Tuesday, June 2
We woke to a gorgeous view out the window. We enjoyed the hotel, breakfast bar, and prepared for our walking tour of Lucerne.
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| The view from our window |
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| From the breakfast buffet |
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| A well-balanced breakfast? |
Sky told us that the mountains we could see are called the pre-Alps. Pilatus is the largest local mountain, and she informed us we would be visiting Pilatus on Thursday.
Our Hotel was built in 1906, originally named the Palace, and was bought by a Chinese company during COVID. They renovated and renamed it the Mandarin Oriental Palace.
Lucerne gets 10 million visitors a year (about 2 million stay overnight). 8500 residents.
Hotel Montana on the hill nearby. It features the world’s shortest cable car ride, taking passengers from the street below to the hotel lobby in 60 seconds.
In Lucerne, hotel guests are given a bus voucher, so Sky taught us how to use public transportation there in case we chose to get around on our own. Our bus stop was the Palace Casino stop, named for our hotel and the nearby Casino Hotel (and casino). Buses 6, 8, and 24 would all take us from the City Center to our stop.
The city of Lucerne is very Catholic, and the Anglican Church was built for English explorers. Most of Switzerland is protestant today, but Lucerne remains Catholic.
In Switzerland, church taxes are deducted from each worker’s paycheck. You declare your religion or that you are “not religious.”
The flag of Lucerne has two horizontal stripes, white on top and blue below. Switzerland has a highly decentralized government. The national government handles foreign policy, defense, the national railroad, and currency. Switzerland uses the Swiss Franc, abbreviated CH, which we learned upon arrival. Fortunately, most places accept credit cards.
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| The flag of Lucerne in front of Town Hall Tower |
Weinmarkt Square is the pedestrian-only medieval square in Lucerne’s Old Town. It was originally a central market where people could purchase the goods they needed. For example, the grain market was where people sold grain. There is not much flat area in Switzerland, so grain was shipped from Italy using the Rhine River. The river that runs through the city of Lucerne is the Reuss (pronounced Roys).
We saw the Town Hall Tower, originally built to watch for fires from the corner windows. It was built higher over the years, as evidenced by the different materials used in each addition. Fire was a huge threat, so each family had a bucket in their homes, and if they heard warning bells, they would report with their buckets to help.
The Town Hall Tower also features a Renaissance-style clock that displays the phases of the moon.
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| Town Hall Tower |
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| A meeting place for bakers marked by a gold pretzel |
There are large painted facades on the buildings throughout Weinmarkt square, celebrating various elements of the city’s culture and heritage. For example, one features the image of a Passion Play. The town of Lucerne held annual Passion Plays on Good Friday from 1453 to 1616.
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| A mural depicting the Last Supper in Weinmarkt square |
The town also features linden trees, planted near the river. The linden is believed to bring harmony, and on the ground near one are the words for birth, life, and death. One marks the place where the medieval court would pass judgment. There is a local proverb that says, “Beneath a linden tree, you cannot tell a lie.” The trees also smell nice and help keep the air clean and fresh.
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| A Linden Tree in Lucerne |
The water in both Lake Lucerne and the Ruess river is very clear and drinkable. Town officials manually control the lake's water level by placing or removing 12-foot wooden boards to regulate flow. Fishing is not much of an industry because the water is so clear that fish don’t grow to a large size.
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| The Reuss River flow can be altered here |
One really remarkable feature of Lucerne is the fountains that carry spring water from nearby Mount Dragon. The water is so clean that you can bring a cup or bottle and drink it straight from the fountain (there are also street-level faucets for dogs). We all sampled the water, and Bill refilled his water bottle.
