The lonely plant guide described Lucern as a cobalt lake ringed by mountains of myth, add a medieval old town and sprinkle with covered bridges, sunny plazas, candy coloured houses and waterfront promendes, and for the most part I'd have to agree. The only catch is, to experience it all, you need to be a multi-millionaire!
The town isn't very big (none of the swiss cities seem to be) and we got to know our way around the city quite well by the end of our visit. There are several covered bridges with have artwork in the roofs, one of the bridges caught fire (judging by the amount of "no smoking on the bridge" signs I'm guessing this may of had something to do with it) and a lot of these were lost. The are quite creepy, one of the bridges having the dance of death panels, but different from anything else we have seen in Europe.
While in Switerland we took a day trip to the capital Bern, only an hour or so away from Lucern by car. We stopped at the information centre to see the Bears of Bern, there were 4 Bears kept in the city, the oldest being a 28 year old bear called Pedro. They have a large enclosure and seemed quite happy until it was dinner time and started punching the doors to be let in! We also stopped to see the Zytglogge clock tower which rings 4 minutes fast (no idea why!) and visited the Einstein museum, where he lived while he worked in the patent office. Bern also has lots of fountains and statues, the most interesting one is of an ogre snacking on children. He had several on his belt for later!!
Back in Lucern we visited the transport museum, which for a city of 60,000 is most impressive. We went on a disneyland style ride of the story of the Gotthard tunnel, the longest in Europe at the time. We saw more trains than you could poke a stick at, a rack of cars where you could choose one and it brought it down and in the air and space section we I flew a helicopter (in a simulator) and also a F18 (again in a simulator). This was quite exciting as we were upside down several times as we completed barrel rolls. Mita managed to lose the horizon after completing hers so we had some unorthodox combat manuevres going on till she righted the plane! It was so good we ended up spending most of the day there!
We also visited the most famous site, that of Pilatus Mountain. We went up two cable cars just to get there (stopping to go on the longest summer toboggan run in Switzerland!). Once at the top you can see half of Switzerland! Legends told of great dragons that lived in the caves of the mountain and stole pretty maidens and guarded great treasure. It was also to have been believed that Pompus Pilot's spirit lived in the mountain lake, and it was forbidden to go near the lake for any reason. Then one day a priest and a handful of brave villagers went up to the lake, challenged the spirit by throwing rocks in the river, and when nothing happened declared the lake cleansed of evil! We then took the steepest railway cog train in the world, with a gradient of 48 degrees down the mountain.
On the last day we went with Malavika (Mita's sister who had been putting us up while we were there and feeding us raclette much to Mita's excitment and Stu's dismay) to a informal fundraising for her quartet. We stayed and listened until it was over and time to leave to Beaune, before our last stop on the continent, Paris!
Photos, added 3 Oct '11:
Mita and Lucerne (water tower and Chapel bridge)
Stu on Chapel Bridge
Mita and the Dying Lion of Lucerne (commemorates the Swiss guards killed in the French revolution). Mark Twain said it was 'the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world.".
At the transport museum! We scored 6/10 in the theory driving test. They have strange rules in Europe.
Playing a game show in the car section of the transport museum. No one else seemed to be pressing their buttons though... Mita doesn't speak any German, or know anything about cars. Luckily no one asked her to answer any questions. We think.
Stu watching the South Africa vs. Samoa game in an Irish pub in Lucerne.
Above the longest summer toboggan in Switzerland.
Can you see the cogwheel train?
Identifying mountains from the top of Mt Pilatus.
Mita and sister, Malavika, at the top of Pilatus.
The town isn't very big (none of the swiss cities seem to be) and we got to know our way around the city quite well by the end of our visit. There are several covered bridges with have artwork in the roofs, one of the bridges caught fire (judging by the amount of "no smoking on the bridge" signs I'm guessing this may of had something to do with it) and a lot of these were lost. The are quite creepy, one of the bridges having the dance of death panels, but different from anything else we have seen in Europe.
While in Switerland we took a day trip to the capital Bern, only an hour or so away from Lucern by car. We stopped at the information centre to see the Bears of Bern, there were 4 Bears kept in the city, the oldest being a 28 year old bear called Pedro. They have a large enclosure and seemed quite happy until it was dinner time and started punching the doors to be let in! We also stopped to see the Zytglogge clock tower which rings 4 minutes fast (no idea why!) and visited the Einstein museum, where he lived while he worked in the patent office. Bern also has lots of fountains and statues, the most interesting one is of an ogre snacking on children. He had several on his belt for later!!
Back in Lucern we visited the transport museum, which for a city of 60,000 is most impressive. We went on a disneyland style ride of the story of the Gotthard tunnel, the longest in Europe at the time. We saw more trains than you could poke a stick at, a rack of cars where you could choose one and it brought it down and in the air and space section we I flew a helicopter (in a simulator) and also a F18 (again in a simulator). This was quite exciting as we were upside down several times as we completed barrel rolls. Mita managed to lose the horizon after completing hers so we had some unorthodox combat manuevres going on till she righted the plane! It was so good we ended up spending most of the day there!
We also visited the most famous site, that of Pilatus Mountain. We went up two cable cars just to get there (stopping to go on the longest summer toboggan run in Switzerland!). Once at the top you can see half of Switzerland! Legends told of great dragons that lived in the caves of the mountain and stole pretty maidens and guarded great treasure. It was also to have been believed that Pompus Pilot's spirit lived in the mountain lake, and it was forbidden to go near the lake for any reason. Then one day a priest and a handful of brave villagers went up to the lake, challenged the spirit by throwing rocks in the river, and when nothing happened declared the lake cleansed of evil! We then took the steepest railway cog train in the world, with a gradient of 48 degrees down the mountain.
On the last day we went with Malavika (Mita's sister who had been putting us up while we were there and feeding us raclette much to Mita's excitment and Stu's dismay) to a informal fundraising for her quartet. We stayed and listened until it was over and time to leave to Beaune, before our last stop on the continent, Paris!
Photos, added 3 Oct '11:
Mita and Lucerne (water tower and Chapel bridge)
Stu on Chapel Bridge
Mita and the Dying Lion of Lucerne (commemorates the Swiss guards killed in the French revolution). Mark Twain said it was 'the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world.".
At the transport museum! We scored 6/10 in the theory driving test. They have strange rules in Europe.
Playing a game show in the car section of the transport museum. No one else seemed to be pressing their buttons though... Mita doesn't speak any German, or know anything about cars. Luckily no one asked her to answer any questions. We think.
Stu watching the South Africa vs. Samoa game in an Irish pub in Lucerne.Up at Mt Pilatus:
Above the longest summer toboggan in Switzerland.
Can you see the cogwheel train?
Identifying mountains from the top of Mt Pilatus.
Mita and sister, Malavika, at the top of Pilatus.
Nice blog Stu :) Although... out of all of the rugby matches you chose to watch South Africa?! Fail.
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