Jeune Federal

Last Monday was a holiday, Jeune Federal, and our first extended weekend, so, strongly recommended, we went north to German-speaking Lucerne.

Jeune means "fast," having Reformation roots, as Protestant believers in Geneva called a day of fasting to remember fellow Huguenots slaughtered in France's religious wars. A bit like American Thanksgiving, if we were to honor the Plymouth Colonists who died (up to 1/3) that first year, rather than a sign of friendship with native peoples.

At any rate, with the exception of the sentence above, that tragic history is long gone. Case in point: the chocolate fiend in above photo, who knew the Jeune as a holiday (a fast from school). Lucerne, like Vevey, boasts an international classical music festival; the chocolatiers featured edible violins & pianos.

The famous wooden bridge crosses to the old medieval section. When we lived in Tokyo, the arson fire of the structure made the front page of The Japan Times; the city being a long favorite of Japanese tourists with their deep appreciation for classical music, striking scenery, especially bridges - a focal point in Japanese garden design.

Also known for the highest and most steeply angled funiculaire in the world, we are saving this for clearer weather another time. Given the topography and technical know-how, the Swiss are pioneers in funiculaire and gondola design, engineering San Francisco's first cable cars, as well.
Our trip focused on the Museum of Transportation, the most frequented museum in the country. Museums unleash considerable graphic, architectural design & financial power here; a Swiss designed Beijing's Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium in 2008:
The musuem has a theme of overcoming - poor resources, mountain barriers - with ingenuity and persistence, burrowing the first railroad tunnel with Italian workers,

turning historic trains into play equipment, essentially, while offering the set above. Jack could've stayed for hours.

Highway signs. Kids also invited to do the digging

but the highlight was an over-the-top display of maybe 40 significant automobiles along a wall on individual platforms,

which a moving lift retrieves one at a time, chosen by an audience vote:

our group voting for a vintage Rolls Royce. The scale & engineering grace was jawdropping, reminding me of upscale vending machines in Japan, which would display floral bouquets.

Speaking of cars, do you know which Swiss car designer and racer co-founded an American car company, celebrating its 100th birthday this year? Louis-Joseph CHEVROLET. His town will have a procession of 1000 Chevies in November.

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The famous lion commemorating the death of hundreds of Swiss guards (these died in the French Revolution), who have been protecting European monarchs since the 15th century;

anachronistic, the only remaining guards today continue to protect the Vatican: