Photo Galleries

Lake Lucerne

August 2017

We spent most of our time in Switzerland this summer around beautiful Lake Lucerne. From our house sit in the village of Merlischachen, we had wonderful views of the ever-changing lake and mountains out our windows. Merlischachen is a charming place to stay, with a handful of old chalet-style houses and a little lakeside park. The nearby city of Lucerne has a pretty old quarter full of medieval wooden bridges, stone towers, and elaborately painted buildings. Above Lucerne looms 7,000-foot Mount Pilatus, where we saw not only amazing views but also wild ibex---a first for us.

The village dock in Merlischachen, where we house sat for two summers

Our tiny village beach

The lakeside park

Our livingroom balcony, with Mount Rigi in the background

The view from our bedroom window on a sunny day

And on a stormy day

And at sunset

The village church in Merlishachen and the train tracks that took us all over Switzerland

Merlischachen's main street, with Mount Pilatus on the right

A flag of our canton of Schwyz, with matching shutters on an old house

One of Merlischachen's many old houses

Part of a hotel complex in Merlishachen with fake storks roosting on the roof

Looking down on Merlischachen (where the shore curves in at the center right) from the side of Mt. Rigi

Stopping for raspberry cake after a walk on Mt. Rigi

A traditional alphorn band helps Merlischachen celebrate Swiss National Day

Flag throwers

Little kids doing folk dances on Swiss National Day

Lucerne's iconic 14th-century Chapel Bridge with its adjoining tower

An interesting-looking house perched on a hill in the old part of the city

A monument carved in 1820 to honor the Swiss soldiers who died defending King Louis the 16th during the French Revolution

A view over the old city to the lake and mountains beyond

One of the watch towers remaining from the old city walls

The flags of Switzerland (left) and Lucerne

German poet Goethe stayed here in 1779

Clock tower on the old city hall buiding

One of Lucerne's many elaborately painted old buildings

Another old bridge, this one from 1408

The bridge is decorated with paintings depicting the ravages of the plague

Lucerne's Jesuit cathedral

High above Lucerne, red cable cars carry visitors to the top of 7,000-foot Mount Pilatus

Old and new hotels at the top of Mt. Pilatus

View from Pilatus over Lake Lucerne

A chapel in a high mountain meadow

A zig-zag trail going down from Pilatus (we took the cable car down)

A trail near the summit

Wild ibex resting on rocks far below the trail

Ibex can be hard to spot in the landscape