Awesome Alpine Adventure: Day 6- Luzern/ Lucerne

Day 6 continues with us arriving in Luzern (Lucerne) Switzerland and having the afternoon to wander around and get  settled into our hotel.
Favorite picture for this post:

"The Dying Lion" by Lukas Ahorn, Lucerne Switzerland

  I picked this monument of the Dying Lion because I had seen it used in advertizing and felt it was such a moving tribute to those Swiss soldiers who had given their lives for the French King during revolution.   It was raining when we were there and it felt only fitting that the heavens were shedding tears for it too. 

The hotel we stayed at was the Grand National. Here's a side view. 

The Grand National Hotel, Lucerne Switzerland

 This was what was facing the lake and is along the promenade.

The Grand national Hotel, Lucerne

 The outside of the room we were staying in.  We didn't have a balcony just a window, but later we visited our friends suite and they had a balcony which was great for viewing the fireworks they shot off the last day we were there but that's another post.

Also on the front of the hotel they had these beautiful statues.

 Our room was very lovely too.  

 The view from the windows was quite nice too.

the view from our room in the Grand National Hotel, Lucern

Some images of the lobby and sitting areas.

    The group arrived in the afternoon after taking that memorable train ride on the Glacier Express.  By now my husband and I were past the jet lag stage of the trip and wanted to see as much as possible.  We had the whole afternoon and evening free so we could do what we wanted too. We got the brochures that they handed us and flipped through them.  We picked out a restaurant that we thought we would enjoy. We decided we would walk around first and then go there.  One of the things I really wanted to see was the Dying Lion memorial.  When people think of Lucerne they usually uses the bridges and walls  as the keepsake image for the city but I feel this tribute could be used just as well.  So we walked there first but it started to rain but a little bit of rain wasn't going to stop us.  As we walked we would duck into some stores and look at things there also.  Here are some of the things we saw as we walked along. 

 The central train station.

The front of the central train station, Lucerne

 The Cathedral or Hofkirche.

The Cathedral, Lucerne Switzerland

 The restaurant we wanted to eat at but you had to have reservations even though no one was sitting at the table we saw, and were turned away.  Which was just as well because we got a call from some other people we were traveling with and they invited us to join them at another restaurant.

 Another view of the Dying Lion.

 This was a typical street scene - Lowenstrasse.

 Schweizehofqual street.

 Some unusual duck along the Carl-Spitteter  Quai

 Some building the Kapellplatz.  I couldn't figure out what this was but looked like a church of some sort.

 I just thought it was interesting to see the stucco's on its wall.

  Here's it all together.

  I really liked the art work on the walls of the buildings.

The area is now by this fountain.

The Fritschi Fountain, Lucerne Switzerland

 The streets were narrow in the old part of town and I was glad the cars were not allowed to go there.

 The old town square.

House of the "Zu Pfistern' Guild

The town hall

 The water tower bridge- this is the image most people use with Lucerne.

Chapel Bridge/ Kapellbrucke

 It was getting dark so this wasn't the best image but it was on one of the building along Rathausq.

 The sun setting on Lake Lucerne along the Carl-Spitteler-Quai

 This is looking along the shoreline of the lake. 

night time along the Carl-Spitteler Quai

That's it for this day.
The next day we took the ferry for a ride on the lake.  We had to walk to it and as I we walked I took a couple more photos that I thought would be best to be included here.

 This is the rail transportation center.  The ferry was right across from.

There's more to come....

PS:  I do want to thank the group that took us on this awesome adventure and all the wonderful people we got to know while going on it.  You know who you are - THANK YOU.

Also I have to thank my husband for wanting to explore this town with me and making it so interesting to see.