After the previous evening's activities, I slept for as long as I could - not leaving much time for breakfast (the dreaded bread roll!). I managed to grab a few rolls as I boarded the coach, still sleepy and looking forward to some quiet time on the coach as we made our way from the Rhine River Valley to the Swiss Alps.
I managed to nod off a few times during the first part of our ride, but as Daren had said on the first day of the trip, we were not spending our hard earned money and valuable time in Europe to sleep on a coach all day. Needless to say, as we crossed the border into Switzerland and made our usual currency exchange all of my body's desires to sleep were overcome by the familiar feelings of adrenaline and the anticipation of finally seeing the Swiss Alps.
As we made our way through tunnels and up into the mountains Daren gave us some history on the Swiss People and their self-defense systems. I guess when a people truely want to be neutral politically they need to be able to protect themselves. We saw mountains with cannons in them and learned about airfield hangers with grass growing on the rooves to hide them from the air. It was facinating!
We arrived in the city of Lucerne around 2PM and immediately went to the entrance for Mount Pilatus. We were going to be staying at the top of this mountain for 2 days, and we needed to pack a day pack since our main packs were going to remain on the coach at the bottom of the mountain. Armed with our day packs, we set off for the gondola ride that took us most of the way up the mountain. The views here were just unbelievable! It was just as I had pictured the Swiss Alpine Lake Country. The gondola ride took us over farmland and many swiss cows with clanking cowbells. Once at the top of the gondola, we paused for some photos of Lake Lucerne and the surrounding mountains before boarding the tram for the ride to the very top!
Once we arrived at the top, we quickly found our rooms and our new roommates - there were limited rooms at the top and we were doubled up. We had a nice room with four twin beds that Jamie and I shared with Matt (Kiwi), Tim from Australia and a pair of shoes that would almost end up killing several people. (sorry Kiwi, but that was the most repulsive thing that I have ever smelled!)
Shortly after we checked in Daren informed us that there was a break in the weather and that we should take advantage of it and hike to the very top of the peak. We spent the next few hours literally on top of the world! (see photos below!) The scenery was undescribable.
The first evening we had dinner and a dance in the "disco". The bar was open and we discovered some kind of really good red mixed drink. I really can't remember what it was called, but it was so good that many of us partook. At around 12:30AM they kicked us out of the disco and several of us decided to hike to the top of the mountain to check out the view at night. Looking back on this, it may not have been the smartest thing to do since it was very dark and the path to the top was rocky and winding, but we were all glad when we got up there. The peacefulness and the clear skies were amazing. I have never seen so many stars in my life. It was so quiet that we heard the cowbells clanking on the cows down in the valleys below the mountain! I guess we stayed up on the peek until 3AM or so, all of us in awe of the natural beauty around us.
It was also recommended to us that we get up early to see the sunrise from the peak. After 3 hours of sleep, several of us trudged back to the top of the mountain to view the sunrise (see photo below). During the sunrise the only noise that could be heard was the occasional snap of a camera shutter. The awesome display that Mother Nature put on that morning was truely amazing and like nothing I have ever experienced. In addition, as the sun came up I realized that several of the neighboring peaks were now covered with snow! Shortly after the sun came up, we realized that there had been a monumental occurance on the mountaintop. Steven and Tiffany (from Florida) had gotten engaged during this sunrise! After spending a few minutes congratulating them we found another traveler who had wandered to the top of the mountain and had him take several group photos for us. After returning to the room and sleeping for around an hour, we met at the tram for the ride to the valley and a day in Lucerne.
Daren informed us that this was going to be a "coach free day" as the laws in Europe require Dave to have a day with no driving every so often. We took the tram and gondola down to the village and after a short walk we were on a public bus heading to Lucerne. We learned that we were to meet our last traveler in Lucerne - Brant from California was joining us here. Daren took us to a Swiss Jeweler and many of us purchased authentic swiss watches. Several of us had signed up for the swiss folklore lunch as well, and I personally was looking forward to real cheese fondue. The lunch was great - although a bit crowded. During the meal there was a show on swiss folklore. At one point some of us even got a chance to blow a big swiss alpine horn. I sounded more like a sick duck than an experienced horn blower!
After lunch we did some shopping and saw the sights in Lucerne. Our return to Mt. Pilatus for the evening took us up the far side of the mountain and up the cog railroad. To get to the railroad we took a boat cruise across Lake Lucerne. This gave us yet another amazing perspective of the Swiss Alpine.
Back atop Mt. Pilatus once again we learned that this evenings activity would be a movie - The Full Monty. Having seen this movie, I opted for an early night in bed. In just 6 days I had seen so much, but here was still 10 days ahead of me! Tommorow we would head for Innsbruck Austria.
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| The Hotel Pilatus Kulm sits atop Mt. Pilatus. | The Hotel Belleview is also on Mt. Pilatus. |
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| Molly, Elisa, Matt(Kiwi), Tony & Jamie in our room at the Hotel Pilatus Kulm. | The walkway from the hotel to the top of Mt. Pilatus. |
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| Sunrise from the top of Mt. Pilatus. WOW! | The Contiki Crew enjoys a cheese fondue lunch. YUM! |
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| The chapel bridge in Lucerne. Mt. Pilatus is in the background. | Lucerne has very picturesque buildings. |
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| The view of Lake Lucerne from the Pilatus Cog Railway. | A mountain cottage halfway up Mt. Pilatus. |
© 1998-2000 Geoffrey S. Cable
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