Lucerne in October. Part 1

This is our boat named 'URI'

Last time we came to Lucerne in December 2018,

we said we would return with warmer weather and that our priority 

would be to take a steam-boat cruise on the lake.

As soon as we arrived, we bought tickets for the earliest boat ride on the same day.

We just had time to drop our cases off at the hotel.

We're just leaving the town of Lucerne to do the long three and a half hour tour

of the big lake with lunch included.

This is Mount Pilatus

the iconic mountain which is 2.128 metres high.

I think it would be lovely to take the cogwheel train and then a cablecar and gondola

and to be able to see the whole lake from the top.

Before going any further, I should explain a little history.

On the map, we can see the whole of the lake which is quite a complex shape

with many bends and four arms.

On my notepad, I wrote down the names of all the different stops.

One of the stops was Rütli.

"For all Swiss people, Rütli is synonymous with the founding history of Switzerland.

Nourished by the impressive drama of "William Tell" by author Friedrich Schiller,

it is for many people the historic place where in 1291, 

the oath of the Swiss Confederation was sworn.

On August 1st, 1291, now celebrated as the Swiss National Holiday,

the three original cantons: Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden united and founded

with a loyalty oath the Confederation at the forest site."

Text taken from here:

https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-ch/destinations/ruetli-ruetli-meadow/

The canton of Lucerne (or Luzern) was added to the other three mentioned above.

The lake is called the Vierwaldstättersee

which means The Lake of Four Cantons.

The views are beautiful all along the way.

It's very mountainous with green pastures below.

The weather was perfect

All the views are different and always interesting

Sparkles on the water

A Baroque style church perched above the lake

There are several small safety boats around the steam boat.

You can see the name Uri on this one.

A sailing boat crosses our path

This is the cobbled pedestrian square which is in front of our hotel.

People were still sitting on outside terraces, thanks to the warm October temperatures.

After dinner, we walked around the pedestrian area of the town

where our hotel was situated.

I like the welcoming entrance to this historic hotel.

This is where we stayed: 'Hotel zum Wilden Mann'.

We stayed here last December when it was beautifully decorated for Christmas. 

I took so many photographs during this trip,

that I'll be posting Part 2 next week.

Lucerne in December: Part 1

There's something very special about windows

especially warm and welcoming ones like this.

The Christmas lights are artfully arranged behind the sheer curtains

and that is perfect for my first photo of this blog entry.

A birthday gift from my daughter was a voucher for an Historic Hotel

in Switzerland this year!

What a great idea!

I chose the lakeside town of Lucerne as I hadn't been there for many years.

There is a very charming old part of town with paved streets

and many interesting and beautiful buildings.

This is the hotel called 'Wilden Mann',

Here is the outside sign.

Lucerne's most famous landmark is certainly the Chapel Bridge

or the Kapellbrücke as it's called in this German-speaking part of Switzerland.

This bridge stretches across the River Reuss and is almost 203 metres.

It was built in 1365 and is the oldest covered wooden bridge, still standing, 

in Europe.

Here is a different capture after the mist cleared,

to show the mountains behind above the lake.

The Christmas market stands were already open.

Some of them had lovely hand-crafted gifts.

I bought a few for Christmas presents.

My usual travelling companion was celebrating a birthday at the beginning of the month,

so it seemed perfect to spend a few days away to coincide with that celebration.

We travelled by train to our destination

and on the very first evening, there were lovely traditional celebrations

which started in the afternoon and went on till the evening.

The photo above shows a procession of cow-bell ringers!

There was also St.Nicholas walking round the streets with gifts for the children.

It rained at the start of our stay, but luckily not all the time

and we were able to walk in the streets and enjoy the architecture.

Here's one of the other bridges and we crossed several different ones

just for the fun of it!

The Christmas lights looked lovely as the evening came in.

Here is the Jesuit church of St. Francis Xavier

which is in the Baroque style.

The river shows off the reflections so prettily.

I took so many photographs, that I didn't quite know where to begin.

So here are the first ones and I will be showing you more in a few days!