Luzern was a nice town. In fact, I enjoyed it much more than Bern. I thought it offered more to do and was more interesting. Bern is on the UNESCO world list--or something like that--so everything there is very old. The entire old town part of the city is protected. Luzern is more of a mix of old and new, which I think makes the old parts look more interesting in comparison.
I didn't pay to see anything in Luzern, and I didn't take any pictures. But I plan on going back.
I did see free things there and I found some very cheap postcards. I saw the famous water tower and chapel bridge, the mill bridge, the Jesuit Church, the public library, the lion carving and the old town walls.
The covered bridges were fun to walk across because they had paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries up in the rafters. Normally I don't appreciate art much, but nearly every painting included a headless person, or a person being beheaded, or a pool of blood or a skeleton doing something mundane. I suppose during the time they were painted (middle ages, plague, war, fire etc) every day life was as scary as that. So, the paintings were more exciting to look at that landscapes or paintings of the Virgin Mary and Jesus--like I've seen at every other art museum ever.
I also enjoyed the Jesuit church a bit more than the Bern Cathedral. The Jesuit Church in Luzern is Baroque, which I suppose means that it's pink and gold inside. I really need to study up on my architecture. I guess I'm learning by exposure and immersion rather than reading. Rick Steves said that I may encounter the local music school using the organ for practice and indeed I did. I would have enjoyed the church more if I didn't have to listen to really sappy American wedding songs with pipe organ accompaniment. I think it marred my sacred experience.
Like I said, the inside of the church was pink and gold, which was a bit of a change from the other old churches I've seen that are grey and dark and scary inside. This church also had Relics on display. I'd never actually seen one and I was quite surprised to see them. Apparently Relic = bedazzled ulna. Gross. Who came up with that idea? "Hey! This guy was really awesome and it sucks that he's dead so lets take his bones and cover them in beads, sequins and wires and then put it in a box and pray next to it".
Even cooler than the macabre arts and crafts was the Swiss saint they had on display. According to Rick, there was one Swiss saint, and he lived in the 15th century as a hermit up in the hills. He loved animals and peace and the actual robes he wore are on a wax sculpture in one of the recesses in the church.
After the church I went to the library and did some cranky live blogging, and then headed over to see the lion. It's a big lion carved into a cliff. The lion has a spear in his side and he's laying on some shields crying. It's awfully sad.
I still had a bit of time to kill so I went to find the old town walls. Rick doesn't say Anything about the walls, I just happened to see them on a map. They were definitely the coolest thing I saw in Luzern. They look just like what old castles in movies look like. There are still about 4 towers that you can walk up and down in, and then you can walk along the top of the wall and pretend that you're a knight protecting the city from maurading germans. Or, that's what I did anyway.
When I go back to Luzern I'm going to pay to see these attractions:
The Depot: The history museum/archives. Apparently it's a whole warehouse just shoved full of stuff in glass cases. There aren't any real displays so to get the history on any item you're interested in, you scan a barcode with a scanner you get at the desk which describes the history. Sort of like a do-it-yourself museum experience.
The Panorama: an old circular painting of an old battle just like the one they have in Gettysburg
The Glacier Garden: Describes the geology of the area, and has a house of mirrors that's supposed to be awfully good
Boat trip: You can take boats around the lake for a decent price.
And I will definitely make sure to have a picnic on top of one of the old town wall towers.
Pictures next time.
But for this time: here's some Snow on the Mountains.
And this is Elsigenhorn. Neither of these were white a few days ago. In fact, if you look back in an old post, you can see Bunderspitz without snow for reference.
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