local bar called Caramel, lovely place great atomsphere, had delicius cocktail called an orange fizz-yummy, barmail kind and attentive, also very cute, and spoke english well.

Early night in bed by 11-ready for a big day in Lucerne tomorrow

Next day

nice late morning-before being dropped off in the city

Saw the lion monument first, got some nice photos

bought groceries and a cheap lunch (asparagus salad) from a coop, ate some of the most delicious strawberries ever and absolutely wonderful chocolates.  then met up for a nice cruise on the lake, the breeze across the water was fantastic and nice to sit down after walking around for most of the day, fantatic views of the ice capped mountains we saw yesterday

I love the first night of sleep on a trip.  Usually I'm so exhausted from the flight over and running around the first day that I fall right to sleep on the first night.  Last night was no exception.  We also woke up to some snow.  We're actually staying outside of Lucerne in a small village called Einsiedeln.  It's up in the mountains, and our hotel is right next door to a huge monastery.

We finally arrived in Zurich after a brief weather delay.  No time to spend here.  We're heading straight to Lucerne!  We arrived in Lucerne around 2:30 pm - we have 2 hours to orient ourselves with the city and do some souvenir shopping.  Tomorrow is Good Friday holiday, so all of the shops will be closed, so today is our only day to look around the stores.  I don't really want to buy anything - just a patch for my "around the world backpack."  Everything else seems so trite, and it just ends up collecting dust.  Switzerland is so expensive, anyway. 

The plan was to wake up as early as possiible like 7ish at the latest but what happened was 7ish was too early and Phydie must still be snoring at that time that the possible time was turned into 9ish. Phydie's freaking celfone kept on alarming and now matter how long I waited for her to shut it off she just wouldn't wake up. So I had to roll over her, quite suffocating her intentionally, and looked for her bloody fone and found it lying two inches from her ear. I didn't really know how to shut off the alarm so after trying so for every 5 minutes, I gave up and got out off bed.

I'm guessing it was probably 10ish when we left Basel for a drive to Luzern. I slept most of the time in the car saving myself loads of money for not insisting to pay for the gas like Phydie did. Bless them for not waking me up! I woke up a bit cranky and Phydie asked me why I was so but I don't even know the answer myself. Too logical to figure it out really. But my mood got all better as we stepped out of the car and saw how beautiful Luzern was!

We had to pay around 35 euros for the gondola ride to get to the top of the mountain called Pilatus.  A pretty expensive amount to divert my attention from a ride that will torture my heart brutally.  The first cable car we took was pretty small and can only sit 4 people max. It took us only halfway to the mountain where you can get off and enjoy some park and a few attractions but we didn't do it yet so we went for another ride and got on a much bigger gondola that will take about 15 or so people to the very top of the mountain.  The view from the gondola was amazing. The mountains, cows with bells tied around their neck, the lake, autumn colored trees,  and more cows. But no matter how beautiful the scenery was or how huggable those cows were, I didn't feel comfortable at all. I couldn't stand straight nor talk nor look at how high up we were, my hands were shaking and so is my tummy, and I probably looked as pale as Michael Jackson was after the 80s. The gondola would even swing a bit at some point and it was that moment when my heart would stop from beating. But thank goodness we got off safe and finally on top of the mountain.

Ahhhhhhh it was amazing up there I'm telling you. Another experience to brag about to my neighbors when I see them again.  2,000plussss meters up the sea level, they should know how high up that was! I can even show them a picture and tell them I was in Everest and no doubt they will still believe me! But of course I should not forget what an experience it was too when we did some trekking around the top of Pilatus. I have two of the greatest friends anyone can ever have here, Phydie and Ryan, who were laughing at me as I was walking around holding on to anything that can keep me from falling off the mountain then all the way down to certain death. What was so funny about that? And I thought I will kill myself in Angkor Wat!

Phydie still kept on posing as a suicide attempt master in front of the camera. She just wouldn't give up and I know a time will come I will truly push her to end all miseries. And of all the places you can sit on in Pilatus, Ryan chose a spot where a bird's sh*t was and he wasn't happy about it I must say. We had some hotdogs for lunch and decided to come back down after. We lined up at the mountain railway though wasting some time because we didn't know our ticket wasn't valid there so we had to take the gondola ride again. Torture. We didn't go all the way down as we decided to have some fun with one of the attractions.

And it was the toboggan run. As we were in queue I read all the guidelines carefully to avoid death (as it was written). I was the first one to get on and I tried my best to go slow and safe as possible but Phydie freaked me out as I heard her sliding down after me screaming and screaming. It turns out Ryan was sliding down as fast as he could to get to us which wasn't a very good idea according to the guidelines as it will cause death. I didn't admit that I was scared though when they asked me why I was so slow so I had to say that the lady before me was just a big chicken I had to go slow as well. 

To go back up we had to stay in our toboggan, if thats how you call them, and wait until we are pulled all the way up. It was the best part because we just had to sit there as we were going slowly up, relax and enjoy the alps surrounding us. Of course hearing from Phydie that it was very boring was expected since well, she's something. We walked around for a bit until we got on the smaller cable cars again. Everyone was quiet during the ride down and I didn't know why. I wanted to talk but then again I didn't know what to talk about so I just took more pictures. It was nearly sundown and Luzern was still beautiful.

I dind't get to sleep on the car anymore on the way back so I took Ryan's slr camera and tried it. It was my first time actually to use a dslr camera and darn I am so jealous. Phydie was asleep, Ryan was driving and I was just there sitting and contemplating on when am I going to allow myself to buy a dslr camera too.

