Zug Switzerland

May 20

It seems a little surreal that I am actually in Europe – for the first time ever! Considering traveling 12 hours and 40 minutes plus a 7 hour time difference, it really wasn’t that bad to overcome the jet lag. Even though it’s always hard to sleep on a plane, I did get a little rest on the overnight flight from Chicago to Zurich. Swiss Air is probably the most accommodating airline I’ve ever flown: we had our own personal display screen with several great movies to choose from; were served dinner; and the crew could not have been nicer. The trip through customs in Zurich was quick and easy before hopping the train for a 50 minute ride to Zug, Switzerland.

The train system was simple and a helpful resident standing on the corner when we got off the train guided us in the right direction for the short walk the Hotel Löwen in the center of the old town area.

We only had a few hours for an overnight stay before traveling on to our final destination in Kiental, Switzerland. Thank you to our friend Tarek for recommending we spend the time in Zug – a small town located in the heart of Switzerland between the lowlands and the foothills of the Alps. Our only complaint was that we did not have more time to discover this beautiful area. We only had a few hours to spend investigating the medieval old town on the shore of Lake Zug. Lucky for us it just involved walking out the door of our hotel to enjoy the area.

Once we got checked in we crossed the cobblestone street to a lovely place for lunch and a bottle of wine followed by a walk around the old town area. There is beauty and interesting architecture everywhere you turn. The walk was lovely, even with the rain. Thankfully we had an umbrella from the hotel lobby – rain seems to be a very common occurrence here.

The construction of Church St. Oswald began in 1478. I wish we’d had time to go inside.

IL Violino, the atelier for stringed instruments

Luckily I woke from a short nap to capture this beautiful sunset over the lake right from my hotel room window.

After a restful night’s sleep, we had a few hours to explore a little more of Zug before heading to the train station. By chance we went into a small gift shop and the woman working inside offered us the key to go up in the clock tower – what a cool experience!

The Clock Tower has been a landmark of Zug since around the 1300s. It began as a gate and was extended in 1480, then once again in in 1557 to the present shape and height of 52 meters. In 1574 the astronomical clock was added showing the phases of the moon, the day of the week, and a leap year. The clock tower has been used as a watchtower to protect the town; a watchtower to detect fire and also as a prison.

We found the people we met in Zug to be extremely kind and helpful. Even though they predominately speak Swiss German, most spoke great English as well. Actually I read that currently 128 nations are represented in the city of Zug which explains the diverse culture and sounds of many different languages as you roam the streets. A very kind woman in a gift shop patiently read and translated nearly every postcard before I chose the one below which was actually pretty self explanatory.