From A to Z

Oh lovely Lucerne, they should write songs about you. Not because you are lovely, but because you brought my goal of song naming all posts to an abrupt end. I was contemplating "Lucerne in the Sky with Diamonds", but that would insinuate naughty behavior of which I do not partake in. Although one could argue when looking at my pictures below that I was using my "LSD-trippy" lens because the colors were so bright and sun was out, which these days would most certainly be an illusion.

My friend Esther was visiting from Atlanta and our first excursion from Zurich was Lucerne (first of five, we painted Switzerland "Swiss Red"). I had heard great things from fellow expat friends, so off we went. Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland and a popular tourist destination. I did confirm it was a city because it met the following scientific criteria:

1. Must be on a body of water, preferably a lake or at least 2 rivers...oh, and it has to be water so clean you can drink it.

2. Must at the very least have a view of the Alps, although preferably surrounded by the Alps.

3. Must be cheek pinching pretty, preferably cherubic angel cheeks pinching pretty...clouds part and angels sing on a daily basis.

Hands down most popular site is the Chapel Bridge "Kapelbrucke" and Water Tower "Wasserturm", both featured in the picture above. It is the oldest covered wooden bridge in Europe, built in 1333 and host to a series of paintings from the 17th century that seem to be depicting death and/or escaping death and/or Halloween and/or Lucerne history. Back then it was all about death and history:

Lucerne is also host to the Swiss Transport Museum (Verkehrhaus der Schweiz) which came highly recommended by friends. Esther and I were the only adults sans kids, which I found odd because the museum is definitely interesting enough for adults. You could easily spend a day here as there is tons of info on the history of Swiss transportation, which they take VERY seriously and with a great deal of pride. The photo ops alone were worthy of a visit:

My kind of train, it takes you non-stop to chocolate..."Kristi Aboard!".

There is something special about real planes hanging from a ceiling.

This chick sorta creeped me out, which totally made her photo-worthy.

We rounded out our day by taking a walking tour of the Old Town. It was cobbly and cute and full of fountains and stuff. If you don't believe me that it was cute, just take a look at the name of the store behind this fountain:

Now who wouldn't want a MusikHug? No one, that's who...ok maybe Satan, or someone with a really bad case of Eczema or third degree burns.

I really enjoyed Lucerne; it helped I had the opportunity to enjoy it with a great friend during great weather, but it is genuinely beautiful and charming. It is worth a look-see and I plan on going back with the Boy soon but we will wait until the trippy weather returns as he needs to see it when it looks like this: