Lost and found in Switzerland

I’ve always trusted my sense of direction. Oh, I argue with it on occasion, but it usually gets me where I’m going and back again. On a recent trip to Europe with my wife, however, I feared I’d finally lost my bearings. Too many strasses, I think, simply stressed me out. It was our second day in Lucerne, Switzerland, a beautiful city on a lake surrounded by the snow-covered Swiss Alps. I’d taken a walk the day we arrived and felt comfortable navigating the city of 81,000. After all, a prominent peak, Mt. Pilatus, towers above Lucerne, visible I thought from nearly everywhere. I awoke at dawn, told Barb I was going for a walk, and struck out for parts unknown. I’d seen on a map that the edges of the city were well defined, congested urban landscape turning abruptly into greenspace. At an intersection of two busy strasses, I had the option of turning right or left and following sidewalks, or continuing straight ahead to a stairway that switchbacked up a steep wooded hillside. I gave it little thought and took to the stairs. An apartment complex of look-a-like buildings topped the hill and I made note of the name of the street I was on, Kaiserstrasse, or something like that. It didn’t matter because I soon forgot it anyway. After gaining all that elevation I quickened my pace and soon found myself in the ‘burbs, with smaller apartment buildings and more single family homes. I peered into back yards, checked out gardens. and said hello to the folks I passed. Eventually, timbered slopes rose above the last row of homes and I suspected it was time to turn back. Finding the staircase was out of the question. I’d come too far, turned too many corners. So I simply headed downhill. And like dropping into dark timber back home, I quickly lost sight of all landmarks. Tall buildings lined narrow strasses in every direction. I’d head up one strasse, change my mind and turn around. I considered hailing a cab, but that would be admitting defeat, and while I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, like Mr. Natural, I kept on truckin’. We had a bus to catch that afternoon and I was getting nervous. It was time for desperate measures. Spotting a young woman sweeping the sidewalk outside a store, I approached her and asked directions. She pointed out my hotel, three blocks away. I learned a valuable lesson. Don’t be so quick to ask directions. Just chill. You’ll get there soon enough. Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]