A Day in Lucerne

---

---

July 24 Monday



Had a great sleep with the window open allowing fresh cool air into my room. For breakfast there was crispy bacon at last! So I filled up on bacon and croissants. Overnight snow had fallen on top of some of the peaks so my view at breakfast was wonderful.



We left the hotel at 9 am for a day in Lucerne. As we went along the clouds and fog made the view spectacular.



Lucerne is a city in central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the district of the same name. With a population of about 81,057 people.

We first went to the Lion Monument. The Lion Monument or the Lion of Lucerne, is a rock relief in designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen and hewn in 1820–21 by Lukas Ahorn. It commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris.



Right when we got there it started to rain. So I quickly snapped my pictures and got back to the bus before I got too wet. Next We were dropped of in the shopping area of Lucerne called the Schwanenplatz. They have a really neat covered wooden pedestrian bridge and tower that crosses over an inlet of Lake Lucerne. We had 2 hours to shop and explore. I immediately went to the pedestrian bridge to get pictures. I then went looking for a watch for Dad and something for Web. I found it at a shop called Casagrande. You would think with a name like that you would have Hispanics running the store. Instead it was a store that sold only Swiss made items but was run by a bunch of Asian people. Too funny. I had planned on getting Danny a T-shirt from Lucerna but each one of them were $25 or more. We were warned ahead of time that Lucerne and parts of Switzerland are very expensive when you want to buy food and clothing. After leaving the store I then walked around and looked at all the statues and art work on the walls of the buildings. For lunch I grabbed a slice of vegetarian pizza and a bottle of water along with a cinnamon roll. I did it as a takeaway which means carry out over here in Europe and continued walking down the street hoping to find a place to sit down and eat. I stopped in front of McDonald's and they had two tables outside underneath the canopy so I sat down at one of them. After eating my light meal I continue looking around at the different stores and shops. It began to rain harder so I made my way back to the meeting point. I did stop in the chocolatier. I bought a very small bar of chocolate and almond covered croissant. As we waited near the meeting place we saw tour bus after tour bus dropping off tourists, mostly Asians. Glad we got into town before it got packed. Once every one arrived we left for the boat to do a cruise on Lake Lucerne. Unfortunately I as well as some others missed the announcement that we would not be coming back to the bus. Even though I had a light sweater on I left my jacket on board while others left their cameras and jackets.



Lake Lucerne (German: Vierwaldstättersee, literally "Lake of the Four Forested Settlements", is a lake in central Switzerland and the fourth largest in the country.



The cruise took an hour. We had rain on and off so I was able to go to the top deck to get pictures. Most of the scenery was similar to our drive to Engelberg with lots of green covered hillsides dotted with chalets and hotels. While taking pictures with Ali and Sateen at the bottom of the stairs near the entrance to the boat, a random wave splashed my sweater and jeans!! Of course the two men were completely dry.



We then debarked in the town of Alpnachstad to ride to the top of Mount Pilatus.



Pilatus (also often referred to Mount Pilatus) is a mountain massifoverlooking Lucerne in Central Switzerland. It is composed of several peaks, of which the highest 6,982 feet. The top can be reached with the Pilatus Railway, the world's steepest cogwheel railway, from Alpnachstad, operating from May to November (depending on snow conditions), and the whole year with the aerial panorama gondolas and aerial cableways from Kriens.



The group had a whole car to ourselves and began the 30 minutes climb to the top. It was very picturesque with tall evergreens and trees that were dark green and contrast with the light green of the grass. As we got hire the cloud cover started obscuring our view of everything turning it into fog shrouded trees. We passed some cows at one level and then a man and a young son who obviously were the farmers of the cows at the next level. We were able to lower some of the windows in the cable car going up and could get some really good pictures. But at the same time the weather kept getting cooler and cooler. We reach the top where there was virtually no visibility due to the clouds. We were given two hours to explore the area but due to the clouds, the cold and me not having my jacket, I did not do much exploring. I tried to go to one of the peaks via one of the tunnels provided but due to the wind, the rain, and the cold I didn't make it more than five minutes into the tunnel. So for the next hour and a half I spend the time eating some french fries and soup that cost me €25, talking with others from the group were also meandering around, or walking through the gift shop looking up extremely overpriced items. Finally at 4:30 we were allowed to go get in line for the tram ride down. Some of us were able to be there first so we got in the very front car to get a better view going down. Just as we passed through the first tunnel at the top of the mountain the sky started clearing and the view became spectacular. It was really beautiful to see the mountains against the sky with the green grass and the occasional cows on the way down. We even have a couple mountain deer cross over the tracks. Luigi was waiting for us at the bottom of the station for a ride back to the hotel.



We arrived at the hotel at 5:30 had about two hours before dinner was served in the hotel restaurant. I decided to head down a couple stores over to the souvenir shop. I ran into Nick and Kylie who did not go on today's trip. They spend the day exploring the town and actually visited the church which they said was really nice. At 7:30 I headed down to dinner. My meal consisted of a salad and chicken with pasta and vegetables. It was 8:30 and we still have not gotten our dessert yet so I left for my room. I officially have two days left on my trip because tomorrow we are in Paris which is our last city.

---