Luzern, Switzerland

This morning we boarded our bus in Kehl for our 2 hour ride to Basel to drop off passengers, and then on to Luzern, another 1 1/2 hours.   Our Swiss bus driver was a riot.   He certainly appeared to be angry at the French government.   Lots of funny stories.  We stopped first at the Basel train station, then the airport and then finally to Luzern.  We were met by a Uniworld representative who called us a cab to our hotel -  The Radisson Blue.    This hotel is very well located.  Only a short walk to Lake Luzern and the train station.  After a quick lunch ($35 for 2 burgers), we went back to the hotel to rest before heading out on our city tour.  

The city of Luzern is down in the valley.   One of the major attractions is the 650 foot wooden foot roofed bridge, which is the oldest in Europe.   Called the Chapel Bridge, it was originally built iin the 1300’s as part of the city’s fortificatiions.    The triangular roof supports were used by 17th century painters to present the history of Luzern and the patron saints of the city.   There are over 100 images.   The water tower alongside the bridge was also built in the 1300’s.  Originally it was a lighthouse on the top, a dungeon at the bottom and a torture chamber in the middle.