Blogs from Lucerne, North-West, Switzerland, Europe - page 11

Church bells ring for 5 minutes straight at 7AM in Switzerland, apparently...hahah. We got up pretty early and had a great breakfast at the place where we are staying. It is a really cool old house and the woman who runs it, Evelyn, has been very helpful. The breakfast was good. Swiss cheese is better in Switzerland, I think; I hate it at home. We took a cable car up to Mt. Pilatus in the morning. You have to change cars near the top because it is so steep it takes a special one. At the station where you switch there are some fun adventure activities. We did a "summer bobsled run" made out of metal. You run it with a plastic sled. It was pretty cool. The top of the mountain is unreal. It is ... read more

Author's note: This one is still incomplete. I've now posted a few more pictures but I'm waiting for some pictures from David. When/if I get them I'll repost. I’ll just come right out and say it. I had a blast today. All the stars were aligned for a great day on the road - majestic scenery, interesting people, beautiful weather… The day started out at the low point with my training run. It’s an off weekend this week (so no 20+/- mile training runs) but I still had to put in seven miles. The run is over with; that’s the most positive way I can put it. After cleaning up at the hostel, I set out for some brief touring of Lucerne’s old town before going on the day’s main event. Along the 10 minute walk ... read more

Day 1 - I arrived in Zurich and met Ian at the airport. We got the train to Lucerne together. Michelle's apartment is beautiful, and we got a tour of the school she teaches at. Michelle's friends had arranged a stagette for her - we went out for a beautiful supper then to a local pub they frequent for some YouTube karaoke. Day 2 - We had the wedding rehersal in Hergisvil. The church is beautiful. We went to a British pub for dinner where we met Ian's extended family and I learnt all about cricket. We called it a night fairly early - we had a big day the next morning! Day 3 ***Wedding Day*** We got ready in Lisa's apartment, right in the medieval section of town. It was fun walking down the streets ... read more

17 August 2009 The days are still warm, sunny and dry. Even in Lucerne it is 31 degrees and the local pass time seems to revolve around the water with scores of people at ‘beaches’ along the lake swimming and sunbaking and some sensational motor boats and small sail boats. Our day started early however getting out to catch the first gondolas to Mt Pilatus. These were gondolas of the air, not the water. To get to the top we first took a series of the small 4 person gondolas to rejoin in the 40 person version complete with the hatchway for you to climb out for your fight scene a la James Bond. The trip takes us straight up from 436 to 2132 metres. Going up the mountain is amazing, for about two thirds of ... read more

Ah Switzerland in summer! A land of lush green hills, beautiful turquoise lakes, snow covered Alps, umpteen waterfalls, melting glaciers, cute looking villages, cows with bells, chocolates, mountain trains, cable cars, gondolas and picture-perfect postcard scenery all around. And of course clouds and some rain too! After spending a little over 5 days in Paris, I took the TGV to Bern. It was about 4 hrs journey. TGV holds the world record for the fastest train. But the TGV I took did not run with any record breaking speed. It was a smooth ride though. My passport got checked a couple of times in the train before the train crossed the France-Switzerland border. At Bern station, I roamed around with my luggage for some time trying to orient myself. The language changed from French in Paris ... read more