Lovely, Lovely Lucerne

As a sort of pit-stop between the two major legs of this vacation, we spent an afternoon and evening in Lucerne. It was refreshing to be back in a bigger metropolitan area and we celebrated by eating sushi rather than Swiss food for dinner.

Eli went for a great run through idyllic swiss neighborhoods and the kids and I spent the afternoon at the Swiss Museum of Transport. The museum was very much like Chicago’s Science and Industry Museum, but with a focus on…transportation. From trains to planes to cars to space shuttles to submarines, this museum had it all. Beyond the exhibits, which were cool, the highlight for the kids was the interactive, outdoor plaza at the center of the museum. Here, the myriad of hands-on activities included driving a boat, playing in a working construction zone, zooming around on scooters, and much more.

My favorite part was watching the kids patiently and attentively sit through a ten minute German safety town speech so that they could drive small vehicles on a fun course. At the end, they happily earned their Swiss drivers licenses.

After five hours of exploring I still had to drag the kids back to the hotel for dinner. They told me they wish they could have returned the next day, which feels like the ultimate seal of approval.