Le Locle

Some stuff about Le Locle and what is around there...but, first, we have heard back from all but one of our B & B's/Hotels/Etc. - and they have been able to update our reservation to 10 people. The one we have not heard back from is closed between October and March so we probalby won't hear from them for a while.

We are staying in Le Locle 2 nights. Public transportation from Zurich looks like it will take between 2 and 3 hours - depending on the route we take. All routes stop in La Chaux de Fonds (we have to switch from train to bus here) which is the town next to Le Locle and sounds like it might be kind of cool...I'm not sure it is a place we need to spend time in, but might be neat to see as we drive through. It burnt down in 1794 and was re-built in "the checkerboard pattern of American towns. It also is considered a major center for Jugendstil (we know it as art nouveau) style architecture.

Mom is trying to find someone to help find some family stuff...even if she doesn't in advance we can go to the city hall and places like that. So, there will be some of that to do. Le Locle does not have a ton of stuff to do, but they have a few things that seem pretty cool.

Château des Monts - Watch Museum - Not far from Le Locle, a late 18th century manor house is home to a magnificent collection of clocks and watches. The clocks, watches and miniature machines conjure up a magical world where the mixture of techniques and art, of dreams and mystery link the past to the future.

"Le Col-des-Roches" - Le Locle, situated in an upper valley of the Central Jura Mountains in Switzerland, has a special feature : its surrounding summits rise on all sides and thus form a closed-in valley. Le Locle's water was originally retained in a lake which nevertheless found its way eventually by an underground passage through the rocky shelf at the western end of the valley. The site was formely named "Portes du Locle" (Gates of Le Locle), "Roches Fendues" (Split Rocks), or "Cul-des-Roches" (End of the Rocks) is today called "Le Col-des-Roches", some two kilometres from the town of Le Locle. Modern man decided to settle at the Col-des-Roches in the middle of the 16th century in order to exploit the hydraulic power of the valley's water. Jonas Sandoz can claim the honour of developing the underground section of the water-mills as of 1660 and thus succeeded in making the underground mills at the Col-des-Roches a curiosity unique in Europe.

The Doubs - A sideroad branches 3km north from the Col-des-Roches down to the small riverside village of LES BRENETS, where the Doubs broadens slightly to form a long bulge, optimistically called the Lac des Brenets. You can take boat tours on the lake which terminates in the impressive, 27m-high Saut du Doubs waterfall.

Those are the highlights we have found for Le Locle! I am sure we will find more than enough to do.

We also may want to consider doing a side trip to Neuchatel .. it is about 40 min from le Locle by train. It seems like a nice town with lots to see and do and I don't think we'd have time to do it on the way to Bern (we'll tell you about Bern in our next blog).

Things to do in Neuchatel:

Neuchatel Castle - The Château, or Castle, which was begun in the 12th Century. (Free guided tours are available from April through September.) The castle once housed the lords of Neuchatel and was the seat of authority. Nowadays it is the seat of cantonal government and the law courts. The castle was built in the 15th and 17th centuries (the west wing even dates back to the 12th century). Visit the Salle des Etats (state room) and find out who married into Neuchatel’s ruling dynasty.

The massive Neo-Classical building of Neuchatel Hotel-de-Ville – the Town Hall was erected between 1784 and 1790 under the direction of Louis XVI’s chief architect Pierre-Adrien Paris. On the east tympanum of the Town Hall, Minerva and Liberty flank a shield bearing the arms of the Town; on the west – two winged and cloud-borne figures on either side of a similar shield symbolize Trade and Abundance.The pillar hall of the Town Hall ground floor is a kind of passage open to the public. The bust of David de Pury (Davide de Purry), benefactor of Neuchatel can be seen in it. Exhibits on the ground floor include the model of hte 18th Century town and its harbor.

Neuchatel is known as the city of 140 fountains -- the three most famous :

The Fontaine de la Justice (1545-1547), the Fontaine du Banneret (1581), and the Fontaine du Griffon (1664), which have been restored to their original glory.

Next to the Château, on the spacious square, you will find the Collégiale church (open daily 8am–6pm). This huge yellow building, a wonderful example of early Gothic, was begun in 1185. The Collegial Church, served by a College of Canons and dedicated to the Virgin, was consecrated in 1276. If you walk from Rue du Château, the stairs bring you up to the east end of the church, with its three Norman apses. The main entrance, from the Château side, is crowned by a giant rose window of stained glass. Within the vaulted interior, the nave brings you to the glowing transept, lit by a lantern tower, and the unique Cenotaph of the Counts of Neuchâtel on the north wall of the choir. Begun in 1372, and the only monument of its kind outside Italy, this amazing monument comprises fifteen near-lifesize painted statues of various knights and ladies from Neuchâtel’s past, framed by 15th-century arches and gables.

The medieval Tour des Prisons, or Prison Tower, which is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. between April 1 and September 30.

Lot's of fun options! I think we need to plan another trip to do the things we don't get done this time around!!