Anniversary Hike around Lake Luzern

As I wrote about a few posts ago, we had our 2nd wedding anniversary earlier this month.  We wanted to do something fun to celebrate and decided on spending a day enjoying the beautiful Swiss landscape.  Last year, we did some hiking on our anniversary, so maybe this will become a tradition.  While I enjoy a nice, romantic dinner as much as the next girl, I would rather relax outside on a sunny day at the beach or walk around beautiful mountains and lakes.  So we searched around for the best hiking option for the Saturday before our anniversary.  We had planned to go to the Eastern Alps, but it was forecasted to rain there, so we decided to go to Lake Luzern instead.

Lake Luzern is a long, skinny lake that snakes around the surrounding mountains.  On one end is the town of Luzern and on the other end is Flüelen.  We took a train to the town of Brunnen, which is closer to the Flüelen-side of the lake.  From there, we got a small boat that took us to the other side of the lake, where we got off at Rütli.

Leaving Brunnen and heading towards the other side of the lake

The fantastic landscape on Lake Luzern

Rütli is a mountain meadow where it is said that Switzerland was first formed some time around 1300.  Three rulers of adjoining cantons met here and swore an oath of allegiance to each other to help fend off invading armies.  The alliance grew into a federation of cantons that makes up Switzerland today.  This scene is re-enacted every year on August 1st, the Swiss National Holiday, to celebrate the birth of Switzerland.

Near the Rütli Meadow, where Switzerland was born

The view from Rütli

A close-up of one of the ferry boats

From the meadow, we hiked straight up the face the mountain to reach the town of Seesliberg.  It was 850 steps and a 1,000-foot elevation change, so it took a lot of effort and we were having to really push ourselves, but we made it.  From Seesliberg, we hiked along some flat land for a while, before descending down to the town of Bauen.

The view from a little more than halfway up the challenging climb

Darren sets the cantonal flag pole in place all by himself

Enjoying the unexpected sunny day at our picnic spot

The view from our descent back down to Bauen

The view from Bauen

I love all the hydrangeas that grow around here

The little hotels and houses in Bauen built up on the hill

Cooling off in the chilly lake water

Our boat that took us back to Brunnen

The gears at work in the boat

Darren on the boat back from our hike

We got so lucky because it ended up being sunny the whole day (it was supposed to rain in the afternoon)!  It was a much needed respite from all this rain we've been having.  The views from the hike were gorgeous and all the little lakeside towns we visited were adorable.  Lake Luzern and the surrounding area is really just fantastic and I love every second we spend there.  It was a great way to celebrate our anniversary!