MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2014 - SIGHTSEEING DAY IN LUCERNE & ON LAKE LUCERNE, SWITZERLAND

On Monday, April 21, 2014 some of our group were traveling:  Holly on the train to Paris France, and Walt & Cathy were flying home to Michigan from Zurich.  That left 12 of us, 6 in Lucerne and the 6 in Brienz.  Since the Lucerne group had traveled to a location near us for Sunday, it was decided that we would travel to Lucerne to spend the day sightseeing with the group there.  Boarding the train early we had interesting scenery out the window as we traveled.

Lake Brienz remains just as beautiful as ever...

A large farmhouse and barn.

Interesting seeing this church through the leaves.

This elderly man in Sarnen looked like the typical Swiss gentleman with a long curved pipe in his mouth.

Gate for the train station, Lucerne, Switzerland

After joining the other 6 we proceeded to board a boat for a trip around Lake Lucerne.

 

 

The terraced setting for the buildings was very beautiful.

And, someone had a castle!

When we had completed one half of the ride around the lake, we got off the boat and took some time to explore before catching a return boat to the city.  Here, a lovely turret.

 

And a bakery.  The sweets were wonderful!

On the return we saw this building, perhaps a resort.

And back in the city of Lucerne this lovely fountain.

I thought this building might be the post office (mail).

 

 

The Chapel Bridge is a covered wooden footbridge spanning diagonally across the Ruess River in the city of Lucerne in central Switzerland. Named after the nearby St. Peter's Chapel,  the bridge is unique since it contains a number of interior paintings dating back to the 17th century, although many of them were destroyed along with most of the centuries old bridge in a 1993 fire. Subsequently restored, it is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe.   As part of the bridge complex, the Chapel Bridge  includes the octagonal 140 ft tall Water Tower.  However, the tower is not a water tower in the usual sense, but the name comes from the fact that the tower is standing in the water. The tower predated the bridge by about 30 years. Throughout the centuries, the tower was variably used as a prison, torture chamber, and later a municipal archive. Today, the tower is closed to the public, although it houses a local artillery association as well as a tourist gift shop.  The bridge itself was originally built in 1333 as part of Lucerne's fortifications. It linked the old town on the right bank of the Reuss to the new town on the left bank, securing the city from the right bank (south).

          

 

Inside of bridge.

The onion-shaped domes here remind me of churches in Russia.

 

I prefer these steeples for a more streamlined look.

We visited the famous Lion Monument.

This is the inscription in English.

The name of this store caught my attention.  A dyslectic person from Alabama might think it was their kind of store. 

 

 

 

I like the look of this building.

 

In the mid-afternoon after stopping for delicious hamburgers we all walked together back to the train station and the Brienz 6 boarded the train for Brienz.