Upfront warning: no coasters in this part of the report. I had a couple of days to get from northern Italy to south-west Germany, and used this to sample some of the marvels of the Swiss landscape. If you like mountains, lakes and quiet wooden huts, this is where to get the best of it in Europe!

Early morning start to get the best of the sun through the Swiss mountains (definitely not because I forgot to book reservations for trains out of Milan on Easter Monday and could only get the 9am train).

I’ve said some bad things about Italian trains, but the high speed Freccia trains are pretty sweet

Changed at Milan for a Eurocities train through to Zug, near Lucerne in Switzerland. I’m a fan of Milan station. Stately and ornate.

Also the first station since leaving the UK with ticket barriers

Who’s tired of trains yet?

Oh hey, it’s the F1 place

As the train ambled its way leisurely through Switzerland, it became apparent that half of us on the train were tourists. As the mountains and lakes came out, so did all the cameras.

I mean, just… aaagh so pretty :D

Look!

Look how gorgeous!

Look look look (how badly this photographs on a phone camera)

Apart from the twenty minutes spent in the world’s longest railway tunnel, it’s about two hours of endless gawping at scenery. I alighted at Zug, a small town on the bank of lake Zug (10/10 for consistency), where I was staying the night in the world’s most expensive hostel (it wasn’t worth £40 for a dorm, just Swiss prices).

Lake Zug

Rather than stick around, one of the Austrialian guys at the Garda hostel tipped me off about Luzern(/Lucerne), which was a whole fifteen minutes train away, so off I went. This was a very good call, Luzern is lovely.

  • 🎺 Trittst im Morgenrot daher, Seh ich dich im Strahlenmeer 🎺*

Oh hey, it’s that bridge from Legoland (the Kapellbrücke is the oldest covered wooden bridge in Europe)

In the background is Mount Pilatus, which, in a warmer part of the year, I might have been tempted to climb (it would be fun, they said).

The bridge interior contains a number of 17th century paintings, some of which were destroyed in a fire in 1993

There’d be more photos of old towns in Luzern and Zug if phone battery management was better, but hey ho. After a night’s sleep in Zug, I set off for Freiburg, via Zurich.

I didn’t stop in Zurich, but the station had this… object

If you’re looking for somewhere to stay near Europa Park and are using trains, Freiburg im Breisgau is a fabulous place with scenery, historic architecture and an easy route to the park. It makes a great place to stop over if you want to do some other things.

The old town is guarded by two remaining city gates. Can you spot the part of Martinstor that residents are not best pleased about?

Wow, Medieval architects sure loved their Big Macs

And here’s the other one, Schwabentor

To the north-east of the town is the Schlossberg, which is worth a walk up for some great views of the valley and the town.

More climbing

Something really lovely about this secluded bench

Have we seen enough German Aldstadts and cathedrals yet? Cause Freiburg’s got some more!

I love it when the pictures can do the captions for me

Disadvantage of huge old buildings: constantly falling apart. Very nice, though certainly no Ulm Minster

Next up is two days at the new park I was most excited for. Thirteen new coasters and some big new hitters at Europa Park!