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| Bill gets a cool drink from a Lucerne Fountain |
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| A street-level dog drinking fountain |
There are two (of the original three) large covered wooden footbridges in Lucerne that span the Reuss River. Both bridges feature paintings by local painter Hans Heinrich Wägmann on spruce-wood boards, displayed in triangular frames at the top. Many of the paintings feature St Maurice and Saint Leodegar, the patron saints of Lucerne. St. Maurice was a 3rd century Egyptian military leader and Roman commander who was martyred for refusing an order by Emperor Maximian to murder local Christians. Maximian ordered every tenth soldier killed (the punishment called decimation). Eventually, the entire legion was executed. Saint Leodegar was the son of a Burgundian nobleman from Paris. He became a priest and a monk. Unfortunately, he got on the bad side of several kings in Northern France and was tortured and beheaded. There are also stone statues of both men outside the Church of St. Leodegar in Lucerne.
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| The Mill Bridge |
The ones on the Spreuer Bridge (Mill Bridge), built in the 13th century, feature a Danse Macabre theme, each displaying skeletons to remind us that we will all die eventually, so we may as well enjoy life.
The second large wooden bridge is the Kapellbrücke (meaning “Chapel Bridge”). It’s the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe. A fire on the Chapel Bridge in 1993 destroyed almost the entire bridge in 12 minutes. Fortunately, when the bridge was shortened to make way for commercial buildings, some of the original triangular paintings were placed in storage. They were added when the bridge was rebuilt.
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| Incredible triangular-shaped paintings along the bridge |
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| The Wasserturm (Water Tower) and the Chapel Bridge |
The Wasserturm (Water tower, meaning "standing in the water," not "storing water") was built in the 13th century and is part of the Chapel Bridge. It has 8 sides, thick walls, and, over the years, has been used as a torture site, prison, and archive. The strong, stone walls kept the town archives safe, and provided secure housing for prisoners 9 feet deep. Sky told us that sometimes feuding couples would be locked in the tower to “encourage’ reconciliation since divorce was not permitted. The Water Tower also houses the largest breeding colony of alpine swifts in Lucerne. The swifts winter in South Africa and migrate in the spring.
Surrounding the town of Lucerne is the Musegg Wall, 800 meters long, built around 1400. It features nine surviving towers; each one created in a different architectural style. Sky told us you can walk the length of the wall, but we opted not to even try. She also said the varied architectural styles didn’t serve any real purpose other than to show off the talent of the town’s builders.
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| One of the towers along the Musegg Wall |
The Alte Suidtersche Apotheke (Old Suidter's Pharmacy) is the oldest continually operating pharmacy in Lucerne. It was founded in 1833 and features modern pharmaceuticals as well as some folk medicine remedies.
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| Alte Suidtersche Apotheke (Old Suidter's Pharmacy) |
Around Lucerne are lots of statues of a hairy, bearded giant carrying an uprooted tree, called wilder mann. He’s considered the guardian of Lucerne. The myth was based on large bones were dug up in the area and were mistaken for those of a 16’ giant. They later discovered they were mammoth bones, but the statues and legends remained.
We visited the Jesuit church in Lucerne; the first Baroque church built north of the Alps. It was built by the Jesuit College of Lucerne as part of an attempt to keep Lucerne Catholic. Construction began in 1667, the church was inaugurated in 1677, and the final tower was completed in 1893. The beautiful red marble is fake, just painted plaster, as it was too expensive to import that much red marble. It looks gorgeous, though! One of the side chapels is devoted to Saint Nicholas of Flüe (also known as Bruder Klaus), a hermit regarded as the patron saint of Switzerland and as the Father of Swiss neutrality. A farmer with 10 children and a local judge, he left the community (with his wife’s permission) to live in isolation in a cave. He was known as a peacemaker, and local officials often sought his advice. His robe and walking stick are stored in his altar in the church.
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| Ceiling of the Jesuit Church in Lucerne |
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| Note the gorgeous faux red marble surrounding the altar |
We briefly returned to the hotel to relax, then headed back to the city center and split a roast beef sandwich with tartar sauce from the bakery near our afternoon meeting place.
