One of the major landmarks in Lucerne is the Kapellbrücke, or "Chapel Bridge", the oldest wooden bridge in Europe. Built in the 14th century, it was designed to protect the city from attacks. The octagonal water tower has been used for various purposes over the centuries, including prison, torture chamber, treasury and watch tower.
Inside the bridge, there are a series of paintings from the 17th century depicting events from Luzerne's history. I would have liked to take pictures of each painting, so I could translate the German captions later, but there were so many that time didn't permit.
We were enjoying the swans as we walked by the lake, when I looked down into the water and saw this odd sight. A few feet further along, and there was another bike on the lake bottom. I counted a total of eight bikes, all were fairly new. We postulated that some vandals had come along and decided to make fish bait of a bunch of bikes from a nearby rental stand.
Across the river, we enjoyed the variety of medieval buildings. It was interesting to note that although the buildings were well-conserved, there were many modern shops at the street level. I just thought it was ironic seeing a "hip-hop" clothing store located on the ground floor of a building built in 1650.
Note the Levi's store.
One of many beautiful, intricate shop signs.
Goethe lodged here in 1779, but we had lunch here in 2009.
We had an enjoyable lunch at La Fenice, an Italian restaurant located on the ground floor of the building where Mr. von Goethe lodged. My seafood salad was a relative bargain at 18 francs. The salad consisted of various seafood items, including strange little creatures with tentacles. I had already eaten horseflesh on this trip, so I didn't let a few tentacles stop me. They were delicious despite their appearance.
I couldn't resist getting a picture of this quaint fountain. I guess these are the original elephant men.
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