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!