Dear friends: With this gallery, sadly, I am closing the chapter of my travels in the picturesque Switzerland. Not far from Engelberg and Zurich, LUCERNE (German: LUZERN) is a lovely city in central Switzerland and has been very popular with tourists. It is located on the shores of Lake Lucerne. It has a very old history from the medieval times. The old historic city is where the waters of Lake Lucern flow into River Reuss. The photographs you will see here of Lucerne are of THE LION MONUMENT, THE CHAPEL BRIDGE (KAPELLBRUCKE), with the WATER TOWER and MOUNT PILATE in the background, and parts of RIVER REUSS AND LUCERNE LAKE. All these attractions have a rich and fascinating history behind them.

Back in 1868, Queen Victoria of England stayed in Lucerne for a long vacation. Let me now take you to the LION MONUMENT. It is a great tourist attraction. It is the carving of a dying lion by Bertel Thorvaldsen. The carving commemorates hundreds of Swiss guards who were killed in 1792 during the French Revolution when the mob stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

The CHAPEL BRIDGE spans over the River Reuss-Lake Lucerne; it is 670 feet long and is made of wood. It was built in the 14th century but much of it was destroyed in a fire in 1993 and was rebuilt. There are paintings inside the roof of the bridge depicting a legendary wild man, a giant.
It is the oldest covered bridge in Europe. The adjoining WATER TOWER is also very old. It once served as a dungeon, an archive and a treasury vault until the 19th century.
More images will be coming. JARIS