Towering palms frame the neoclassical grandeur of the Hôtel National on the Quai in Lucerne, Switzerland — one of the great Belle Époque resort hotels of the Swiss lakefront, its ornate facade draped with the red-and-white Swiss federal flag as it welcomed the wealthiest travelers of Edwardian Europe. Hand-colored in the vibrant postcard style of the era, the card was posted from Siebnen in the canton of Schwyz on September 30, 1911, and sent to Armand at 2/3 rue Flamand, Jette-lez-Bruxelles, Belgium — a fashionable suburb of Brussels. The Swiss Helvetia 5-centime stamp is from the William Tell series, placing this squarely in the pre-WWI golden age of European tourism. The Hôtel National Luzern, designed in the grand Swiss resort tradition, remained a landmark on the lakefront throughout the 20th century.