Zug zug!

I have decided that the Germans call a train a Zug because it's onomatopoetic. Zug zug zug zug.

Sloan, Brazil, Bowie, and I all went to Luzern together for the past two days. We first took a train to Stansstad, home of the Fürigen Fortress. This barrack is built into the mountain, as are a good many of the 15,000 Swiss fortifications scattered throughout the Alps. They've got cannons and gus that can shoot six miles out over the surrounding countryside, should Switzerland ever be invaded. There's a place underground for every one of Switzerland's seven million residents, and they can hold out for over two weeks. They have a system in place to destroy the tunnels, bridges, and access roads into the country, then wait in the mountain strongholds till the conflict is over. The bread lasts two years, and the rooms are all sealable and thus gas-proof. Switzerland built a network of these fortersses during WWII, in case of Nazi invasion. They refit them during the Cold War, in case of nuclear war. The Fürigen Fortress is one of the bigger ones open to visitors: it could hold 100 people for three weeks. I'd like to see one of the airstrips or hospitals cut into the middle of a mountain, but I think they're closed.

I have yet to see some of the cannons hidden in barns, but most houses around have bomb shelters and the residents of those that don't have an agreement or rental contract with one nearby. Anyway. We shot photos at a tower, then boarded an SVG boat for a cruise across Vierwaldstättersee to Luzern (see above photos). Touring the city, we saw churches, cathedrals, the town hall and its tower, lots of cheery squares, the building Goethe stayed in during his visit, and a whole lot of shops in the pedestrian old town. One of my favorite buildings was this restaurant, which has a huge Mardi Gras mural all across the front. In Luzern, they go all out for Karneval. As in the mural, the rooster crows early on Karneval, and the townspeople leap up to frighten winter away. The masked high & mighties throw oranges down to the revelers, as the fruit is rare in winter and thus marks the beginning of spring.

Of course, we also walked across Luzern's famous bridges, starting with the Kapellbrücke. It was built in the 14th centuray at an angle across the river, both to serve as a lakeside defence and to directly connect St. Peter's Chapel with the town fortifications. At every reinforcement in the ceiling of the bridge, there's a painting commemorating Luzern or Swiss historical events. The squat little tower in the middle was built a century before the bridge, for use as a water tower. In later incarnations, it was used for imprisonment, torture, and archival storage. We walked along the Reuss (pronounced "royce") River on the other side, admiring the old houses and restaurants and the stylish castle on the hill.

Halfway between the Kapellbrücke and the other wooden bridge stands the city's water control system, the Nadelwehr, or water spike dam. The drainage from the lake eventually feeds into the Rhine, but the volume fluctuates quite a bit over the year. Luzern adds or removes "spikes" in the dam to control the level of the Vierwaldstättersee, just as they have since about 1850.

I prefered the next bridge to the famous tower bridge. It's the Spreuerbrücke, or Chaff Bridge, named for the water-powered mill that used to provide Luzern its grain. It's an older bridge, built in 1408, and the artwork is from the 17th century. The paintings along this bridge all feature a skeleton, and are called the "Dance of Death" series for the way they show death gleefully coming to everyone, regardless of station. The channels are all that remain of the mill, though they've got a turbine on display from the 1889 power station and they still generate hydroelectric power in a plant hidden under the water.

Our city tour continued with a stroll by the old apothecary in Weinmarkt square. Its medieval Latin inscription, Amor medicabilis nvllis herbis is still visible, and translates roughly to "medicine cannot cure love." You can still see a lot of old paintings on buildings all across town, including many religious ones and others telling stories about Luzern.

We'd had enough of wandering the streets after visiting Hirschenplatz ("Deer Square"), so we headed over to the Löwendenkmal, a giant (20 x 30 feet) sculpture carved into the sheer wall at the edge of town. The crying lion represents the brave Swiss Guards who died during the 1792 massacre at Tuileries Palace in Paris when the French revoluted. It's got another Latin inscription, Helvetiorum fidei ac virtuti, or "To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss." The surrounding garden was empty when we arrived, lending the area extra poignancy points, but swamped with Asian tourists a few minutes later. We circled up to the glacial rock display before heading off in search of an access point for the remains of the city fortifications.

After a good 45 minutes of walking, we still couldn't find a way up. All roads, it seems, lead around Luzern. We got about this close before my camera died, victim to my not charging it after the Lausanne trip. I've borrowed pictures from fthe others for the rest of Luzern. We share a lot of photos around. I really must snag more before I leave. At any rate, we did finally make it onto the wall. We climbed three towers, including the clock tower, before heading off along the lake to our hostel.