What can I say...Lucerne is a gorgeous city and surroundings!  On the way back from Zurich, we decided we wanted to see the Alps a little closer, so we decided a side-trip to Lucerne would fit the bill.  We went straight away to Pilatus, hoping to take the furnicular to the top, but way too early in the season...while it looked fine from the ground, the track when going up the mountain was still snowed in, so we had to head back to the city for the cable car ascent...

...And what an ascent!  First you have the breathtaking views of the city and lake spread out below you, then you start with the Alpine Wonderland of Pilatus!  And when you hit the top of the mountain, you're in heaven!  The color of the sky and the clouds, the mountain peaks poking through, the birds!  What a beautiful place!

Back down into the city for the famous sights then the remainder of the drive back to the Netherlands.

I have been 3 times at luzern, always going at the one of our supplier's factory, that's why I can't make tourism for the zone( I work from 8 to 17h ) I miss the Mount Rigi :(

Luzern is something stange, It's a city but you feel that you're in a town.

On Lucerne the people talks mainly German and could be Italian, so you're advised, no french!

I suggest to visit the old town, city Walls and explore them, climb to the Hotel Deutz (Now closed) an incredible forest and sights to the city, the Kappel Brucke and if you have time take a train to the Rigi mount and take a ship and do a tour:

Luzern Home page: http://www.luzern.org/en/welcome.cfm?

Cappel Brucke: http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/photo-gallery/lucerne/kappel-brucke.html

Mount Rigi: http://www.rigi.ch/en/welcome.cfm

And of course to the Rathaus Brauerei : http://www.rathausbrauerei.ch/ Each afternoon I go there to have a drink;) home made beer really good and for lunch....I DON'T REMEMBER, REALLY! 

Geting there:

For arriving to Luzern you only have 2 options, by train o by road.

The swiss trains (SBB CFF FFS) are incredible confortable and noiselees it's amazing and also extremely expensive 17 Euros for a single train ticket  (1h 15m for 80km)  2ºClass I recommend it!

If I remember something else I will update this review..enjoy!

I got to Switzerland on March 25th.  I was first struck by its beauty on the plane ride over.  We had to circle the airport a few times because there was a snow storm and we could not land.  I could tell even from the air that there was so much to see and I couldn't wait to see it from the ground. 
We landed in Zurich, and were able to find our luggauge quickley, after we retrieved our luggauge we went to find were we needed to board a train to Lucerne.  Everyone was very nice and pointed us in the right direction.  When we got on the train and started to travel to Lucerne I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  It has been a long time since I have seen Mountains probably 10 yrs.  I have been living in the flat lands for most of my life.  So seeing these huge mountains was amazing to me.  Even more amazing was traveling up on, on the train ride to Engelberg. :)

I could not wait to really see Lucerne it seemed to be a beautifu, and friendly city.  I first went there with a small group of friends because we just could not wait for the day tour.  We walked all around Lucerne taking tons of pictures, and having a great time.  We did get some strange looks no doubt we were being loud and typical Americans.... we can't help it. :)  I was a lot quieter as that is just my personality.  There are many pretty sites in Lucerne.  The Lake, the old brigde, the old town square, the buildings, the churches, and of course the statue of the Loin.  I enjoyed seeing Swans for the first time, in person.  The ducks are very cute as well. 

of course I must include some pictures of this beauitful city.......  I took over a 100 pictures during the day tour... I want to remember Lucerne forever!

Really struggled to get up this morning, I think we had to be on the bus by 7.30am, and it was tough! Today we were heading into Switzerland. The ride again was not extremely long, probably something like 5 hours.  Today the weather was a bit cloudy and cold.  Our first stop was at Mount Pilatus, and we were going to the top in two cable cars, one small one and then a bigger one to the top.  Iit was kinda scary, especially when you are afraid of heights like me!!! The big cable car is the scariest because there are some places where it looks like you are just going to drop of the face of the cliff, or I suppose that was just my imagination running wild :). All in all I think it was 2100metres up.

We got to the top and it was absolutely freezing at that altitude and for some reason the entire tour had warn thongs/flip flops and shorts and t shirts that day, myslelf included, despite the warnings from JB. We all decided to walk up to the peak of the mountain.  I really struggled because I have a bad knee and at that altitude there was absolutely no air up there! Unfortunately the sky was filled with clouds and we couldn't see alot, but when the clouds broke even for a second, all of us would scrounge around for our cameras and take a quick shot.  It was really beautiful up there, but would have been a whole lot better on a clearer day.

We stayed up there for an hour but had to come down before getting hypothermia! Most of us were in the toilets for a while just trying to warm up under the hand dryers!!!  Go back down the mountain wasn't as scary as going up it and the views were excellent as well!

We then headed to out hotel just outside of Lucerne.  This was the first instance of a pretty dodgy hotel. It was livable for a couple of nights, but not somewhere I would stay again! Of course like many hotels in Europe, there were no lifts in the hotel and of course, Bree and were on the top floor!!! We lugged our luggage up and sat on our beds. Our room was basically in the roof of the hotel and we had a slanted ceiling, so everytime we layed on our bed, we had to make sure we didn't hit our heads!! I did a few times. We finally discovered to sleep up the other end but then we couldnt watch the TV.  As you can probably see the layout of the room was excellent (not)! I should probably also mention that when I was cleaning my teeth over the sink my bum could touch the opposite wall, really great when you dont feel like putting all your weight on your feet, just lean back and have a rest!!

Dinner was at the hotel tonght, and it was pretty basic.  So basic, that I don't even remember what we had! We went to bed early that night because I think Bree and I were still seedy from the night before!