Our afternoon excursion was to Max Chocolatier with Annamaria, our chocolatier from Seville, Spain. The company was founded in 2009 by owner Patrik Köenig. It is named for his youngest son, Max, who has Down syndrome, the youngest of 3 boys, who currently lives in Miami. Max loved the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as a child, and it inspired his dad to create Max Chocolates. They only have 3 physical locations, all nearby. They don’t want to leave Switzerland because they believe chocolate making should be done by hand with care, not mass-produced. Their products are all natural and responsibly sourced from around the world. The cacao beans are imported primarily from South America and Africa (each has a distinct flavor influenced by nearby plants), while other ingredients come from around the world. For example, they get pineapple from Hawaii, pecans from Georgia, and bourbon from Tennessee. They get vanilla from several locations, including Mexico. We got to meet the owner, Patrik, right before our tasting. They are very open to suggestions about flavor combinations to try. We would be sampling their summer collection.
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| Cacao Pod |
We began in the lounge with a chocolate tasting.
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| Round plate has milk chocolate with caramel and apricot, white chocolate with beets, milk chocolate with caramel and passion fruit, oval plate has ganache squares in dark and milk chocolate, roasted Spanish almonds covered in house chocolate, and milk chocolate with pineapple jelly (Jeannie's favorite) |
First, we sampled white chocolate with beets. It was pink in color. I couldn’t taste any beets- maybe a light raspberry taste? It was very good. Next, we sampled a milk chocolate with caramel and cream infused with apricot. It tasted a little tart, perhaps a bit like cherry. It was also very good.
Our third sample was milk chocolate with caramel, salt, and passion fruit. It was delicious and tasted a bit like jam. This one was a group favorite.
Next were Spanish almonds, roasted and caramelized, blended with house chocolate, and covered with fine cocoa powder. Then we had milk chocolate with pineapple jelly with vanilla (loved this one).
Next up, we were asked to compare three ganache squares, each with a different cacao percentage. We tried 70% Costa Rica ganache (good), 82% from Colombia (also good), and 100% (I forgot where it was from). Did not like that one at all. It dried out our mouths. We ate more beet chocolate to get rid of the taste.
After our tasting, we were invited to make our own chocolate bars. To maintain a clean kitchen, we each had to put on an apron and a hat. Then we chose the type of chocolate: white, milk, or dark. Annamaria retrieved parchment bags filled with melted chocolate, and we filled the mold with 70-75 g of chocolate, piping to the edges first, then filling in, tapping it gently on the table to eliminate any air bubbles. We chose which toppings to add: cacao, hazelnut, pistachio, pumpkin seed, almond, caramel, chili, salt, and/or black pepper
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| Jeannie pipes in her chocolate |
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| Bill adds his toppings |
Jeannie made a milk chocolate bar with hazelnut, caramel, and salt.
Bill’s creation was dark chocolate with pumpkin seeds, salt, chili pepper, and caramel.
Max’s uses many different molds for their chocolate. Besides the standard bar or squares, they also mold cows (of course), bulldogs, teddy bears, rabbits at Easter, and Santas at Christmas.
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| Creamy white chocolate |
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| Swiss Chocolate Cows! |
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| Chocolate conveyor belt |
We retrieved our now cooled chocolate bars and a gift from Patrik, and resigned ourselves to leaving this chocolate paradise.
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| A gift from our hotel - more chocolate! |
It was raining when we finished, so we ran back to the bus stop and caught a ride home, very thankful we had brought our umbrellas.
Bill relaxed with an Eichof, a local beer, at happy hour in the hotel while Jeannie napped.
Dinner was burgers from Holy Cow Burgers. Bill navigated the bus system to get there and went to an underground shop for a beer, but when he returned to the bus stop, he didn’t see any buses with the correct numbers to get back to the hotel, so he gave up and walked. As he did, one of the correct buses passed him by. The beer was a triple high-draft lager, Valaisanne.
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