Awesome Alpine Adventure: Day 7 - Lake Lucerne

Day 7 Ferry ride on Lake Lucerne and surrounding water way.
Favorite picture for this post:

Lake of Lucerne

 My favorite geologic picture is really two - I liked both equally as much and couldn't decide which was better.
This one for the anticline that can be scene and the the way the rocks are thrust on top of each other in that stair step pattern. 

Burgenstock

 And this one for the angle of the beds.

  The reason I liked this post because this was so typical of the shoreline along Lake Lucerne.  It was also a good shot of the hotel we were staying in.

Today we were fortunate to take a Ferry ride across the  Lake of Lucerne  (Wikipedia- Lake_Lucerne) or as it is also called the Lake of the Four Cantons or as one map called it Vierwaldstatter-See to get to Piz Pilatus.  Because this was a ferry it made some stops along the way.  I was pleased about this because it brought us in closer than if we had just gone straight up the middle of the lake.
(I have a couple of different maps and on each map they call this stuff different names.  Since I'm using translated maps I don't know which is the more accurate name to use for some of this stuff.  If you see a / its because I have different names for the same feature. I try to use both when I'm in doubt of something )
   The first stop was near the Transportation Museum this allowed us to follow the shoreline of the city of Lucerne.  Then it cross back across the lake and stopped either at St. Niklausen or at Kastanienbaum (on the map I had those were both stops but I only recalled doing one of them.) Then it stopped at Hergiswil .  It crossed under a bridge (Gotthard Lugano)  where the land jetties out on both sides to form a strait with on the one side Burgenstock/Stansstad and the other Sarnen . Then we crossed into the Alpnacher See and finally we got off at Alpnachstad to catch the cable cogwheel car up to Mount Pilatus Kulm. Needless to say some of the scenery along the way was breathtaking beautiful as you will see from all the photos I took.

Here's a picture of the boat we took to get there. 

We had to walk to get to the boat and I did take some pictures along the path to the terminal.
I thought these swans were so elegant looking. 

 I got this one because of the other duck that was there.  It was different from ducks I'm used to seeing.

 The was a rower enjoying the lake, plus I liked the way the sun rays were coming through the clouds.

We got on to the boat and these are the pictures that were taken.

Lucerne /Luzern

 We were told that the area was once all swamp/ marsh area so they built a retaining wall and filled it in.  Then all of the hotels and buildings that can be seen here was built on the filled in land.

Lucerne / Luzern

This was as we were heading toward the park that held the Swiss Transport Museum.

Lucerne / Luzern

 

 We pulled into to the dock here and people got off to go to the museum.

Schwanenplatz

 This was to the left.  The mountain is Rigi and the piece that is sticking out is  Weggis

 to the left is Weggis and to the right is Burgenstock

 We are still in Lake Lucerne  and this was  Kastanienbaum

   From what I can tell on one map this point is called Vierwald. 

  Another image of Vierwald.

 A closer shot of Weggis

We passed by this strait between Weggis and Burgenstock and headed to a different area.

 Here you cans see  the ridge that is I think is Sarnen the town of Hergiswil on the Lake of Lucerne or Vierwaldstatter See

 the strait in between Burgenstock and Sarnen.

  I fell in love with this out crop and took lots and lots of photos of it.  

  On the map it looks like it is called Burenstock  and the point to the left is Vierwald.

 Just look at how those rocks are folded into an anticline on the top of it. 

  Here it is from  a different angle

 What made it so great was the ferry was traveling around it and we almost got a complete tour around it.

Hergiswil as seen from Lake of Lucerne.

The town of Hergiswil in the front and in the way distance is Lucerne.

 I just loved being able to look at this outcrop from so many different angles.

 Here we are starting to go around it.

 And this was on the otherside.

 The bridge Gotthard Lugano

 Once we went under the bridge we then entered into the Alpnacher See.

 Just look at the way these beds are dipping

 It was neat to pass by them and to see it from different view points too.  I just wish I knew the name of this formation.  Looking at the maps its difficult to tell which range this area is in. It may be in the  Emmental_Alps  because  Mount Pilatus is listed in the Emmental Alps while it could also be in the  Urner_Alps - since Mt Titlis is in this range and that is on our maps of the area.  But I couldn't find Mount Rigi on either list and that is the mountain the people in Lucerne talk about the most - Rigi_Mountain

 

 

 

 The ferry pulled into Alpachstad. 

Observations about the lake - It looks to be all glacier feed water and even though we were there in June I did stick my hand in it and the water was cold - not something you would want to swim in.  In fact I didn't see any one in the lake except if they were in a boat of some sort.
    The lake is very irregular in shape and you can tell the mountains control it.  In Lucerne  the River Reuss ( Reuss_River ) flows from it.  They said the area used to be marshy but now it is not.   This was a main transportation hub and I'm sure the water and rivers draining into and out of it had a lot to do with that.
    The lake is deep enough and also big enough to be a source of recreation.  What impressed me about it was how smooth the waters were.  I'm sure having those big Mountains surrounding it has blocked the winds and so it was a calm lake.  Our boat seemed to be making the most waves on it. 

to be continued with Mt Pilatus ....

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 want to thank my husband for this awesome adventure.