Walking Around Lucerne (6/8)

This was my day to NOT go to any museums, but instead, to walk around Lucerne. There is a good planned walking tour that hotels give out to guests. Not only did I carry one today, but most of the people on my route also had them under their arms. I started at the Höfkirche, a beautiful church with two spires, that dominates the skyline on one side of Lucerne. It’s particularly beautiful, with a lot of carved wood. Then on to Löwendenkmal, which is a beautiful carving of a lion out of a huge rock.  It was done to commemorate the Swiss soldiers who lost their lives protecting the Tuileries Palace in Paris during the French Revolution.  I’m not sure about the significance of a lion in commemorating this event, but it’s beautiful. By the way, tourists have hit Switzerland – and maybe Europe in general. I could hardly move due to the HUGE group of Chinese tourists at the lion. (And I saw tour groups all over the city today.)

From there, I walked back to the street where I’m staying – which is also the beginning of the Museggmauer, or Musegg Wall, which joins nine towers, and which provided the fortification for the city at one point.  Several of the towers are open and can be climbed. (I climbed up one of them.) One of the towers has the oldest clock in the city, which announces the hour one minute before all the other clocks in the city. There is a walkway that has been built at the level of the top of the wall, so you can walk along the wall – but above ground – as you follow the path of the wall and see the towers. The location of the wall means great views of the city and Lake Lucerne. The end of the wall put me right next to the Reuss River, which flows through Lucerne and goes into the lake. I took a breather before crossing the river via the Spreuerbrücke, or Chaff Bridge.  It is one of two covered bridges in Lucerne. (I may have mentioned the other one on my first day here, but I will talk about it again later.) The only place in town where people could throw chaff (from cereal) into the river was here, at this bridge, which is how it got its name. As is the case with the other covered bridge, this one has triangular-shaped paintings hanging from the ceiling of the covered bridge.

On the other side of the river from the wall, I visited two churches.  The first is the Franziskanerkirche, which was built in the 13^th century and is still in use. The other is the Jesuitenkirche, built for the Jesuits in the 1600s.  Both were really ornate – not my preference, but beautiful in their own way. Then I realized that I had missed a landmark, the Nadlewehr, or Needle Dam. It’s a dam that was built around 1860, and it still regulates the water level of Lake Lucerne by inserting or removing “needles” (or pieces of timber in the shape of needles). I can’t wrap my head around the concept, but apparently, it works! Back on the other side of the river, I had a “picnic” by the river, and then found myself right next to a fabric store I had wanted to check out.  It appears to be a small chain that also has a store in Zug. It’s a relatively small store with some beautiful fabric.  One of the clerks wanted to make sure I saw their rack of “typical Swiss” fabric – some red and white fabric with symbols of the Swiss flag, and fabric with Edelweiss on it.  There was also the kind of fabric that is used to make the men’s national costume. Once again, I didn’t see anything that I couldn’t live without, but it was fun to walk around. There seem to be a lot of knits being sold here, and also some blends that I’m not comfortable with.

I was right in the middle of the old part of town, so I wandered around, both on and off the set path. There are “plazas” that are quite beautiful, with fountains, and buildings painted with frescoes.  As I mentioned the other day, the buildings are well maintained, and house high-end shops, for the most part. I found a Danish store with merchandise similar to the Danish store in Hamburg I was in in October, and found a couple of pairs of reading glasses that were fun. The wandering took me back to the neighborhood where I’m staying, so I went into the Bernina store. It’s set up much like a Jo-Anne’s – not in terms of quality, but as a hobby store. The front of the store is devoted to all kinds of hobbies.  It was interesting to look at, because the items they’re selling are different than what’s sold in the U.S., and it was fun to see their inventory. The fabrics, unfortunately, were not too exciting. I was much more excited by the Berninas they were selling – and by the yarn that was in one part of the store. There also was a basement where they were selling costumes worthy of the Castro – and I was a bit confused until I read later that there’s a big carnival (Fassnacht) a few days before Ash Wednesday, and people all dress up.

I took a break at my room, and then went out in search of car models (tiny) for Ben. Long story, but they should have come from the BMW factory in Munich.  I did get one there, but he’d like some others, so I’m on a hunt. After making the rounds of the three toy stores listed in Lucerne (where else would you get model cars?), I started to head back to my room and got caught in a rain storm. It POURED for about an hour, and then it was over.  I found a café in the train station and waited out the storm. By that time, it was time for dinner, so I had fondue at a restaurant by the river – YUM! Since this is my last night here, I decided to walk through the Kapelbrücke or Chapel Bridge – the other covered bridge – again. There’s a water tower in the middle of that bridge, and there are triangular pictures hanging from the ceiling. The bridge was built in the 14^th century and the pictures were added in the 17^th century. The water tower was built in the 1300s.Flower boxes of geraniums hang from the outside of the bridge. It’s really beautiful