Day Six - 28th May 2008
Today is the first time my daughter and I tried to explore by ourselves. With the help of my friend Faritha, she bought us train ticket from Kerzers to Bern where we need to change connecting train to Lucerne. Since today is the first day we are on our own, we faced no problem from Kersers to Bern. From Bern we were not sure of which train to board, so asked a guy who seem to be working there by their cloth for direction and he pointed us to the train wagon beside him. We were sitting happily and i asked my daughter to get the camera ready as i need to take the pic of the train conductor when he checks my ticket. To our surprise, he (train conductor) told us that we are in the wrong wagon. We got confused! I thought we are in the wrong train. He is not being friendly nor helpful to our confusion and refused to listen to our explaination. He told us that we need to pay CHF16 x 2 for being in the wrong wagon for the past 40 minutes. Since he refused to understand our confusion, we paid him CHF32 and he instruct us to move to the next two wagons downward. My daughter cried for this incident which is not our fault. We did not realised that there are two classes: Class 1 and Class 2. We thought that we can board any of the wagons just like in Singapore MRT. A mistake to be learnt but it was a unintentional mistake.
Lucerne
When in Lucerne what would you like to see? The Chapel Bridge with its fantastic gable paintings and the cosy old streets. Take a leisurely walk through the streets, over bridges, promenades and squares, past numerous medieval towers, fountains and magnificent houses. You'll have an unforgettable time in Lucerne!
The best panoramas are the views from one of Lucerne's nine lookout towers. Part of the old fortifications erected along the north side of the medieval sector, they were all built in a different style between 1350 and 1408. There are nine towers, but you can climb only three of them and I climbed only one. Too high!
Chapel Bridge kapellbrucke
The symbol of Lucerne. This covered wooden footbridge can be used to cross the Reeuss River, leading to the south bank. Built in 1333, the bridge is 170m long and crosses the river diagonally. It’s one of the best preserved wooden bridges in Switzerland, used origianlly for defense. There’s also an octagonal Wasserturm (Water Tower), used variously as a prison, a torture chamber, and an archive. The bridge was always known for its 122 paintings that hung from its arched roof. Some of them were done in 1599 by Heinrich Wagmann, illustrating the daily activities and dress of the people. The bridge was damaged in a fire in 1993 and two thirds of the original paintings were destroyed or severely damaged.
Lion Monument
Lion Monument
The Lion Monument in Lucerne is a giant dying lion carved out of a wall of sandstone rock above a pond at the east end of the medieval town. It was designed as a memorial for the mercenary soldiers from central Switzerland who lost their lives while serving the French king Louis XVI during the French Revolution. When the revolutionary masses attacked the royal Tuileries castle in Paris on August 10, 1792 the Swiss mercenary troops tried to defend the royal family and make sure the royals could escape.
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