Neuchâtel, Switzerland

I took the train from Luzern to Neuchâtel yesterday, which was possibly the worst day to travel. It was snowing! The weather here is absolutely insane. The day before was beautiful, sunny, and clear. Then it just decided to snow! Worse than the snow was the fact that I had to change trains in-between with my 2 heavy luggage. There were no direct trains from Luzern to Neuchâtel!! I had 15 minutes to get off, dash to the right platform, and get on. I strategically sat near the doors, made sure I was ready 5 mins prior, etc. I have to say that the Swiss people here are genuinely nice people. Many of them offered and helped me with the luggage on and off the trains. I arrived in Neuchâtel, at the Beau-Rivage Hotel around 6pm. Neuchâtel is a small city in the west side of Switzerland and is known as the "Watch Valley." It is surrounded by smaller towns such as Le Locle and La Chaux-de-Fonds where watches are manufactured. The population is mainly French-speaking. (Luzern is mainly German-speaking).


Neuchâtel

Today the weather was back to the beautiful, sunny and clear. How odd. I woke up around 10am, which is the first day ever that I got to sleep in and not have to wake up at ungodly hour. Casual day today, no work. I got a self-guided walking tour brochures from the front desk and journeyed off. I first stopped at a restaurant called Le Jura Brassie. I don't know the items in French, but I had the daily special which included a salad and the main entree was pork with a sausage inside. It was accompanied by zucchini with cheese and rice. Food was good. I followed the tour guide and was surprised how close things were. Along the way, a woman approached me and asked if I needed any help with directions. Again, I was pleasantly surprised that people here are very helpful and nice. I guess I has been skeptical because of my past negative experience in Montreal (Canada), which was my only exposure to anything close to European. I saw a lot of fountains. In fact, Neuchâtel is also known as the city of 140 fountains (some better-looking than others -- some are very plain looking).
Within 1 hour, the walking tour highlights were done. This is a very small town afterall. After my nice afternoon stroll, I stopped by a cafe and got myself a cup of cafe and a patisserie creme (coffee and chocolate cake). Tasted delicious and today was just the perfect day to people-watch and stay mellow...

Fountaine de la Justice