Lucerne (or Luzern in German) is located in the middle of Switzerland and acted as a transport gateway between the Swiss plateau on the north and the Alps in the south.
When I told people I was moving to Lausanne, many were confusing Lausanne with this city – as it is better known outside of Europe. Indeed, for a city on the shore of a lake, it has the prettiest lakefront – comparing with those I had visited, it beats Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne, Montreux, Lugano and Neuchatel. The covered wooden bridge (Kappellbrucke) and octagonal tower (Wasserturm) certainly made the River Reuss more interesting.
The Asian tourists loved the swans. There were busloads of them here. Many years ago, I came here as a teenager with my mom on a tour bus. The swans were there.
I wondered if the city manages the water level. The water was moving at a rate that did not cause any turbulence until it plunged through the opening. On the lake side, the surface was smooth and calm in contrast to the splashing downstream. A small spectacle, indeed.
Notice the small ripples on the smooth fast flowing surface (lower left hand corner). There were lots of mosquitoes here.
I stayed 2 nights for a business meeting and only had one hour to walk around the city centre. Hotel rooms are expensive here and apparently many tourists just pass through and stop only for a few hours to snap photos and do a bit of shopping.
For dinners, we walked from our meeting venue to restaurants located on the other side of the lake. We passed this Ferris wheel which is located next to the city’s train station and art museum, but it was not operational.
One night we had dinner at the Art Deco Hotel Montana which is located on a hillside by the lake. The view must be great during the day.
From the balcony of the restaurant. The mountains are in the background which are just visible – see the lights at the top ?
The hotel has its own funicular which takes guests from the lakefront up to its lobby. A jazz singer statue greets the guests at the top. 
Have to come back to properly and leisurely explore this beautiful city.
