Lanscapes of Lucerne …

You want a story-book picture of a swiss town!!.. Ohh , you got to be in Lucerne. Located in the shore of Lake Lucerne , the city is picture perfect with cobblestone streets , covered bridges ,frescoed churches, magestically gliding swans . And snowcapped Mount Pilatus & Rigi forms the southgate of the city , you can see them from the shore of the lake .       

Historians thought the name of Lucerne was derived from Luciaria, meaning ‘weir basket’, so it started as a fishermen’s village. Later they chose a more shiny option “ Lucerna ‘ meaning oil lamp.   

The Kapellbruke or the famous chapel bridge , the gorgeous covered footbridge over the river Reuss with 17^th century paintings on its ceiling was fisrt mentioned in the history in 1168. The then Lucerne was a small local market place ,until St Gotthard route is opened in the 13^th Century. It remains the oldest covered bridge of Europe. A priest was appointed to take care of the Chapel ,hence the bridge got the name. Lucerne is the only major city in Switzerland to reject churchreformation in the early 16^th century.

Now head toward the Löwenplatz where a sandstone relief of a dying Lion impaled by a spear is built to pay homage to the 760 Swiss soldiers who died defending King Lois XVI during French revolution. They say to toss a coin over your shoulder into the pond which is supposed to bring good luck .

You must not miss the old swiss house near the Lion monument.Traditional fare like veal in cream sauce served over grated and fried potatos served here. Bon appetite!

Lucerne is a place for music lovers. 90 music groups from here and the municipalities of greater lucerne have come together to form the biggest carnival brand in Central Switzerland “ United Guugemusig Lucerne”. Lucerne Festival starts under the name of International Festival of Music in 1938 and remained a major late summer attraction since. The Kultur und Kongress Zentrum , the postmodern performing arts center is known for state-of the-art acoustics ,having one of the best place in the the world.

Well, you would like to take some souvenirs home. The swiss watches, chocolates or cowbells , everything is available in most of the stores in the stores surrounding the street along the lake. For drinks you can go to Rathaus Bräuerei . However,I cannot say Switzerland is a wounderful place to shop. They will accept your Euros and return the money in Swiss franc and you will be at loss of exchange rate. And things are usually over-expensive.

In he evening we mostly spent our time by the shore of the lake. It was Christmas time , so the bridge was decorated by lights. The long neck swans were swirling in the water reminding me the story of ugly duckling. We took a Luecerne day card, so we took different buses and trams and roam around the city aimlessly enjoying the beauty of the town. However , you do not need to buy that as most of the visuals are in walking distance from the station.

Whenever you think of a swiss holiday, its got to be expensive. So Lucerne will bring you a sigh of relief . It is well connected to almost any destination in Europe through rail-route and far less expensive than Zurich or Geneva, still can offer you picturesque landscape , music, foods , sports and shopping. If you are travelling with a low budget like me 😉 , I will definitely suggest you to visit Lucerene , pal !

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