Luzern - 2017

With another three hour rail travel day, we had an early breakfast at our Zermatt hotel and then walked over to the Backerei shop to pick-up ham and cheese french roll sandwiches and water bottles for our later lunch (about $16USD). By 11am, we were in our train seats and on our way to Luzern. 

Our lodging in Luzern was the Renaissance Luzern, a Marriott hotel. This hotel is about four city blocks from the rail station. We received a room upgrade upon checking in and enjoyed a moderate-sized junior suite. 

Our Luzern tour plan was to view a number of museums and visit some of the historic city sights.

Bourbaki Panaorama
Leaving the hotel towards the Old Town, we found Luzern a busy urban setting - very different from our time in the alps. Many cars, buses, tourists and shoppers making a somewhat crowded visual and walking experience. 

Walking over the Chapel Bridge, we made our way to the Bourbaki panoramic painting by Edouard Castres (free admission with our Swiss rail pass) and the Lion Monument.  The Bourbaki circular painting measures 32 feet by 367 feet. It depicts the French Army of the East under General Bourbaki crossing the border in Switzerland. The French Army is being disarmed by Swiss soldiers after fleeing the Franco-Prussian War in February 1871. Almost 90,000 French Army soldiers and officers were interned in Switzerland for ten months. The 1881 painting was completed in Geneva and moved to Luzern in 1889. If you visit this painting, using the free audio iPad provided interesting background information about the painting and the scenes. 

Courtesy of Luzern.com

Lion of Luzern

Exiting the panoramic painting, we followed large groups of tourists towards the Lion Monument. This monument, sometimes referred to as the Lion of Luzern, is a rock relief designed by Bertelsmann Thorwaldsen and carved by Lukas Ahorn between 1820 and 1821. The monument commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred during the French Revolution in 1792, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris, the then residence of King Louis XVI. The Swiss Guards were mercenaries, protecting the King. All Swiss Guards were killed and most of their bodies were mutilated.

Walking Along the Old Town Wall

Our Luzern timing was perfect to visit the Saturday morning outdoor market. We passed through tables and portable food cases with breads, cheeses, flowers and fresh vegetables. We always enjoy seeing the colorful available goods, farmers, bakers and morning shoppers. 

Crossing the Ruess River at Speuerbrucke Bridge, we walked down the river until we reached the Old Town wall and the Mannliturm Tower. From the tower, we meandered along the wall and through Wachiturm, Zeiturm and Museggmaur Towers. From Zeiturm, we walked along a three foot wide walkway with one-side of the walkway attached to the high wall of the Old Town wall. The path ultimately led us to the Old Town shopping.

View of Luzern from Old Town Wall

Rosengart Museum

This museum, residing in the Swiss National Bank built in 1924, contains the Modernist and Impressionist paintings collected by Seigfried and Angela Rosengart. The collection includes 32 oils and more than 50 drawings by Picasso and about 125 paintings, water colors and drawings by Klee. We also viewed a smaller number of art pieces made by Braque, Matisse and Chagal, Renoir, Seurat, Cezzane, Nonnard and Leger. We particularly enjoyed seeing the annotated photographs of Picasso, at home reflecting every day life, with his dog, viewing his painting, on the telephone, exercising and getting a haircut.  

Kunstmuseum

With spare afternoon time, we then wandered through the Kunstmuseum (free admission with Swiss rail pass). This museum is located behind the Luzern rail station. The primary exhibit was “10 rooms, 40 walls and  3,500 square feet of art works by Claudia Comte. This was her largest exhibit to date. We viewed pieces reflecting pop art, modern wood sculpture, swings, concrete structures and large wall as canvas pieces. The art pieces focus on distances, height and positioning.   

Courtesy of www.luzernerzeitung.ch

Art by Bertrand Lavier at the Kunstmuseum

As we left the art museum, we walked along Lake Luzern and, finally, returned to our hotel room for some evening reading. 

Dining in Luzern

We tried a couple of restaurants for dinner in Luzern. Zuntfhausrestaurant Pfisturn provides Ruess River-side dining. We ordered a starter of garlic bread, chicken salad and a pan fried fish plate with rice and tomatoes (with wine and beer, about $90USD). Service was a bit inattentive, but food was above average in quality.

For our second Luzern dinner, we ate at Rathaus Breurei, a local brewery also on the Ruess River. Plates of sauerkraut and sausage and roast beef, with asparagus wrapped with bacon and spatzle - with beer from the brewery - were delicious and reasonably priced (about $75USD).

We also succumbed to the lure of Laderach chocolates and ice cream at Backmann's