Our last full day here and we have been
so pleased with the weather. Again temperatures up in te late 20's,
it even got to 30 degrees late this afternoon.
Our excursion today was to Luzern, a
three hour bus trip from Chateau D'eox. Well today we sat in the
front seat of the bus and even though we covered ground we had been
over before it was like looking at it afresh. We had one pit stop on
the way then it was up over the only alpine pass that was open and
pretty soon we were being dropped off in Luzern With just over four
hours to look around the town we first walked away from the lake and
towards the old part of the town. Buildings with dates on then like
1713 and 1756 are impressive when you consider NZ's history, I have
mentioned before that James Cook who discovered NZ was hardly born
then.
We found a pleasant spot in the shade
of some very old looking trees in a small garden next to an old
church to have our lunch. Of course we had to look in the church
after we had eaten. This part of the country is mostly catholic and
the churches are richly decorated with icons and beautiful carvings.
This one had a beautifully decorated ceiling of plaster cherubs and
angels picked out in cream and blue.
It was very hot so we stuck to the
shady streets and continued to wander away from the lake, There are
a couple of very old covered bridges that span this part of the
river-walk we were progressing down. We mingled with the crowds at
the farmers market before taking the next bridge across the river and
directing out feet back in the direction of the lake.
In the crowded town we found a
chocolate shop and bought ourselves some yummy chockie icecream which
consumed in the shade of yet another old building.
With an hour or so left we found
ourselves in front of a very impressive church, catholic yet again,
and not one to walk past we pushed the heavy and ornately carved
door open and entered the dimly lit cool interior. The alter
decorations looked as though they were decorated in gold leaf, which
I am sure they were. Marble columns and decorated alters abound. And
the font was locked away behind the most ornate wrought iron work
screen I have ever seen.
We had time for a wander about the church
yard with its inscribed head stones before going back over the river
to where the bus was waiting to bring us back to Chateau D'oex.
We came back along the motorway, mostly
missing the small towns, but one thing we did spot was huge glass
walled factory with Cartier emblazoned all across its front. I wonder
what the make there.
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