That water was literally moving

I was so relieved when I realized that I had done a post before I left for the weekend because A LOT happened the past few days, but as I don't need to recount our adventures in Lugano this post will be easier and shorter than I thought it was going to be. 
Zurich:
For the first time I've been here I've actually felt like I am in Switzerland. It could have been due to the fact that there was a lot more touristy things around because Zurich is a big city. But still, Locarno and other places in the south feel like Italy. It's really weird being here because each of the cantons speak a different language and have a different culture so it's going from Italy to Germany...which is weird and now I'm confused on what Swiss culture actually is because it's kind of like America in that sense...but with less of an identity. Which sounds awful, but I don't mean it as a bad thing, it's just how it is.
Anyway. Zurich was really pretty. Huge Germanic influence, which makes sense because it's in the German canton, dur. After walking around though it just felt like another big European city, once again, not said negatively. Before dinner we walked along the water front which was the hot spot of the city. There were a bunch of little cafes and street performers and huge parks and lots of people. That night we went bar hoping, but drinking is expensive and we've been traveling 24/7 so every bar we went to I slept while they drank and did that all night. I'm such a killjoy.
Since I was not hungover the next day me and a few other people walked around in the morning before we got on the train to Lucerne (Luzern for the German spelling). We walked around old town Zurich and went into the Grossmünster ("great minster") church which is one of the major churches in Zurich. You can see the towers pretty much wherever you are in the city. I wish we had been there longer because there are a lot of cool things to there, just ran out of time. And then it was off to Luzern!

Zurich

Grossmünster

 O! And Melea there was this peacock dress in one shop which I feel like you would enjoy :)

Luzern:
Luzern was beautiful! Luzern definitely felt like Switzerland, the people there looked Swiss and everything felt Swiss....I can't explain these feelings of Swissness but it was legit. It was real life.
Luzern was a big city, but had class like a small town. Sooooo pretty. We walked around that evening and went to see the Lion Monument that is a sculpture built in a rock that is a commemoration of the Swiss guards that died during the French Revolution. I didn't know anything about it before we got there; figured it would just be some lion statue in a square. No. The lion was built into the side of a rock in a little secluded park. Quite moving.

Lion Monument in Luzern 

The other main attraction of the city is the Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke) across the water. It was built in 1333 originally, since been restored I believe and is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe and the world's oldest surviving truss bridge. Walking across the bridge there are paintings on the ceiling from the17th century. So I guess I feel pretty special since I've walked across that bridge. And the water under the bridge, it was literally moving, like really.

Chapel Bridge Luzern

St. Leodegar

 For dinner I had this awesome pretzel sandwich, which was really impossible to eat, but it's a really good idea and it's really good tasting. Score. Last stop in Luzern before we went back to Locarno was St. Leodegar church, which didn't look like much on the outside but way cool on the inside...lots of gold. We also made friends with a cute little fluffy Swiss kitty :)

St. Leodegar

 I'm exhausted, so getting back to Locarno and just hanging out was kind of nice. Yes, I broke down and got on facebook and posted photos so you all can look at those. O and dad, there were so many bikes in Luzern, like everywhere and it was a mess!!!! I thought of you. It was like on big bike pit hole. Fix that would ya? ;)

O and all y'all should appreciate the prices of Starbucks at home because here it's super expensive, like 7.80 francs for a ventilation drink....ya sucks.

Bikes ya?

Happy anniversary mom and dad! And happy birthday Mr. Petras :) Hope you all have fabulous days and I miss you and love you all! Peace.
And wow...that was a long post...