Swiss Shopping

And we’re back for Part Two of our day in Switzerland!

(Part one that includes our trip to the top of Mount Pilatus may be seen here.)

Lake Cruise + Lunch

After our time at the top of Mount Pilatus, my family and I boarded the coach bus and headed back into the heart of Lucerne, where we joined our tour group for a one-hour lake cruise on Lake Lucerne.

While on the boat, we gaped at the multi-million dollar houses, crystal clear water and snow-capped mountains.

The white house in the above picture was once the home of Mr. Heineken, the man behind the beer!

We also saw the old homes of Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren and Wagner, the famous composer of Wagner’s Bridal Chorus, the song that I chose to walk down the aisle to at our wedding.

Once our lake cruise concluded, my family and I walked around the streets in search of lunch.

As we walked along the water’s edge, we were shocked at the massive size of the swans. They were bigger than Sadie!

If you think I look wildly uncomfortable in the above picture, it’s because I am. Those things wanted to eat my face.

Eventually we selected Grendel 19, a cute sidewalk café for lunch. 

My sister took forever to snap the above picture of me and my dad, so I got her back by waiting a solid minute to snap a picture of her and my mom… just enough time to make their smiles look super awkward  

My dad, sister and I all ordered large salads for lunch, topped with marinated vegetables and tuna.

The olive oil and seasonings on the vegetables were tasty! The onions were the best part.

My mom’s lunch included the beefsteak tartar, the restaurant’s specialty dish.

Doesn’t it look like pizza sauce? The tartar was worth trying, but not something I’d ever order for myself. I did enjoy her toast with a little butter though! It tasted like freshly baked bread with a slight crunch and a super-soft middle. Yum!

Though we all enjoyed our meals, the highlight of lunch was our dessert.

It was a three-scoop sundae that included Movenpick strachitella, vanilla dream and Swiss chocolate ice cream topped with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, a strawberry and an almond wafer.

When I say my family and I loved this, I mean it! My sister, mom and I agreed that the Swiss chocolate ice cream was the absolute best chocolate ice cream we’ve ever had in our life. No doubt about it!

Swiss Shopping

After lunch, my mom and dad were a bit sleepy, so while they went back to relax at the hotel for a bit, my sister and I hit the shops!

See what happens when they let us loose?

I made sure to buy the suspenders and fanny pack I’m wearing for Ryan to sport with the stylin’ jorts I picked up for him earlier. My sister bought him the cow bag she’s wearing. He’s gonna love it!

We shopped for a couple of hours and each bought a dress from H&M (totally Swiss, I know!) before walking into a chocolate shop for an afternoon pick-me-up that included some Swiss chocolates.

Our favorites were the double chocolate truffle and buttery caramel milk chocolate.

Jesuit Church

After eating our chocolates on a nearby bench, we walked across a covered wooden bridge on our way to the famous Jesuit Church.

On the other side of the bridge we spent quite a while laughing as we watched a couple of birds dive deep under the clear water and fetch stuff off the bottom to feed to their babies.

They were so stinkin’ cute! It entertained us for quite a while!

After a short walk, we arrived at the entrance of the church.

As we stepped inside we were both amazed at the calm beauty inside.

We walked around and took a moment to light a candle and say a prayer in one of the alcoves of the church.

It was such a neat place.

Dinner

We arrived back at the hotel and spent some time in a little café before heading to dinner with our tour group.

Check out my sister’s new H&M authentic Swiss dress! I love it and if I could squeeze my hips into it I’d wear it. It’s crazy because we can share many clothes, but pants and certain butt-hugging dresses are out because of my boo-tay! I have the smaller rib cage while Leslie has the cutie patootie.

I definitely didn’t change my outfit for dinner. I’m saving all the clean clothes I can! We still have five days to go, baby!

Dinner began with a big roll topped with freakin’ amazing butter.

I don’t know if Switzerland does something to their butter, because I never really use much butter on my rolls and yet in Switzerland I wanted to bathe in it.

Next up was a salad topped with creamy balsamic vinaigrette.

It was good and I ate every bite!

My entrée included fish topped with some kind of delicious cream sauce served with rice and broccoli.

It was okay. I preferred the fondue and raclette from last night about 5,000 times more.

Dessert was a warm apple streudel served with vanilla cream sauce.

As a pastry lover, I enjoyed this dessert quite a bit and consider it a warm up for all the pastry-eating I plan to do in Paris.

After dinner, my sister and I were on a mission for a post-dessert dessert in the form of more of that delicious Swiss chocolate ice cream that we loved so much at lunch.

We once again walked across the beautifully lit wooden bridge into town in search of the ice cream.

After about 15 minutes of walking around, we found it!

They need to bring Movenpick Swiss chocolate ice cream to the United States. I’d pay good money for this!

Well friends, I’m currently blogging from the bus en route to Paris from Lucerne and we’ve just reached a rest stop. Gotta go!