This was the day we had decided to go up Mt. Rigi, which is on Lake Lucerne, and then hike down partway. However, our plans changed a bit when we found ourselves on the wrong train. We were headed to Lucerne instead of another small town. So we adjusted our plans (after first trying to figure out how to get to Mt. Rigi on the current train) and instead went to Lucerne, which had been on the docket for Thursday. I will say that this day helped me learn that we need to give tutorials to new people for the train travel to work out. I also learned that I get stressed out when traveling doesn't go as expected (when traveling with Carsten), and now that I know this about myself, I'd like to try to fix it so I can roll with the punches. The weather was absolutely beautiful, so going to Lucerne was also a good choice. The only downside is that we had packed a bunch of extra layers for everyone, so we ended up carrying around more than we really needed.
We got to see the two walking bridges in Lucern, the Jesuit church in downtown (Luke and Dad's favorite church), planes flying overhead in formation (no idea why...), the city wall (so many stairs!), the Lion Statue which is carved into a rock (again, no idea why...), the Glacier Garden (which had scars on the rocks from a glacier), and an art museum which I elected not to go in since I didn't have free admission and it was going to be a quick visit (apparently I made a wise choice here :) ).
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| 1st city bridge. |
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| so pretty! |
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| us in the bridge |
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| Mom carrying Carsten in the hiking carrier. |
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| planes in formation! |
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| Jesuit church. |
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| old school dam that leaks water through the wooden slats (I think it must be on purpose) |
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| 2nd bridge - they redid the sides with new wood so it doesnt' look as cool anymore... |
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| city wall! And yes, we did hike all the way up one of the towers. |
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| Amazing view of the city at the top of the tower, but I'm not sure it was still worth all the stairs.... :) |
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| Stairs! |
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| Duplicating a photo that Andy and I took when we were here in 2009. We had to work with what we had at hand :). |
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| Walking on top of the city wall. |
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| Lion. Reminds me a lot of Narnia. |
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| Glacier scars. |
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| pooling water under the glacier. |
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| can you tell what's going on here? |
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| or here?? |
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| Us (minus Ashley) with Mt. Rigi (peak just to the left of Dad's head) and Lake Lucerne in the background. I love Carsten's yawn in this photo :). |
All in all, it was a fun day! We got to see almost everything we wanted to in Lucern. There was a museum featuring a famous musician that was recommended by my Grandma Hoogeveen that we didn't quite have time to go see, so we'll have to catch that next time!
Ah! The travel book I'm reading says it's the famous Weeping Lion! He has a broken off spear in his side that is slowly killing him. My book says "it represents the Swiss mercenaries who were killed or executed defending the French king in the French Revolution. The inscription reads, Helvetiorum fidei ac virtuti - 'To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss.' "
ReplyDeleteAnd if the ugly wooden bridge is the Chapel Bridge it caught on fire in 1993 from a boat.. and boats can't go under it anymore! Crazy. And they say they are security cameras on it everywhere. They saw you ;o)
Then my guess is Ashley and Luke, in the House of Mirrors, having fun!!!
I'm real glad you went to a place I'm researching!!!!! Makes me even MORE excited to visit!!
Megan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update on the lion - I was really hoping for something related to Narnia :). And I don't think this one caught fire before 2009. The 1st bridge with the pretty tower caught fire in the 90s and they replaced part of it, but when we saw the 2nd one in 2009, it was completely original. Parts of it were still original, but not the railings, so it just looks funny. But it guess it's better to have a safe bridge than a cool looking bridge :).
And it wasn't really the house of mirrors, it was just this random mirror in the Glacier Garden, but you totally have the right idea! :)
We're excited to have you come too - Lucerne is definitely worth seeing! :) Thanks for responding to my posts, I love having feedback! :)
SEE YOU SOON(ish)!!!! :)