We decided to take a chance and go up to Mt. Pilatus today as we have only one more day in Lucerne before we get on the train and go to Lauterbrunnen.
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| The trip to Mt. Pilatus starts in Lucerne, shown on the right side of the map. We take a boat ride to the town of Alpnachstad, stopping along the way at four small villages. Upon leaving the boat at Alpnachstad we take a cog rail train up the mountain side to Pilatus Kulm.at the top of Mt. Pilatus, elevation 7,000 Ft.. There are two hotels and restaurants at the top. After eating a nice lunch we played in the snow and took a little walk. The snow had basically melted at this location or was melting rapidly. The weather was warm and partially sunny but foggy weather restricted the real good distant views except for momentary lifting of the clouds. The way back down is via two overhead cable cars, the first is a gondola that stops at Frakmontegg, 4649 Ft. while the second leg is via small gondolas, where Shirl and I had own car. We ended the trip in Kriens where we took a local bus back to downtown Lucerne. |
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| This bottle of water cost 6.40 Francs. While we knew expenses would be higher in Switzerland they actually have not been as bad as we thought they would be. Our lunch at the top of Mt. Pilatus was 62 CHF which is close to what it would have been in the US, except the quality was much better here. Shirl had a bowl of bean and barley soup that was excellent and I had a sausage, onions, and fried potatoes plus a nice local beer. I have been enjoying the beers and sausages throughout the trip where possible. The best beer we had was in Brugge.  |
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| The train station in Alpnachstad. |
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| The switching at the base of the rail system is interesting. The train goes down to the bottom of the track where it splits into tow rails, side by side. Then the down rails and the train slide horizontally to the right where they meet the track for going up the hill. Very ingenious. |
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| Another train coming up the hill from half way up the mountain. |
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| There we enough for me to make a snowball and throw at the photographer, but fortunately for me, my aim was off.... |
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It was hard to get a decent picture as heads kept bobbing up to view the scene. The maximum incline was 48 percent, steep enough to make your mind think what would happen if....  |
Shirl was excited, she saw her first European slug...
The fog lifted from time to time.
Taking a rest at the top of the mountain.
This little kid was zip lining when she stopped way short of the platform and had to go hand-over-hand to the end of the line and yelling for Daddy all the time. Dad was on the ground shouting her on as he could do nothing for her. She made it to the platform and had enough gumption to go on down the line to the next platform. Nothing scared her. I took a video of her trip but the size will not allow me to email it. Wait for the DVD version :-) 
Mark and Sandy, I thought of you two when I took this barn picture for Mark to paint. I will still send you the one of our local Sequim barn when we get home. Hope to see you two in sunny Sequim this fall.
Going to dinner, not sure what Shirl is cooking tonight but it will be interesting....
Tomorrow it will be another mountain adventure and hope for sunny weather.
Love to all,
Shirl and Roger.
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