Lucerne

We woke to a cloudy day on Lake Neufchâtel. The paddle steamer was making its way - the only bit of white in a landscape of greys.

We had breakfast in the shopping centre for a change. A cappuccino, croissant and petit pain for 7 Swiss francs was not too bad for Switzerland prices.

We then drove north west towards our next stop Lucerne. The weather was looking better and there were lots of vineyards and fields of corn.

We arrived at a carpark at the port of Lucerne and immediately found a Cultural Festival with lots of food trucks with food from many different nationalities. We chose Indian as we hadn’t had any since arriving in France. We had to tell a begging swan we didn’t have anything he would like.

We first found the old train station frontage. The station had been a significant building from the 1800s but had burned down in 1970. This is all that’s left.

There are 2 covered bridges in Lucerne from the 1400s built for defensive purposes. Inside there are very old paintings along the way. Much of the first bridge was restored after going on fire.

Many buildings are highly decorated with old paintings making the city look very medieval. It’s all very fresh - so well maintained.

In general Switzerland is very smart and tidy with no rubbish anywhere. We only saw some on the river where it couldn’t be got at easily. There was a nesting grebe in the flotsam and jetsam in the river. It looks very exposed - and it’s very late in the season for eggs.

We then came to the second covered bridge - very similar to the first one.

After walking across it and walking along the river a short distance we came to a tower and city wall .

We walked up alongside the wall to a tower that you could climb up onto the wall. Glenn went up and got the good views - the stairs were too dodgy for me.

We then headed back to the carpark as our ticket was running out. Going down the hill we found Scottish highland cows. I don’t know how they had found their way to Switzerland 🤨

We then drove south in the direction of the Gotthard tunnel that we are planning to go through tomorrow to Italy.

We found a carpark stop, that are happy to have motorhomes, in the small town of Schattdorf. It was much cheaper than the campsites costing around 50 Swiss francs a night. The town has a little cable car that goes to the top of the local hill where you can walk around. A plan for tomorrow!