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29/09/25 Bridges, Walls, Churches, And Fat Little Cattle.

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There was one day left in Lucerne and so much to see! Off we went to the old town which was bursting with bridges and churches and painted buildings. Let me show you a little of what there was to see in old town. The Franziskanerkirche, with allegedly the most elaborately ornamented pulpit in Switzerland. To be honest, I don't know how to discern degrees of elaborateness and ornamentation in Swiss pulpits.  They all look very elaborate to me. The ceiling theme was all cupids and roses and little fluffy clouds. Fluffy and light the ceiling may have been, but some of the side crypts were just plain macabre. I'm kind of glad I can't read German.  I don't want to know. Close by the Franziskanerkirche was the Nadelwehr (Needle dam), installed in 1859/60 and still used today to control the water level of lake Lucerne by manual removal/insertion of the timber 'needles'.  My resident engineer was fascinated. The Spreuerbrücke covered bridge near the Nadelwehr boasted 6...
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29/09/25 Living The High Life.

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Roger stared resolutely at the mountain, his back to the widening view as the gondola travelled higher into the mountains above Lucerne.  "Warn me if you're going to move," he said. "I don't like wobbles." We were on our way to the top of Mt Titlus, at 3000+ m only a little lower than Jungfrau, and all accessible by gondola. No fiddling around with tunnels here! For those averse to heights this was not ideal. A teaser of things to come. The day started with breakfast provided by the Hotel Alpha after a night when even double glazed windows couldn't mute the raucous racket of Lucerne's Saturday night. An hour's train ride took us to Engelbert and the foot of Mt Titlus. The sun shone and Switzerland presented itself with theme-park perfection. As we walked to the gondola brightly coloured hang gliders drifted in lazy circles above our heads. Up we went, over meadows with a cowbell accompaniment.  Up we went, past tall pine forests and suspended alp...
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