Sunday, January 13, 2008

Luzern an der Schweiz (day 6)

I feel I’ve done this quaint Swiss town a disservice by putting off telling my adventures there. When we arrived into town, it was dark. We settled into our rooms at the Hotel Schiller and set off on a walk to the Kapelbrucke – the Chapel Bridge.

The bridge is a relic from a time long past – or at least it used to be until the mid-1990s when a boat tied to it caught fire, burning down most of the bridge. The town, however decided it was important and recreated not only the bridge, but the triangular-shaped paintings fit into the apex of the bridge’s interior roofline. The paintings tell the stories of war, plague and good harvest and are an interesting form for a town history.

The Chapel Bridge stretches across a section of Lake Lucern, which is a bit of a misnomer. The lake is actually one of the Lake of the Four Cantons – a giant lake which touches on three other Swiss states. We crossed it into Old Town, came back across the car bridge and then took the underground route back to the hotel through the train station. This is really just an underground mall with restaurants, souvenir stands and chocolate shops. It was here we found the Internet café, later.

For now it was back to the hotel, however, and wash up for dinner, which was at 6:30. Not a minute before, not a minute after.

No comments: