Awesome Alpine Adventure: Day 8 - Walk along Lake Lucerne

Day 8: To day was the last day of our adventure so we wanted to make the best of it.  It started off with a walk along the promenade called Carl-Spitteler Quai.
Favorite item for the day:

Lake Lucerne at the end of June.

Because it was the last day my husband and I wanted to do as much as we could.  We figured we could sleep on the plane.   And so we planned a busy day.  We wanted to go to the Swiss Transport Museum because we had heard people talk about it more than once saying it truly was a great museum.  Since it didn't open until 10 we decided to walk along the Carl-Spitteler Quai -  It was basically a promenade on the lake to the park that was in front of the Transport Museum.  They said it was about a mile long.
   When we woke up it was pouring down rain.  We debated walking or taking a bus.  We went ahead and at breakfast and as we ate we could see the rain letting up.  We decided since we had rain coats, rain poncho's and umbrella's we would go ahead with the planned walk.  I'm glad we did because we got to see some things that we wouldn't otherwise like a bunch of baby ducks out with their parents.    You could tell the parents were protective of there young and only was out in the morning when there wasn't much pedestrian traffic on the walkway.

So here are the photo's I got while we walked:

The Kursaal Palace, which is where the Grand Casiono of Lucerne is located.

 The water marshals boat house.  My husband was impressed with how sturdily it was built.  You could tell this was going to last a long long time.

I think this is  M Luchsinger Platz

 Another angle of that park,  Notice the girl with the umbrella? It was very pretty and idyllic. 

 I looked back and saw these ducks swimming and noticed mount Pilatus just peeking out of the clouds so I too the photo. 

 I'm not used to see ducks like the one in the center with the white beak.  I could tell the other was a male mallard.

 The flowers were very pretty along the way. 

 There was a heavy drizzly rain as we walked that was coming straight down on us.  It was not bad at all.  We are so used to heavy gusty thunderstorms and this was so different from what we are used to.  You could walk in this stuff with an umbrella. 

 Because it was raining we had the walkway all to ourselves - we saw very few other people as we walked and the ones we did were in a hurry or else had a pet dog with them.

 I was amazed that they could have flowers left like this on this observation platform.  They were so pleasant to see and they gave the place some color on this dreary day. 

 This is where the first photo comes in.  Next to the observation deck there were reeds and grown up vegetation.  I noticed this Swan and then all of a sudden I noticed this Ugly Duckling.  All I could think about was Han's Christian Anderson's tale of the Ugly Duckling.  Being the baby that it was it was adorable to see with its mom.  But mom didn't care too much for me and quickly took the babe into the heavier overgrowth where they could be better hidden.

Baby Swan and mother in Lake Lucerne, Switzerland

Every once in a while there was a statue- This guy looked like he was actually somebody that once lived and they were commemorating him.  It made me wonder who he was. 

I saw this unusual looking duck again and took this picture.  Look how clear the water is and you can see the rock it is standing on.  He looked like he was guarding something the way it was being so still and staying there.

Then I heard a horn sound and it got my attention.  I saw the ferry we had taken the day before.  It was leaving that dock.  The mountain in the background should be Mount Rigi.

Then I noticed the reeds again and realize that duck must have a nest near by.

Then I saw this family swimming together and I could tell it was definitely a different species and no wonder that other duck was on alert.  I enlarged this so you could see the itzy bitzy baby better. You could tell it was a newborn and sticking very close to its parent. 

Here's another nest with the parent sitting on the eggs - I cropped this so you could see it better.

Here's a different duck just hanging out at the waters edge. Again notice how clear the water was.

This tree had fallen down and rather than cut it up and hall it away it was left and I could tell it was providing some shelter for some of the natural wildlife in the area.

There was this public water fountain.  I wondered if anyone drinks from it or was it strictly ornamental.   As we were heading back to the old town I saw a bunch of teenagers hanging out there.  Some of the boys were drinking from it so I got my answer. 

I saw this mother Mallard and what didn't turn out in the photo was she had a baby duck under each wing.  They would poke there heads out.  Momma didn't want us around and started to make sounds to let us know she was not happy with us being there.

This was at the park where the Transportation Museum was.

Looking back over the area we had just walked.

We went to the museum and then I got the rest of the photo's as we were heading back to the old town.   I thought it was interesting that to this point the ducks I was seeing were only having one or two babies with them. 

Another nest with the baby swimming near by.

I thought these two birds were different looking.  They looked like they were talking about something when I saw them. 

They must have finished because they swam away. I liked this one because of the flowers that were in it too.  I wish I knew what the flowers were.

Some more interesting flowers by the water's edge.

Here was a Mallard family out for a swim - finally a family with more than one offspring.

Mallard family on Lake Lucerne

I thought it interesting that even in the water the babies were swimming in a V formation.

But then they all got caught up with each other. 

I think this might have been the daddy keeping an eye out for them.

We did make it to the Swiss Transportation museum but that is a post in and of itself - so watch for it next.

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.

I also want to thank my husband for being such a good sport and be willing to walk in the rain.  We never would have seen these things if we went another way.  Thank you for making this trip so wonderful.

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