Beckenried - Luzern

It was raining when we woke this morning. The forecast was for cloud, rain and afternoon thunderstorms. The live mountaintop webcams looked - well, you looked, but you didn't see. So we did what we have done several times before when the weather was rotten - we spent the day on a boat.

We hopped on the boat, but couldn't sit inside at the front because it was first class only. We decided to pay the extra to upgrade our tickets, which meant we could use the upper balcony as well. Both photos show the first class areas. The front lounge where we parked ourselves had a mirrored ceiling!

The Waldstätter left Beckenried at 9.27am, heading for Flüelen at the eastern end of the Vierwaldstättersee (Lake Lucerne). The rain had stopped and it wasn't really cold. Caelli was sick again - the cold/flu thingummy that she seems to get every so often in Europe, so it was good to have nice, soft benches to sit on rather than chairs. The colour of the water was gorgeous. I wonder what it would be like on a sunny day.

We got back to Beckenried three hours later......

......but stayed on the boat as it headed to Luzern. We went through the narrowest part of the lake.

Once through the narrows, we could see Pilatus, where we went yesterday.

Caelli curled up on the seat and slept......

......whilst Phil and I enjoyed the ride.

We hopped off at Luzern to have a look around. There are a lot of Mute Swans there.

I really like the Kappelbrücke (Chapel Bridge). It was first erected in 1333, but there was a fire in 1993 that partially destroyed it, along with some of the paintings that are inside. It's still lovely.

We then went to see the Löwendenkmal, the Lion of Lucerne.  

Walked up to have a quick look at the city walls and towers.

Caelli was still feeling rotten, so we put her on the 16.12 boat back to Beckenried. That's her in the window on the far right of the upper deck (first class, remember?)

Phil and I went back to the walls and the towers, and saw a couple of lovely painted houses on the way.

The Zytturm, the Clock Tower, had some very old mechanical clocks, plus a big bell on its uppermost level.  (It struck five just after this photo was taken!)

The Männliturm had fantastic views over Luzern.

The Spreuerbrücke (Mill Bridge) could be seen from this tower, and so the tower could be seen from the bridge!  This bridge was built in 1408.

We stopped to look at the Jesuitenkirche. There was a service being conducted inside, so we listened. We have now heard services in Italian, French and (Swiss) German!

Back in time to catch the 18.12 boat back to Beckenried.