We wake up in the morning to the sound of rain falling on the window sill. We have to wait a bit to eat breakfast as our friends are late risers, make that really late risers, as we start breakfast around 11 AM so even though the rain stopped we don’t get into Lucerne till around 2PM. Luckily we have a parking place planned and then it is time to explore the medieval city, we heard only good things about it.
It is now time to cross the Reuss River using one of the two beautiful covered bridges. We are not the only people to enjoy the Spreuer bridge, it is quite popular with both locals and tourists, and likely would have been even more popular if it would have rained. However somehow the rain avoided us during our day in town, we were quite happy about it in the end as we were able to keep dry.
We enjoy our crossing, the views are great and even the bridge is a work of art, especially the supports that show scenes representing the plague from the 17th century that hit Lucerne.
Now on the old town side of the river we enjoy the nice views and also follow the swans and ducks that float on the river for some time.
We start our exploration of the old town in Mühlen square. Here we get acquainted to the usual architecture style of Lucerne, the exterior of the houses are painted and the windows almost exclusively have beautiful shutters.
Next is Hirschenplatz (Stag Square) another famous square. It really goes all out on the painted house facades including what we assume is the stag in the square name.
We continue exploring the beautiful alleys and streets and enjoy the renovated and beautiful houses in the old town area as we move from famous square to famous square.
Next important square is Weinmarkt (Wine market) where as expected we find more painted facades and picturesque buildings.
From Weinmarket we walk to the river side and another of the many bridges across the river. It is not covered so we reject it and decide to continue towards the last bridge which is the more famous one and covered.
The last major square is Kornmarkt (Corn Market) which also holds the Rathaus (Town Hall). Compared to Basel it is more somber and looks like a citadel with a tower, likely it was build to be defendable.
We now pass other smaller plazas like Sternenplatz (Star Plaza) and then St Peter’s Church, that we enter for a short visit, as we make our way to the second covered bridge over the Reuss.
The second covered bridge is the Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge) and is the more famous one. It is protected on the far end by a tower to stop the access of any undesirables and likely for toll reasons, in the medieval times.
It is quite a long one also and angled near the tower with the supports showing scenes from the city history. It was built originally in 1333 but was burned down in 1993, likely due to a discarded cigarette, and had to be replaced.
Back on the far side we pass the Jesuit Church and enter it also as it is open. It is much more interesting than St Peter which seemed to be almost Protestant given the lack of decorations and frills.
We then return to the car and drive a short distance to a typical Swiss Spa. We spend a couple hours there with our friend visiting the different facilities including an ice room (literally filled with ice where you have to enter naked) and multiple steam bath/sauna rooms.
Returning back to Zug we try to stop a restaurant with no luck, even though they are empty they refuse entrance because they are “full”. This is one of the more blatant anti-foreigner things we have seen, and not the only one in Switzerland, which really soured our opinion of the country. Same at the supermarket where we buy some provisions, the serving person really doesn’t seem happy with us being inside and almost flirts with the idea of not allowing us to buy the items. Back at the house we fall asleep fast as we are quite tired and we have one more day of exploring Switzerland.
