{"id":581,"date":"2013-01-27T09:49:10","date_gmt":"2013-01-27T08:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joncu.roguenet.org\/swissblog\/?p=581"},"modified":"2021-09-21T22:52:06","modified_gmt":"2021-09-21T22:52:06","slug":"lucerne-encore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jmcw.blog\/swissblog\/2013\/01\/27\/lucerne-encore\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucerne Encore"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last night was Jon\u2019s penultimate Swiss concert, Verdi at the KKL.\u00a0 The choir\u2019s last rehearsal was midday Saturday in the concert hall, leaving us 5 hours to entertain ourselves in Lucerne.\u00a0 Our goal was to see whatever we might have missed on our 1st<\/sup> visit in July.<\/p>\n

Our list:\u00a0 Cathedral, the Nine Towers of Lucerne, and the Lucerne Historical Museum.\u00a0 We were happy to be joined by Bettina, a multi-lingual choral friend who enjoys practicing English with us.<\/p>\n

The Cathedral (Hofkirche St. Loedegar) with its tall spires is easily spotted from the opposite shore, so how we had missed this when we were here with the Patels is beyond me.<\/p>\n

\"Pieta<\/a>

Pieta in Lucerne Cathedral<\/p><\/div>\n

I had printed directions to our next site, but missed the 1st <\/sup>turn.\u00a0 With the help of our GPS, we wiggled through the narrow streets to get on the right road and suddenly we see above us one of the towers.\u00a0 Buildings are so dense and tall on the hillside up to where the town wall was built that you can\u2019t see the towers from the water.\u00a0 But when you get there, and walk along the wall looking at the 9 towers, you are reminded of the medieval need to guard what you have from ground attack.<\/p>\n

\"Towers<\/a>

A few of the 9 towers of Musegg Wall. In summer 3 can be climbed to view the city.<\/p><\/div>\n

Meandering back to the lake, through some squares I well remember due to their unique painted buildings, and across the covered bridge with death panels (now covered with bright signs for the coming Fastnacht), we find the Historical Museum.\u00a0 How each town displays its history is itself intriguing.\u00a0 Lucerne\u2019s museum is in a 15th<\/sup>century building, plain in itself, with the interior completely rebuilt for the museum.\u00a0 The d\u00e9cor is all painted gray metal staircases and shelving which feels like a cross between an old warehouse and a military ship\u2019s hold.\u00a0 Still the conglomeration of odd articles always entertains.\u00a0 Each item has a barcode displayed on its case and you are provided for no extra charge with an audio guide which reads the barcode and tells you about the item in your own language.\u00a0 That was an improvement on museums with signs only in one or two languages.<\/p>\n

\"Lucerne<\/a>

A carved wooden sled with bear and wolf<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Lucerne<\/a>

If you want your son to be religious, give him a toy church or, as here, a hermit's cave.<\/p><\/div>\n

Strolling along the quay toward the concert hall, we pick a restaurant for dinner, based on its sandwich board menu out front.\u00a0 A very happy choice:\u00a0 Bettina and I both had their \u201cKurbiscremesuppe\u201d which is winter squash soup, here made with coconut milk, ginger and a swirl of pumpkin oil.\u00a0 (Yes, I\u00a0am a foodie!)\u00a0 And Jon was happy with a light pasta dish.<\/p>\n

\"Lucerne<\/a>

Coming out of the restaurant, sunset was past and the full moon was rising.<\/p><\/div>\n

Fortified, but not stuffed, since the two of them were to sing, we return to the hall and separated there.\u00a0 I had not bought a ticket before the concert because I had put it off too late to have them mail one, but also vaguely hoped to wriggle out of it as I had in Geneva.\u00a0 I knew they had over 200 seats left, although most were in the 4th<\/sup> balcony.<\/p>\n

Ticket for the cheap seats in hand, I walked upstairs, and upstairs, and upstairs–accidentally coming out one floor too high and finding myself on an outside terrace, \u00a0below the huge expanse of roof.\u00a0 There I watched the sky darken and the surrounding city brighten.<\/p>\n

\"KKL<\/a>

Lucerne from KKL upper terrace. City lights reflect off the roof.<\/p><\/div>\n

The concert went well.\u00a0 Acoustics were excellent even where I was seated.<\/p>\n

\"KKL<\/a>

KKL interior from the 4th floor<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Jon<\/a>

With maximum zoom, I could see Jon.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last night was Jon\u2019s penultimate Swiss concert, Verdi at the KKL.\u00a0 The choir\u2019s last rehearsal was midday Saturday in the concert hall, leaving us 5 hours to entertain ourselves in Lucerne.\u00a0 Our goal was to see whatever we might have … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-switzerland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jmcw.blog\/swissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jmcw.blog\/swissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jmcw.blog\/swissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jmcw.blog\/swissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jmcw.blog\/swissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jmcw.blog\/swissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1494,"href":"https:\/\/www.jmcw.blog\/swissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581\/revisions\/1494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jmcw.blog\/swissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jmcw.blog\/swissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jmcw.blog\/swissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}