Trips

Everywhere you look in Europe there are churches. Some of them are pretty plain. Many of them are so ornate that the cost of building the exterior and decorating the interior just boggles the mind. One of the interesting aspects of this trip was the number of churches that appeared to be Catholic, but which were converted to one or another form of Protestantism after the Reformation. We discovered that one way to tell them apart was that the Catholic churches have crosses on top and the Protestant usually have a weather vane - most often a rooster.

We saw a variety of stunning stained glass windows ranging from very traditional to very modern. Most of the architecture was Gothic or Baroque or one of those older styles. You will see a number of pictures of organs. It is striking how similar some of them are. I suppose there weren't that many organ builders during some time periods.

These first pictures are of the Jesuit Church of St. Francis Xavier in Lucerne, Switzerland
This is actually fake marble
	Also in Lucerne, we saw the church of St. Leodegar.
Entry	Facade with the inevitable clock
Wood carved door
Uncomfortable looking pews
St. Vincent Church in Bern. Note the sundog around the steeple.
Entry	Entry details - such intricate carving
Exterior spires
St. Peter’s (or St. Pierre) Cathedral in Geneva belongs to the Reformed Protestant Church of Geneva. It was the adopted home church of John Calvin. The stained glass is in the Chapel of the Maccabees. The old and the modern organs are pictured.
	We visited the small town of Sion in Switzerland and found a couple of interesting churches: Notre Dame Cathedral and a small chapel below the Chateau Valere.
Notre Dame Cathedral	Fresco above the door
	Chapel below the Chateau Valere
In the Italian town of Lugano, we read that a "don't miss" site was the frescos in the Church of Saint Maria Degli Angioli. It took us a little while to find the church because it just didn't look like anything from the outside. Once inside we found some of the most wonderful and beautiful frescos that we have seen in our travels. What a treat this was!
Not very imposing on the outside

Continue to churches on next page