Kapellbrüke, or Chapel Bridge, originally built in
1333, is the oldest covered bridge in Europe.  Spanning
Lake Lucerne, with a lovely waterfront dotted by
cafés, surrounded by the Swiss Alps.  Beautiful!
Above your head on the bridge, in the center of the rafters,
 are a series of paintings collectively known as the
 “Dance of the Dead”.  They depict chilling scenes
 of how the Black Plague, a bacterial infection carried
 by fleas and rodents,  killed an estimated 200 million
 people, including 60% of Europeans, in the Middle Ages.
The Pfistern family tree, complete with branches depicting
 the coats of arms of families that lived in Lucerne.
Impressive enough on paper, but what a mural.
Writer Goethe was actually German, but stayed here
in Lucerne for a while, dreaming up: “There are
only two lasting bequests we can give our children.
One is roots, the other is wings.”
How crazy are these James Brown Easter bunnies.
Yeah!  I feel GOOD!
“Oh… jah!”  We’ve been eating a little too well on this trip.

Signs like these are in all major cities in Europe. You
 know exactly when your bus is arriving at the stop.
  American mass transit is behind the power curve.