No, I didn't exchange any pizza for a free parking in case the title makes you think like so. On my previous post I mentioned how much the average cost of a pizza is in most the restos of the city center of Lucerne. I forgot to mention that if you happen to be travelling by car, more or less you will have a hard time looking for a parking space, more so - one without charge.

The day we arrived in our hotel in Kriens we decided to drive to the city center cause I was craving for pasta and fiber and my husband who is a pizza addict when travelling, was of course, craving for the later. We've compromised that we'll have Italian that night though I really want some Thai food because this is what's married life is like! Ha! Ha!

On the site where I used to post reviews, I found one famous place for pasta in the city center so we headed for it. It was along the alley of branded stuff - if you know what I mean. On the way there, we passed by several Italian restos in Kriens, my husband would say; "there's pizza there ~~" every now and then but I only checked out the reviews on a few Italian restos and so far that one tops the pasta. I didn't even bother to check about the pizza because I'm not a pizza person really. I love pasta though specially vegetarian and the resto we're going to- offers that!

When we got to the place, we found out that the parking is behind it. It's a pay parking but it's alright we happened to have Swiss cents to spare. It's a road side parking and to be honest with you, we're not a fan of it and if you've been following me for a long time, you know why. Did you know that most parking there is actually like this - on the side of the road? You may find some parking spaces in front of what looks like a bed and breakfast or rental apartments but there would always be signs saying "reserved for clients". There could also be that official pay parking place but with slots that are very, very narrow and the charge would make your eyes almost bulge when you see your ticket. This time, we had no choice but to pay for this road side parking, walking distance to the pasta house cause my husband and I were hungry so all we could do is think - fooooood.

I didn't even wait for my husband to finish getting a ticket for the parking. I headed for the pasta house cause I saw that it was abuzz when we passed by it and I was worried there won't be seats left. My husband caught up with me in the counter and we both asked the bearded guy who must be the cook cause he was wearing an apron; "Do you speak English and do you have vegetarian pasta or one with chicken?" He smiled and suddenly touched the pasta on each tray explaining what's in each of them while my husband and I were wondering why he had to touch them. They're all vegetarian and homemade. Great! My husband asked if they have pizza and to his demise the guy had to disappoint him. He pointed us to an Italian resto in the city center just a few steps away from there.

We headed to it right away cause we were warned they're usually a full house cause they really have great pizza. When we got there, we confirmed that the guy was right. Almost full house and the only seats available were the ones on the side of the road where chic cars pass by almost every second. "Honey, we don't really want to eat diesel do we?" It was a no no so we left and looked around.

Our feet took us to many nook and mind you, despite the food price in the restos in the city center, they are full. Unbelievably full, too many tourist! Some were even picnicking on the side of the water. We tried crossing to the other side and guess what, I got to shoot this bridge almost empty. It is normally crowded, if this bridge could talk he'd probably spill how many selfies were taken with it. Well, it's nice but I wasn't really amazed - it's just a bridge with a story. While we're going through it I have to evade plenty of bloggers and those taking the selfies. Of course, we had one, too. Not on it or near it but on a bridge before it. We took it during our last day though cause the whole place it is on just looked so pretty that day.

Somehow, the city was quite enchanting, we forgot about our anacondas in our tummy and went off wandering in nooks exploring while looking for pasta! There has to be pasta, just because!

We got lost to another bridge and that's where I took that thumbnail up there. It has a different view. There, you'd finally get to see that the water is fresh and yes, a few huge fish were swimming in it but they vanished under the bridge.

Frustrated and haven't found any resto with a peaceful nook, I had to agree to head back to the parking and drive back to the restos in Kriens. If you think we got to one resto right away, you're wrong. There's no parking on the many of them so we drove around getting lost on very narrow alleys. We found a parking and we didn't mind paying except for we will have to walk pretty long to get to the resto so we went driving around to find one that has a close parking to it.

We were thinking to just head back to the city center and my husband almost agreed to have pasta, too when we spotted an Italian resto that offers free parking on the other side of the road. I told my husband, go ahead, pasta or no pasta am hungry, just pull over already. There was but one spot - at the back of the building. Did you know that the parking spaces almost everywhere in Lucerne are too narrow? You really have to hold your car doors to make sure you don't scratch the car next to yours. We had no choice but to take two slots, our car just won't fit in that place at the back.

The terrace outside is full, though there are plenty of cars passing by cause there were plants that cover the chairs from them. We headed inside and were greeted with a very cowboy-ish setting. We asked to be seated somewhere peaceful. Inside was almost empty just two couples and us. Perfect!

We knew what we're having for a drink so that got served fast while we were still checking out the menu. It says they have 42 kinds of pizza! I forgot to even take a look at the pasta section and checked out the pizza. I opted for something with artichokes! They only have one and it goes with mushrooms, asparagus and other veggies. We could even ask for extra toppings but I didn't see any pineapple. My husband had almost the same toppings but he asked for more spinach. I asked for extra mushrooms and we were told to wait ten minutes.

In fairness, it did take them just ten minutes. The very friendly smiling waitress who stayed there entertaining our questions about the city, finally asked us if we want something more when the food arrived but all we really want is to eat in peace cause we were tired and very, very hungry. I asked for tabasco though and she came back with a homemade Italian style chili sauce which was divine on the pizza. I don't normally get to finish that much of a pizza but I guess I was too hungry that night that even though my husband was offering to buy a quarter of a slice of my pizza for 10 and later 20 euro, I played deaf. Normally, I'd take whichever bill he'd offer me but not that night.

We didn't manage to get more dessert cause it was late and we seemed to be the last one there. The sweet spoken waitress kindly bid us goodbye when we were leaving and because she was ever so sweet and not grumpy, I reached for her hand and placed her tip there while looking her in the eye, thanking her for such a great service. She got teary eyed and thanked me. I think most people aren't used to getting tip this way, normally the customers just leave it on a tipping box but I normally do it this way when the service is really, really good to let them know you see them and their effort! Don't ask how much the tip is that would be tooting my own horn don't you think?

Anyway, yes, that night I settled for a pizza for a free parking and a nook of peace and quiet to enjoy my dinner. I've never thought it would be that hard looking for a parking space in Lucerne. We did have most of our dinners in the city center while we were there despite that . Now comes my disclaimer, cause places could change in time yeah, this are all based on my personal experience when I was there. I'm well aware that this has gone too long again but my fingers seem to have their own brains sometimes so there.

You, is it easy to find a place to park when you go eat out, where you live?

Do you also have to always pay for the parking instead?