Day 11 : Lucerne (1) : Chapel Bridge and Water Tower

Friday 15 July 2011 was another long day.  We went to Lucerne for the day.  I visited Lucerne in 2008 on a Contiki tour and loved it.  I was very happy to go back to see more of this town.

We got up at about 7:45 and walked to the station at 8:30.  We finally realized we don’t have to get to the station an hour before the train departs.  At 9:00 we were on the train to Lucerne.  The train ride takes about 1 hour and it goes by quickly.  The landscape is flat now that we are father away from the Alps.  There are lots of fields with sunflowers and wheat (I think)

We arrived at Lucerne station at about 10:00.  We went to the McClean bathroom on the station and had to pay CHF2 (about R17 in SA) each to use it.  Then we got a map at tourist information and followed the walking tour on the map.

We found a bench next to the lake and sat to eat our breakfast.  The moment I took out our bread a swan came storming out of the water towards me.  Mom jumped up and started taking photos.  The only thing I had close by was the map and I covered our bread with it.  The swan was still not happy but stood still.  Then I had time to take a picture of the swan.

We started the walking tour by walking to the wooden Kapellbrücke or Chapel Bridge.  This is the oldest bridge in Switzerland from the 14th century.  It is decorated beautifully with flowers of all colours.  The 17th century paintings under the roof are very interesting but a lot of them were damaged in a fire in 1993.  A big part of the bridge was also destroyed n the fire and was rebuilt.  We also saw the Wasserturm or Water Tower.  The bridge and tower were part of the original city wall.
We crossed the bridge to Kapellplatz and saw the St Peterskapellen.  The square and bridge was named after the chapel.
We continued to walk via the busy Schwanenplatz (Swan's Square) to our next stop, the Hofkirche St. Leodegar.


Location: Lucerne, Switzerland

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