Luzern*

On Tuesday, after finally taking Elias to apply for a German passport (thanks, Nancy, for mailing us his birth certificate!), we packed our bags and headed south toward Ticino, the Italian-speaking Swiss canton just north of Italy. Our sunny Autobahn route began along the Rhine River flood plain, with the mountains of the Schwarzwald on our left and the distant French Vogesen on our right. We passed through Basel and over the Jura range, and then on to Luzern, where the Swiss Alps loomed bright and clear over the far side of the Vierwaldstaettersee. There we paused to be tourists for a few hours.

Luzern's Altstadt boasts ornately frescoed buildings and abundant filigree, often in unexpected places--on signs, rooftops, building corners, windows. An iconic bridge, the Kapellbruecke, spans the Reuss River near the Water Tower (historically used variously as a dungeon, archive, and vault). The wooden bridge was first erected in the 14th century but is now largely a restoration, as much of it--including 81 of the 111 triangular 17th-century paintings that line the roof beams inside--was damaged in a 1993 fire. We completed our walking tour with a visit up the hill to the Musegg ramparts and towers built in the 14th century to protect the city.

From Lucerne, we drove through the almost 17-km long St. Gotthard tunnel and into Airolo, the first town on our Ticino itinerary.

*Not in southern Germany, but still in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.