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We left Geneva bound for Lucerne via Montreaux. We were advised by one of Richards work colleague, Phillip, to take the Golden Pass train through the countryside as it was spectacular and we were not disappointed. We arrived in Montreaux and disembarked for a wander. It was picture perfect, with its colourful yellow or red umbrella awnings along the hotels facing the lake. We caugh a bus to Chateau de Chillon which was a very well preserved castle on the lake, it is steeped in history as is all of Europe. We were able to walk through the dungeon where Byron had spent some time. We wandered the huge dining and bed rooms, walked along the high wooden walkways where the gaurds would take their post. About 2 hours later we caught a bus back to the train station stop and found a bench overlooking the lake, There were many people enjoying a Sunday afternoon walk with a busker playing french music on a piano accordian................ perfect.
Back on the train, we arrived at Lucerne around 9pm and the sun was just setting. Our accomodation was Mr Pickwicks Hotel, an English pub and it was busy on a Sunday night.
The bonus was that it was right on the Ruess River with chairs and umbrella cald tables out the front. Our room overlooked the river and the famous wooden bridge the Kapellbrücke. It is the oldest wooden bridge in Europe, and one of Switzerland's main tourist attractions, so it was a busy place to be............... loved it. We were shown to our room by Stephan a young man from Tasmania who had married a Swiss girl 5 months earlier, he told us must do Mount Pilatus. After fish & chips, a hamburger and 3 stouts we staggered up to bed.
We started our journey to the mount by catching a 1 hour ferry then caught the worlds steepest finicular train, the steepest rack railway in the world, with a maximum gradient of 48%. The line runs from Alpnachstadt, on Lake Lucerne, to a terminus near the summit of Mount Pilatus at an altitude of 2,132 m (6,995 ft). At Alpnachstad, the Pilatus Railway connects with steamers on Lake Lucerne and only 5o that day!! Arriving at the top we then walked around in the clouds for 10min before sitting on deck chairs to eat our packed lunch. We couldnt
see past the fencing so caught the cable car down through the cloud which revealed a beautiful site across all of Lucerne. Once at the cable car station we had to transfer to a 4 person small gondola to the bottom. We caught the bus back to town and decided to visit the old wall and towers that once surrounded the city. An exhausting day so rewarded ourselves with a few beers.
Next day we headed off by train to Davos, further into the Swiss Alps via the Glacier train and were in awe of the scenic route with picturesque little villages amidst snow capped mountains and aqua blue waters. The train followed the route of the river. Stunning once again. We arrived around 7pm to Davos and found it to be quite small. Today we ventured on the bus and got off way too early at the lake, so we walked around it for about an hour then detoured off up a track to Klosters (royalty ski here). Nothing much there so we caught the bus back into Davos Platz (main town) where we accidentally came across a finicular train which we took up to the top of
Schatzalp. There was a hotel at the top and a few restuarants, so we walked 10min further up the mountain to the top cafe and sat and ordered Swiss rosti (quite uninspiring though) overlooking snow clad mountains and watching the storm clouds roll by. All this by 4pm and back at the chalet. Richard has gone for a nap as he claims not to have had any sleep as he couldnt fit in the bed! Lisa and myself are now updating our travelblog and uploading the myriad of photos taken already. We now have to find accomodation for tomorrow night for when we land in Innsbruck, Austria
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Anne Purdie
non-member comment
Happy Travellers
Hi Richard, Julia and Lisa Loved reading your journal and checking out all the great photos. Obviously, plenty of tourists around - can't believe how much you have done in such a short space of time! You are obviously very good travellers!! We have Kendall's 21st this weekend - so for the first time ever!! We are not going away for the June long weekend!! Can you believe that? Looking forward to more news - take care