We spent our last day in Lucerne taking in some of the sights and as usual doing a lot of walking, though Lucerne is definitely not as hilly as Lausanne or Murren. It is located in the German speaking section of Switzerland in the Central West of the country. It is only a small city with a population of around 76,000.
This city is also located on a lake and surrounded by mountains...
These are a few pictures taken from the ferry as we were coming into Lucerne.
It is also a big tourist Center as everywhere we looked the place was full of tour groups and huge tour buses, again mostly Asian visitors.
We visited a couple of interesting sites...this one is called the Dying Lion Monument. This monument is carved into the side of a mountain and is huge as well as quite moving, the detail is unbelievable. This monument is in memory of hundreds of Swiss Guards working as mercenaries who were killed in the French Revolution.
The Bourbaki Panorama was also very interesting. It is a large circular painting measuring 112 by 100 meters and is one of the few such paintings left from the 19th century. It depicts the internment of the French Army in Switzerland in the late 1800s. The newly formed Red Cross with the help of the Swiss citizens cared for the defeated army until a ceasefire was called and they returned home to France. The story is told through this picture and really speaks to the role of Switzerland as a neutral,humanitarian country. Again this was quite striking and my pictures do not give the full impact of the structure.
Carrying for the wounded.
The French surrendering their weapons.
Another view....
One of the pleasures of travelling is the delight in seeing things that I never knew existed and what a great way to depict history.
The most famous site in Lucerne however is the Chapel Bridge and Water Tower. It was built in 1333 and is the largest covered bridge in Europe.
Me from the other side.
Inside the bridge there are a series of paintings done in the 17th century, unfortunately due to a fire set in 1993 most of them have been destroyed.
The Reuss River runs through Lucerne from the mountains down into Lake Lucerne. The flow is manually controlled by a system called the Needle. Don says it reminds of the men in the mill who did the same thing but it was called " on the boards".
Lucerne was a city that fought the Reformation movement and remains mostly Catholic so it has some wonderful churches. This one is the main Catholic Cathedral in the city...
And Don gets to light a candle!
The wood working on the door, churches here are amazing buildings.
A view down the steps down to the Center of the city, as you can see it has been raining the last few days.
The Jesuit Church...one of the oldest in the city...
Many of the building facades in the city are painted, some from hundreds of years ago...
Others seem to be newer...
Many people including us enjoyed lunch by the river.
Others were just enjoying the view.
There were outdoor markets.
Beautiful river views...
Cafes to have your expresso...
And of course stairs to climb.
As we walked we also window shopped, how about this chair for 10,000.00?
Colourful display in a chocolate shop window.
This cafe sign advertises the most popular Swiss beer we have seen here...Feldschlosschen. Swiss beer is very light, lots of lagers.
We finished our day by going to a Swiss restaurant that featured a Swiss music and folk traditional show. It was done for tourists but we enjoyed ourselves. It was in a big hall so couldn't get many pictures. Here are a few...
The young couple next to us were honeymooners from California and our other neighbours were Japanese.
The show consisted of traditional instruments, yodelling, flag throwing, and lots of lively music and dancing.
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