Lakes and mountains
Sunday we drove to Lucerne, about an hour away. The road went over and through mountains with maybe 10 tunnels, some as long as 5.2kms. When going over the mountain the road was quite windy and at one point double backed on itself, though many feet higher. The blue line below shows the road, with the black border indicating a tunnel.
We also drove along or near several beautiful lakes with gorgeous green water and cute villages on their shores. The scenery really is stunning.
Lucerne is typical of the bigger cities we have been to in that there is an 'Old City' section partly bordered by a medieval wall. This is the area we spend most time in and here we looked at two covered bridges over the Reuss river. Both originally date back to the 14th or 15th century, but have been rebuilt after floods and/or fire. The more famous of the two, Chapel Bridge, had a fire in 1993 which destroyed many of the 17th century paintings that adorned the ceiling. The paintings in the Spreuer bridge date from the 17th century as well and are based on the plague, being a series called 'Dance of Death'. Each painting had a version of the Grim Reaper doing his thing.
We walked along the wall for a short time then went to look at the Lion Monument carved into the side of a sandstone wall in 1820 to commemorate some Swiss Guards who were killed during the French Revolution. The detail on the lion, especially the head is amazing.
We left Lucerne and headed to a gorge that we had seen a brochure about. It dates back to the Ice Age and the river has carved an amazing path through the rock, varying in width down to 1 metre and in depth to 140 metres. The path was either on a raised walkway attached to the gorge wall or in a tunnel through the rock. The water colour hasn't come out quite right but was a milky green mixed around by the current.
Monday we drove to Mt Titlis a 3000 metre high mountain. After parking in Engelberg, we caught three different types of Gondola to get to the summit. The third gondola was called a 'Rotair' and the floor rotated as we climbed so that everybody got a good view.
At the top we walked through a Glacier Cave, a chilly -1.5 degrees, across the highest suspension bridge in Europe, walked up a snow covered hillside to a lookout and went to the 'Glacier Park' where they had toboggan and inner tube rides.
We had a really good time on Mt Titlis and enjoyed beautiful weather. Reports said it was about 3-4 degrees but felt warmer. We saw dark clouds starting to come in when we decided to head back down to Engelberg. Was a good thing we did because while Tracy was in a supermarket organising lunch the rain started. It was torrential and then the wind picked up and a thunder storm started. We were very glad to be at the bottom eating and not still up there or in a gondola on the way down.
We cruised home and had a quick look at Lauterbrunnen, but will return tomorrow morning when the weather should be better.
Lucerne is typical of the bigger cities we have been to in that there is an 'Old City' section partly bordered by a medieval wall. This is the area we spend most time in and here we looked at two covered bridges over the Reuss river. Both originally date back to the 14th or 15th century, but have been rebuilt after floods and/or fire. The more famous of the two, Chapel Bridge, had a fire in 1993 which destroyed many of the 17th century paintings that adorned the ceiling. The paintings in the Spreuer bridge date from the 17th century as well and are based on the plague, being a series called 'Dance of Death'. Each painting had a version of the Grim Reaper doing his thing.
We walked along the wall for a short time then went to look at the Lion Monument carved into the side of a sandstone wall in 1820 to commemorate some Swiss Guards who were killed during the French Revolution. The detail on the lion, especially the head is amazing.
We left Lucerne and headed to a gorge that we had seen a brochure about. It dates back to the Ice Age and the river has carved an amazing path through the rock, varying in width down to 1 metre and in depth to 140 metres. The path was either on a raised walkway attached to the gorge wall or in a tunnel through the rock. The water colour hasn't come out quite right but was a milky green mixed around by the current.
At the top we walked through a Glacier Cave, a chilly -1.5 degrees, across the highest suspension bridge in Europe, walked up a snow covered hillside to a lookout and went to the 'Glacier Park' where they had toboggan and inner tube rides.
Most people dressed for the conditions in warm clothes and walking shoes, however we did see one woman in heels. Bizarre!
We cruised home and had a quick look at Lauterbrunnen, but will return tomorrow morning when the weather should be better.
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