DAY TRIP TO LUZERN, SWITZERLAND
by Marco Trezzini
Giuseppe and I drove to Lucerne on Friday, the 13th of June, for a meeting of the
AJS (Swiss Association of Specialized Press), and decided to take the route over the Gotthard Pass, which is only open a few months per year. The route is beautiful and it’s a shame that the old road, called Tremola, which means to vibrate or tremble, was closed for a big portion.
When we reached the high point of the pass we got out to enjoy the fresh air and ate a disappointing lunch in the summit restaurant. (Today, after years eating in bad but expensive tourist traps, I finally understand why many German and Dutch tourists travel with their own picnics.) After lunch the light had changed and we could finally find a VR-worthy place. A bit of climbing and we were standing there, overwhelmed by the majesty of the mountain.
In Lucerne, driving to the meeting, I suddenly spotted a building that was a combination of modern high-tech and antique frescoes, with the word ‘Panorama’. It was the Bourbaki Museum, a building specifically designed to host this painting. A high-tech stairway built in glass and aluminum leads to a spaceship-like door, which slides away, making a “schht” sound to reveal more stairs and we enter the main exhibition room hosting the painting: the foreground is a remarkably realistic three-dimensional scene with more than 20 people, a railway carriage scattered with equipment and noises combined to bring history to life.
Later that evening, we had dinner with the AJS members. The dinner was great, the quality of the food absolutely perfect, the service extremely discreet and attentive and the presentation impeccable. During a break, Guiseppe took the opportunity to shoot one of Luzern’s famous bridges
.
After several hours of pleasurable conversation, we discovered it was 1 a.m. and realized the Gotthard tunnel was closed until the morning. And so we decided to sleep in the hotel, one of my worst hotel experiences in the last few years. The room was the size of a train sleeper couchette with a TV, fridge and safe crammed in. And all the windows were locked, with the exception of one, which could only be opened a few centimeters. After a futile search for the air conditioning, I called reception and was told guests are not allowed to open the windows!
After some time, I managed to coerce a night porter to unlock one of my windows and then headed out to the car to pick up my toothbrush. Apparently, guests aren’t supposed to leave the hotel either. I found myself locked out. Later, I discovered why: the owners’ obsessive fear that guests would allow additional people into their rooms without paying.
Finally at 4 am, even with an incredible suffocating heat and wet towels all over my body, I fell asleep. At 5 a.m., trash-collecting trucks started to operate and woke me up, so the last hope for additional sleep was gone.
After breakfast I left my wallet with my powerbook and my suitcase at the table and went to the reception to pay for my room. Suddenly the waitress arrives in visible worry with her portemannaie, asking me to pay for the coca cola I had at breakfast; I tell her that I will get back to my table shortly and pay and she leaves. In the next 10 minutes she arrives at the reception 2 more times with the same request. Nice when you feel treated like a burglar in a 4 star hotel (still wondering who gave them 4 stars)!
We headed toward the Gotthard Pass and arrive there around 11 a.m. and the light is great. Looking around I see in the distance a Swiss flag and a very little wooden building. We walked over and I saw a statue of famous General Suvorov.
Suddenly, it occurred to me that I was not checking email, server status, stats so we decided to drive back home. We were safe again, after this excursion in the analog world. We brought back some little digital piece, which motivated me to write this daytrip to put them into ours in addition to the historical context for our readers.
Comments:
Just one of those nights when I couldn't fall asleep. Am writing my memories of returning from Kenya with my three small children. Decided to look up San Gottardo Pass for possible pictures etc., and came across your tale. Enjoyed it very much. It was amusing as well as informative....or is that just because it now almost 7 a.m.
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