We think when we’re departing from a city after a week of sunshine it always sprinkles a little rain tears as part of our goodbye. Ha seriously it’s not all about us but we have new umbrellas so we are prepared.
We took a journey to the center of time today, also known as The Glacier Garden Lucerne. It opened May 1, 1873 in a former sandstone quarry. At the time the city was experiencing a surge of modernization. in 1859 the railway station open in Lucerne was connected to the Swiss real network.
Located right next to the lion monument the glacier Garden was one of the first tourist attractions in Lucerne with its glacial potholes. It’s Alpine Park and it’s artificial mountain experiences. It offered more than bad weather program.
The glacier Garden is a witness to the pioneer tourist era. It offered substitute Alpine experiences, easily accessible in the middle of the city. It was dedicated to science, but also serve the enthusiasm for nature and the Alps that had gripped western Europe during the romantic period.
The Glacier Garden is all about the glacier and they are Switzerland.
We watched a movie about the discovery of this site and stories of the ice age and the earths journey to the modern day. A few facts hit us. In the last 100 years Switzerland has lost 60% of its glaciers, and predict that by the end of the 21st century there will not be any glaciers left in the world. Scientists and experts across the world (except for those 😡 deniers) know the cause is the earths temperatures increasing by +10 degrees, humans, environmental destruction and carbon dioxide and gases emitted into the atmosphere.
Switzerland worries it will greatly affect the beautiful rivers fed by the mountains, snow melt reduction and glaciers disappearing from the earth. It hit hard hearing “Our short visit on earth is upon us” and we must pay attention and do everything is our power to reduce the speed and effects of global warming.
There are 16 glacial potholes at the beginning of the museum they were discovered in 1872. The glacier potholes were formed at the end of the Ice Age and surprisingly fast, mainly by powerful streams of melt water, enriched with gravel and sand world pots in the sandstone within a few weeks.
They discovered evidence of cave bears, woolly mammoths, elephants, and fossils of plant like resembling palms.
We trekked through the history of stone from 20 million years ago.
PRESENT
The present is the centre of time. It is that infinitely short moment between the past and the future that can never be captured or grasped.
So…that was eye opening.
The Mirror Max was built in 1896 for the Swiss National Exhibition in Geneva and has been in the garden since 1899. In 2020 it was given a new look.
The labyrinth with more than 50 mirrors is Alhambra the magnificent Moorish/influrnced city Castle of Granada in Southern Spain.
The Anthropocene is also the Ego-ocene; man dominates not only the world, but also himself he observes mirrors and optimizes himself. He sits out in surge of himself for somewhere it must be in the center of time and the world. Here many have lost their way, but found themselves.
We were both grateful that we had an umbrella so we didn’t smash our faces up against the mirrors because it was just when I thought we found each other, it was a mirrored image.
Whew we left dizzy 😵💫 and ready for fresh air and lunch.
On the way out they had some funny mirrors and of course we had some laughs.
Everyone was amused
It’s pouring so we found a cafe along the river for another healthy scrumptious meal
Nice hot tea – it’s all in the presentation 🫖
Off to Zurich tomorrow so we’ll do some laundry and pack up. It’s been a lovely stay in Lucerne, another perfect 10++++ in Switzerland. Already planning a return trip.
