Today was our chance to explore Lucerne. We arranged for a guide to meet us at the hotel and lead us on a walking tour of Lucerne. The guide had her list; Lynn had her own list. Lynn won.

We hopped on a city bus (the Swiss Rail pass provides prepaid access) up a hill and started wandering down. Our first stop was at the Lion Monument. It is a rock relief hewn in 1820–21. It commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris. The artists were not paid their full amount so they carved a larger niche around the lion; it looks like a pig!

The lion was in a larger space called the Glacier Garden. The Glacier Garden is a mixture of landscape garden and museum. The alpine park was built on the site of a former quarry. Prior to the Ice Age, Lucerne enjoyed a sub-tropical climate. It also contains fossils of palm trees that grew in Lucerne 20 million years ago. A labyrinth of mirrors built in 1896 and consisting of 50 mirrors was modeled on the historic Alhambra of Granada in southern Spain.

From there we headed to walk along the old city wall dotted with towers. The view to the city and lake down below with the mountains in the background was dynamite.

The old city was next as we walked across one of the rivers to see a beautiful Jesuit church (now owned by the Swiss government).

We really wanted to explore some Swiss food for lunch. We grabbed at table by the water and enjoyed Racklette (melted cheese with potatoes, pickles and onions), vol-au-vent (small pieces of veal with puff pastry), leek soup and a fish and chips.

After nap time we headed out for dinner just around the corner. It was largely a steak place with great food.

We called it an early night because we’re on a 8AM train tomorrow for a very long day.