Summer 2007 - Day 24

Day 24

Forty minutes from Zurich is Lucerne. We spent the day visiting sight after sight and got good value out of our walking boots.

First stop was the Chapel Bridge which is a 200 m long wooden bridge which was first built in the 14th century. In 1993 a fire destroyed much of the bridge including 81 of the 111 paintings detailing events in Lucerne's history.

In the background the octagonal water tower - over 34 meters high - was built around 1300 as part of the city wall and used as an archive, treasury, prison and torture chamber.

This bridge was completed as a part of the city fortification in 1408.
Between 1626 and 1635, Kaspar Meglinger added 67 paintings which represent the "Dance of Death". It is called the Spreuer Bridge because this was the only place that the chaff from wheat (Spreu) could be dumped into the river.

We walked up to the old city fortifications and climbed the towers for views of the city.

The first large sacral Baroque church in Switzerland; constructed in 1666 by Father Christoph Vogler for the Jesuits.

Richard Wagner museum is housed in the mansion by the lake that he lived in from 1866 to 1872. The former residence of the great composer has become the Richard Wagner Museum, with many memorabilia from Wagner's time in Lucerne. Wagner was a good friend in King Ludwig II and used to perform for him in the grotto at Linderhof Palace.