SWITZERLAND
They tell you over here that the Alps have the robust beauty of the
Alleghanies combined with the scenic grandeur of the Rockies; but there
is not the slightest duplicate of the Rocky Mountains that we
discovered. Surely nothing could exceed in loveliness Lucerne. As we
wound down the hillside near the foot of the lake, backed by
precipitous mountains running away to where their peaks lift up their
snows, we saw below us, and around a beautifully colored bay, Lucerne.
It was showery, as it often is, the day we went to Lucerne, but we soon
found that it only added to our excited expectation. We enter, among
real hills and enormous tunnels, the longest I ever passed through,
sweet little valleys; Swiss cottages nestle in the hillside, showing
little else but the enormous roofs that come nearly to the ground,
giving the cottages such a picturesque look; when suddenly, shining
through showers, appeared the Alps, like molten silver in the early
light, the clouds drifting over them, now hiding, now disclosing, the
enchanting heights. Almost every tourist stops at Lucerne, as it
possesses direct communication with all parts of Europe. Lying in the
very heart of Switzerland, it enables travellers to get to all
important spots with comparative ease. It is situated in a most
picturesque spot, at the head of the lake of the four Cantons, which
here pours out its clear crystal waters through the rushing Reuss. This
river has such a current tumbling right through the main street that I
experienced a great solicitude for the inhabitants, for fear it would
get out of its banks into the buildings that line its very edge. I
finally subsided, as no one else seemed anxious. The town itself is
severed by the emerald waters of the bridge-spanned Reuss. We walked
through and over several of them. The quaint old “Kapell Brücke,”
roofed with wood and built across the river in a slanting line to avoid
the great pressure of the waters, is interesting. It has curious old
paintings on its arches throughout its length, and readable German
script. The further end of the bridge opens on to “Schwanen Platz,” a
fashionable promenade of the place, and it is loved for its shady
avenues of chestnut trees and its splendid view of the lake and the
Alps. As our stay was short, we took a cog-wheel to one of its mountain
resorts, which opened to our view the many indescribable charms of
Lucerne and its splendid lake of irregular form. This magnificent lake
runs its gulfs up among the mountains, which are traversed by steamers.
By sitting down at one of the many “Schöne Aussichts” we had a sweeping
view of the city below and its beautiful environments. We could enjoy
its architecture, which embraced pure Renaissance in its Rathhaus, its
“Kirche” in simple Gothic, its Jesuit Church in baroque, its multitude
of Swiss cottages; and, above all, an exceedingly fine view of the near
ranges of the Alps. This embraced the crags of Pilatus and Rigikuln;
beyond them were the immortal snows of the higher Alps.
We were told here to defer our shopping until we went to Zurich, but a
short distance away, situated on a lake to which it has given its name.
We found it to be a busy, industrial city of 160,000 inhabitants, where
all merchandise could be had cheaper than in any city in Europe. It had
a prosperous appearance throughout.
Consul Gifford, stationed at Basel, says that Switzerland’s trade
figures are especially noteworthy. This diminutive republic, about half
as large as the State of Maine, swallowed up in our big Texas, is
commercially the most highly developed part of the world. These
remarkable results, attained by a country without seaports, without
coal or iron, in fact, without any considerable quantity of raw
material for its manufactures, are truly wonderful.