We decided to drive about 15 kms outside of Lucerne to visit Fortress Fürigen. It was built into the mountain side in 1941 to protect roads and rail lines that led along Lake Lucerne to the Berner Oberland in case of invasion. It was part of a series of fortresses built for this reason and it wasn't decommissioned until 1990 after the Cold War. It was only open on weekends so we headed over to check it out. We parked in a nearby town and then walked along a tiny road to the entrance which was very well hidden. Inside, you could borrow original Swiss Army coats to keep warm which Anoop had read about and decided to try out. The fortress was completely inside the mountain and I can’t imagine living inside it for very long – there was no daylight and the tunnels were all damp rock walls which made it feel rather claustrophobic. We had a translation in English and a map of the tunnels in German which we followed to make our way through the fortress. There were several rooms for guns with a smaller room beside it where the lookout was. The guns took four men to operate and two more who would bring ammunition. Depending on where the target was, different men would be in charge of positioning the guns. There was another room where the factors that would affect the shot were calculated and then communicated to the gun men. We saw the mess hall and rooms where the men slept as well as those for the officers who only had to share with one other person. The men worked in 3 different shifts: sleep, on duty, time off. The fortress had enough supplies to shelter 100 people for 3 weeks in case they were cut off. There were usually between 50-80 men plus officers stationed there.

We then headed back to camp to drop off the van and walk in along the lake to Lucerne. It was a beautiful walk, but it was quite cloudy so we couldn’t see the tops of the mountains around it. Nevertheless, we enjoyed strolling along the lakeside until we reached the start of our walking tour. We started at the train station and were amazed at the number of bikes parked outside it. There were bikes everywhere and I imagine most people who commute to Lucerne catch the train in and then hop on their bikes and head off to work. We headed over to Chapel Bridge which was built in the early 14^th century. In the 17^th century it was decorated with paintings showing the development of the town. Unfortunately, in 1993, a boat was parked under it and caught fire, burning down a section of the bridge along with the original paintings that were under the beams. They left the blackened paintings that couldn’t be restored there and restored as many as they could which are still there today. Some of the paintings from the middle of the bridge were in storage and those were returned when the bridge was restored. The bridge itself was amazing with tons of flowers spilling out of boxes along both sides. We walked the length of it and then headed down the other side of the river bank to the next bridge and crossed back again. We stopped to admire the Jesuit church and headed inside. However, it was Sunday and a service was taking place so we couldn’t walk around. Then we walked along the river towards Mill Bridge, the oldest bridge in Lucerne, which crossed over at the narrowest point. It was also a wooden one and also had paintings on each beam. After the fire at the other bridge, they were extremely careful that the same thing would not happen to this one; they do not allow smoking and there are video cameras everywhere.

We crossed the bridge and then wandered through town stopping at a Läderach chocolate shop as we passed by. The displays were amazing and the smell when you entered the store was delicious! We picked up 5 bars on sale for €7.50, but decided not to sample the actual Läderach pieces as they looked quite pricey. All the chocolate here is delicious so you get quality and quantity at the same time! I’m sure the more discerning palates would choose one brand over the other, but we haven’t found a bar we didn’t like yet, so are sticking with whatever seems to be a good price.

We continued past a façade that had been painted with scenes from Mardi Gras on the side of a café. We finished our walking tour in front of another church that we went into for a quick stop. The choir was practicing at the same time, so it was fun to hear them in the background while we looked around. We then wandered up the street towards the lion monument. The guidebook said that it was a must see, if only because everyone would ask us if we had seen it when we said we’d been to Lucerne. So we headed up towards it and met several tour groups also making their way towards the statue. The lion is carved in to the side of the rock and is 22 feet long and 20 feet tall. The lion represents the Swiss mercenaries who were killed defending the French king during the French Revolution. It was quite impressive so we sat down on a bench to look at it for a while and wait for the tour group to finish taking all their photos. While we waited, we quite enjoyed watching everyone decide how they wanted to pose for their photos. There was quite a variety of poses and we decided that perhaps we should step it up a bit in terms of photo poses as ours are not nearly as interesting as theirs!