Europe 10-06-09

Zurich

Thursday morning we took off to the old town of Luzern to see the Lion Monument. An extremely sad piece of artwork. You could feel the pain and sadness of the lion when you look at his face. It was created to remember the soldiers that died during the French revolution. We wandered about the park and climbed the clock tower and some of the other towers between the high city walls. Fantastic views overlooking the city and Lake Luzern. We walked up to Gutsch castle which is now a local hotel. It was situated up high on the mountainside. We had planned on taking the tram up to it; however, the tram was out of service. So… up the mountainside we climbed. Mesmerizing views. The weather could not be more perfect! We came back down the hillside and walked across an old wooden bridge. The bridge had artwork on the overhead beams. I think that the each beam told some grim story became each picture included skeletons amongst the people of the day in the scene. The bridge also had a cabinet that was probably an alter that had the mother Mary and other catholic symbols. After crossing the bridge, we stopped to watch the tourists feed the swans and then walked about town.

On Friday, we took the train to Schloss Laufen to see Rhine falls which was quoted to be, “Europe’s largest waterfall” and the Schloss Laufen castle. We walked right by the castle and didn’t realize that it was even a castle. It was in the process of being renovated. We walked across the lake and down the hill to see the water falls. We were surprised to see that it wasn’t much of a waterfall. It looked more like what you would see going white water rafting. We decided to hop on the train and continue up to Schaffhausen. We walked up a hill (lots of stairs) to that cities castle then back down to check out the shops in the town.

Next stop – Rome

Luzern

Luzern

Lion Monument

Luzern

Rhine falls

Rhine falls

Rhine falls