You say Luzern, I say Lucerne

We spent the 2nd and 3rd of January visiting beautiful Lucerne.  We briefly visited Lucerne 5 years ago, but it was excellent to be able to take a little longer to savour its delights this time .

It was pretty cold and wet both days, so while we did spend some time wandering around, we also spent quite a lot of time in cafes and restaurants where the true delights are to be found.

We were also lucky to be able to spend the first day catching up with Martin, a friend of Manuela's, with whom we traveled in Argentina in 2011.

  Snow dusted little boat on Lake Lucerne near the snow dusted 14th century Kapellbrucke bridge

  Part of the medieval city ramparts. You can walk around them, but not in winter.

 

 In front of the Lion Monument Memorial

We didn't know about this important tourist attraction but plenty of other tourists did.  It apparently commemorates the Swiss soldiers who died defending King Louis XVI during the French Revolution.

 Martin, Dale and me enjoying kafee and kuchen in a very chic Lucerne cafe, selected by Manuela.  Photo is also by Manuela.

At Martin's suggestion we went to the Bourbaki Panorama, which was excellent as a piece of artwork and very interesting historically.  It is an 1100 square metre painting that encircles the room, with real diorama elements in front of the painting to provide a 3D feel.  The panorama vividly depicts the miserable state of retreating French troops during the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian war.  These troops were taken in by the Swiss and looked after until they were well enough to return to France.  This was probably the first major international mission undertaken by the Red Cross and had a big impact on Swiss society.

An effective mix of modelling and painted scenery

 A building stunningly decorated as an advent calendar

We had dinner with Martin and then we walked around taking photos of the enchantingly lit up city. 

Here is a selection of some of those photos.

 The 15th century Spreuerbrucke Bridge with the Hotel Chateau Gutsch lit up in the background

More of the Spreuerbrucke Bridge

 

More beautiful street lighting, this time in Zug

We went back to Lucerne on the second day to visit the Sammlung Rosengart Art Gallery, which is described as Lucerne's blockbuster cultural attraction.  It is the collection of a Swiss art dealer, Angela Rosengart.  She was a friend of Picasso's and amassed an awesome collection of paintings by Picasso and Klee.  There are also works by Cezanne, Kandinsky, Miro, Matisse and Monet in the collection.  However, we were most amazed by two small studies that were done by Georges Seurat as preparation for his works 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte' (Dale's favourite painting) and 'Bathing at Asnieres'.

We didn't take many noteworthy photos on the second day although we did take the one below of one of the boats that can ferry you around Lake Lucerne.  We'd like to do this on a nice sunny day.