Just before we depart from Lucerne and move onto Christmassy things I will show you St Peter’s Chapel which is the last place we visited on our day of departure.

St Peter’s Chapel is a Lucerne landmark and of considerable historical importance. It is Lucerne’s oldest church and was built in 1178 when a priest was appointed to take care of the population. Always subservient to the 8th century Benedictine St Leodegar monastery and the Hof Church, it never became the parish church.

Kapellplatz was named after St Peter’s and, more importantly, so was the city’s best known attraction, the nearby 14th century Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke). The chapel was for several hundred years the citizen’s meeting place and was subject to alterations in 1750.

The Kapellplatz surrounds tiny St. Peterskapelle, an 18th-century church that was built over a 12th-century predecessor. This chapel also lends its name to the Kapellbrücke, the charming wooden bridge synonymous with Lucerne.

The exterior walls of St. Peter’s are adorned with several interesting works of art. An alabaster carving of the Mount of Olives remains from the previous church building. The fresco of Brother Klaus dates from the late 19th century, and the painting of St. Christopher is from the early 20th century.

Karl Willhelm von Humboldt

Kahlil Gibran

I was greeted with this delightful view whilst walking to dinner on my first evening in Lucerne.

The view was a treat from Mr C who did his usual reconnaissance exercise to find the best places to dine. During his explorations he found the perfect walking route to surprise me with this view.  Whilst he was scouting the area I was having a nice relaxing bath to recover from our earlier flight hassles

We made what, because of the heat, seemed a long trek to the old town wall in order to view it and climb some of its towers. When we  arrived at the wall I wimped out part way up the first tower (I am not very good with heights) so, whilst Mr C ascended the tower,  I opted to take the short walk along the ramparts to the next tower and then down to ground level. I was glad when I arrived back at ground level where I found a nice bench in the shade to wait for Mr C.

When Mr C rejoined me, we made our way back into to town where I had one more of those refreshing mineral water and berry drinks.  We then strolled through the town where Mr C found a book shop to investigate.   He didn’t manage to find anything to purchase but I found a rather interesting board game which I did purchase.  Later we went to a nearby bakery to buy a sandwich which we ate in a nearby public park accompanied by sparrows who fed off any stray crumbs.

After lunch we visited the ‘Rosengart Collection‘. This is a gallery of  modern art including paintings by impressionist artists and a large number of Picasso’s works.  After enjoying this museum we made our way to the lake where we relaxed over a leisurely drink and enjoyed the views whilst waiting for the arrival of the boat that was to take us on a panoramic tour of the lake. The tour of the lake was nice and relaxing, the more so because it was accompanied by a refreshing glass of wine. It just had to be done

For that evening’s meal, we chose to return to the same restaurant that we ate in on our first evening in Lucerne. Thunderstorms were imminent so, to keep dry, we sat outside but underneath an overhanging roof. A number of Swiss army officer cadets from a nearby training school were occupying a large table in the restaurant. This made service for us a little slower than our first experience there.

Earlier, we had tried to check in online for our return flight with the intention of avoiding the problems we had incurred on our outward journey. Technology problems made this a little difficult so we abandonded it until after dinner when I insisted we try again!  We checked in successfully only three hours after the earliest time that we could have and took the last two seats that were adjacent to each other.  We also noticed that very few seats remained available after we had secured ours. I wonder how many people didn’t get a seat on the flight…

Our usual bar was full of Swiss army officer cadets, milling around, so plan B was put into action which, just around the corner, led to the discovery of another bar that was full of locals and had a nice, relaxing atmosphere.

I could hear the officer cadets partying underneath my hotel bedroom window and indulging in what sounded like drinking games well into the night…