Lucerne in December: Part 2

Let's look through the glass door to discover more of Lucerne's

lovely festive atmosphere in December in the Hotel Wilden Mann.

This double doorway is the entrance to the hotel's breakfast room

It's so welcoming!

So is the decorated tree next to the breakfast buffet.

As soon as you get out of the lift to go and have breakfast,

you walk past these beautifully decorated rooms

like these little 'salons' (sitting rooms).

This one has another lovely Christmas tree.

The warm lighting and attention to detail

makes it a joy to walk through every morning.

Being an early bird, I can take a photo of the breakfast room 

before other guests arrive.

But now it's time to go outside again and enjoy the town itself,

especially as we were blessed with blue skies on this particular day.

The jagged edge on the upper left is the overhanging roof

of the Chapel Bridge from where I took this photo.

The immense charm of Lucerne is the River Reuss which is a beautiful setting

whatever the weather.

Though I have to admit that blue skies and night-time shots are  especially beautiful.

Two buildings seem to stand out among all others.

One of them is the City Hall with clock tower

and the other is the Jesuit Church with twin spires on the preceding photo.

On the hill against the horizon,

there is a rather grand looking light-coloured building called

Château Gütsch which is another well-known landmark of Lucerne.

This is a luxury hotel and has a spectacular view over the historic city of Lucerne,

the Vierwaldstätter Lake and the mountains.

It would be nice to go up there on the hill just for the view,

but that can be for another visit!

The River Reusse running all through the town creates gorgeous reflections

even when the sky is grey.

The bridges join one part of the old town to the next.

Many of the trees are cobbled so I was glad of my comfortable walking shoes.

I especially loved this beautifully decorated house.

This view shows the bottom half of the church on the left

and a small pedestrian street which leads to our hotel.

In the late afternoon.

the atmosphere changes and the reflections deepen.

Lucerne is a town that I am planning on visiting again in the warmer months of the year,

it will look very different without all the beautiful Christmas lights and decorations,

but there will be further afield to discover and a cruise on the lake to look forward to!

Lucerne in October - Part 2

Now we are going to glimpse parts of the old town of Lucerne.

The water which separates two parts of the old town

is called the River Reusse which joins the lake.

Here is a close up of Chapel Bridge with colourful flowers arranged along the whole length.

The well-known tower attached to the bridge.

The building with the arcades underneath is the Town Hall

with the clock tower behind.

This is the view that I had from my hotel room.

It's a very old pharmacy with lovely stonework and an exciting turret.

The small fountain which can also be seen from my room.

Looking towards the other end of the River Reusse at the opposite end to the lake.

After crossing one of the bridges,

there are beautiful decorated house facades to be seen.

This is one of my favourites.

It's part of the Waage Hotel which is steeped in history

which dates back to 1199.

The famous facade murals are among the most photographed in Lucerne.

I love the coloured tiled roof as well.

Here is a close-up.

I've shown this particular red and white building several times,

but taken from different points of view.

It was particularly lovely on this sunny day with deep blue reflections in the water.

This is the Jesuit Church which can be seen on several different photos

on my visit to Lucerne last December 2018.

Part 1

and 

Part 2

This is the interior of the church in the Baroque style.

More architecture with turrets and an old lamp

Another interesting detail.

Maybe you can just read the words below the middle window:

"Festina Lente"

which means: 'Hasten slowly'!

The sky was so pretty here

The saying goes: "Mares' tails and mackerel scales."

In the days of large sailing ships, these kind of clouds in the sky meant

a storm would be approaching soon and the sails should be lowered to protect

from accompanying high winds.

A close up view of the reflected flowers.

On our last evening, I left the dinner table right after the first course

to catch the setting sun.

We can just see details of the fortified wall leading up to the tower.

Next time, I'm going to walk up there!

An old lamp against that sunset sky.

It was a lovely stay in a beautiful town on the lake.

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.