Lucerne.

The geographical heart of Switzerland, more poetically described by Alexandre Dumas as "a pearl in the world's most beautiful oyster", Lucerne is an undeniably magical city. It sits on the shores of the Vierwaldstättersee (lake of the four forest cantons) at the place where the lake narrows to form the fast-flowing River Reuss. Over the last 1,000 years it has grown from a tiny fishing village to a thriving resort, but it has lost none of its natural beauty. 

The top photograph shows one of the many delicately painted town houses and hotels in Lucerne. It was taken on an slightly grey day as I didn't want any harsh sun casting shadows across the facade. I concentrated on a small part of the building and removed all other distractions from the image.

The bottom photograph shows the Kapellbrücke, one of the oldest wooden bridges in Europe (around 1330). Its eight-sided stone tower was used as a prison up till the 19th century. Not long ago, the bridge was destroyed in a disastrous fire (not for the first time), but was rapidly reconstructed right down to the 112 triangular paintings fitting between the roof beams. 

Although the bottom image is more of the typical postcard image I prefer the top image as it brings back more memories of my many visits to the town.