Carnival in Luzern

In the US, most people have heard of Mardi Gras festivities, which really only occur in New Orleans. Here, in many parts of Europe, the time is called 'Carnevale' (in Italian). It really begins about 2 weeks before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent in the Catholic religion. Most communities here in Ticino had some kind of festivity to enjoy - always including dressing up in costumes and lots of confetti!

But the biggest "party" in Ticino is in Bellinzona, the capital of Ticino, and one of the largest in all of Switzerland takes place in Luzern, which is south of Zurich.

Rick and I booked a last minute hotel in Luzern, but first boarded a train for Bellinzona, to spend a few hours watching their main parade before continuing to Luzern. The old center of the city, which sits below a marvelous castle on a big hill in the center, was blocked off into the "Carnevale city". 95% of the people were in costumes of all kinds. We enjoyed the parade but needed to leave early to catch our train to Luzern. Carnevale was happening there too - but even much more elaborate, so I'll give the details about Luzern!

We arrived on a Sunday. Now, although the carnevale officially began the previous Thursday, the city was quiet Sunday evening, and we were told that most people were at one of the many costume balls being held around town. Rick and I had found a last minute hotel looking out over the little square in front of the town hall. It was so picturesque and charming! What luck! We had a very nice dinner in a 400 year old restaurant, and strolled the charming, medieval streets, enjoying the buildings with their elaborately painted façades.

We had heard that Carnevale would begin again on Monday, and settled down to sleep.

Then suddenly, exactly at 5am Monday morning, it all began! I sat up in bed in disbelief! I was hearing a huge band playing outside our window on Kornmarkt square - trumpets blarring and drums pounding! I went to the window to find the entire square filled with people in costume (mostly 20 somethings crazy enough to be doing this at 5am!)

Shoving my earplugs deaper into my ears I tried to go back to sleep - even folding the big pillow over my head. Nope, wasn't going to work! The music continued with barely a 30 second break between songs. And when that band was finished, another arrived! I'll tell you now, the music in the town continued to pound continuously everywhere until 3am Tuesday morning!!

We just gave up, went to breakfast, and joined the party! For anyone ever planning on a visit to Switzerland, this is definitely a site to see! It was worth the lack of sleep. Rick and I were constantly amazed at the intricacy of all the costumes, along with the detailed painted faces. There were bands that came from all the surrounding communities, playing lively music everywhere and anywhere throughout the old quarter of Luzern. But they weren't like an American marching band. No! The costumes were imaginative and fanciful - even with elaborate fantasy paper-maché heads - usually slightly different but yet all in the same theme for the group.

Then, apart from the musicians, everyone else in costume was in some sort of "group". We never saw a "lone" person in a costume. Whether they were a group of friends, a club, or a family group, everyone was matching. And these were not your "everyday" costumes! We heard that this is a year-long project to make these intricate costumes for every member of the "group". And how fun for families! They were so creative with the children. They, of course, were also in matching costumes, but since it would be impossible for small children to walk among the crowds, their "mode" of transportation became creative too! It might have been a wonderfully decorated stroller to match the family theme, or a large, decorated wagon pulling several children. We even saw an igloo with the kids inside, and also a submarine! And then everyone participated in the midday parade. How fun to have an outlet for the best of one's creativity!

Every little square was filled with people and food and drink stands (decorated, of course!), and costumed people filled the bridges too. Rick and I had a wonderful day being amazed by all the beautiful costumes!

Before going to bed, we purchased new, fresh earplugs! But of course could not really sleep until the party ended at 3am.

On Tuesday morning the crews were out cleaning up the confetti and garbage from the crowds on Monday. Switzerland is known for being very clean, and streets were being scrubbed as best as possible. As the town began to awake, the costumed party-goers began to come out again. The party would continue until the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday.

Since it happened to be a beautiful, clear day, Rick and I decided to just take the next train to Interlaken for the afternoon. When all the Alps are sunny and clear, you don't waste time and need to take advantage of it! We had no idea how long the train would take or what route we would need to take to get back to Lugano later in the day, but we were blessed with a wonderful treat! Shortly out of Luzern, our train began to climb. They have rack railways in Switzerland so the trains can handle the steep climbs. We didn't realize that our train had to go over a mountain pass in order to reach the valley where Interlaken is located. What a treat! And there was hardly a tunnel, so we enjoyed spectacular views of the mountains and valleys, with the snow cover becoming deeper and deeper the higher we went.

This "short trip" to Interlaken took us two hours of climbing and descending. Once arrived in Interlaken, we only had 2 hours to find a bite to eat and quickly see the town before catching our train that would take us back to Lugano. Since we had left Luzern so quickly, we never realized that we would have to take the same route to get back! So, two hours back to Luzern and then another train 3 hours to Lugano. But had we know this before, we might have decided not to take this side trip, and we would have missed the views of a lifetime. So it was well worth it!