os all my muscles were pretty sore too! In any case I sucked it up and managed to find where the buses left ok - and find a much needed coffee on the way as well :) Looked like it was going to be a beautiful day - I sat on the sunny side of the bus & was soon taking off all my layers!Got underway around 9.30 and drove out of the city into the gorgeous picturesque Swiss countryside, adorned with typical Swiss houses & cows everywhere! Our guide was really good, very informative, not only about what we were passing but throwing in general facts about Switzerland as well. As we got closer to Luzern the mountains started appearing too - it really is something else to see snow-capped mountains looming up in the distance over green hills dotted with cows and farmhouses. Once we reached Luzern we checked out a Lion Memorial which commemorates all those who lost their lives in the world wars, and then had an hour or so free time to explore the old part of town ourselves. I wandered by myself up and down little alleyways, past market stalls, and criss-crossed across the originally-built river bridges that are still standing. Had a look at the Jesuitenkirche - absolutely beautiful inside & out. They really knew how to build and decorate churches in the day! So much detail... and gold trimmings :)
We met back at the bus and headed to the bottom of Mt Pilatus to catch a cable car to the top - I
was in one with Jim & Mary, an older American couple who seemed to have been everywhere, and Eric, from Montreal. Couldn't pick his accent for ages, it's different from a typical French accent... still cool though! The view going up on the cable car was amazing. We kept hearing this clanging noise as we were ascending as well, took me a while to realise it was the cows! They actually have bells on! I seriously thought that was just a stupid stereotype we held onto, but no, it's true! So quaint! Quite annoying after a bit though - I think I would go crazy if I was a cow in Switzerland!
About 3/4 of the way up the mountain we were consumed by cloud - no more view :( We got to the summit, where there is a restaurant and shop etc, and it was quite eerie - mostly all floating cloud, with just a glimpse of the view that lay beneath. I desperately wanted the cloud to clear... for the view & the warmth - being in the clouds was very windy and cold! In the meantime we had lunch up there - I opted for a bratwurst from the kiosk - the restaurant was incredibly expensive. I managed to order completely in German, and the girl who served me answered me in German which makes me think my accent/grammar can't have been too bad! Almost got through the whole transaction when I wanted to ask for a spoon and I couldn't for the life of me remember the word! Oh well. Close.At the end of the lunch the cloud had moved somewhat and we were able to see the view, albeit somewhat fuzzy - there were still thick clouds hanging over our heads. I decided to climb to one of the lookouts in any case and by the time I got to the top it was almost completely clear! If I squinted I could just make out snow-capped mountains through the clouds. It was just breathtaking. Photo taking ensued (naturally!). I descended again and made my way over to another lookout which took you around the other side. You had to go through part of the mountain and when I came out the other side, the cloud had almost completely cleared, below and above us. With the sun shining on the mountains surrounding, glinting off snow... it was seriously indescribable. I don't think I've ever said 'wow' so much in my life. I was totally and completely in awe. Photo frenzy once again, although the camera never captures it as accurately as what you see.
After staring at the view for as long as possible, we eventually had to go back down the mountain - via the world's steepest cogwheel railway. Of course this took us past even more breathtaking views and click went the cameras! I was sitting at the front of the carriage and it was very interesting t
o see how they drove the cog train - there didn't seem to be a whole lot involved, although I guess a lot of it is just making sure it doesn't slip - when you're going down a 47 degree incline, you don't want anything to go wrong! There was an old school looking speedo that hovered at around 8km/hr most of the trip down.Just an aside, apparently Mt Pilatus has a ton of secret pathways and tunnels throughout it, created during the world wars for military reasons and to help hide people. Pretty cool!
When we got to the bottom we made our way to a boat on the lake (lake of the four cantons (states) - it has kinda four different arms to it and it's called something different in each canton - but I think we mainly travelled on the Lake Luzern arm) and sailed gently back to Luzern, absorbing the scenery around us. There's something so European about a landscap
e with water (a lake etc) in the foreground, with beautifully green hills and typically Swiss looking houses and cows sitting on the edge of the lake, all framed by towering white covered mountains in the background. That was the view we got basically the whole way back to Luzern. Gorgeous. Also indulged in my first European beer, bought for me by Eric - called Ur Braü, just the local brew. Very easy drinking :)Once back in Luzern we climbed back onto the bus and I for one tried to not fall asleep on the way back to Zürich. All that thin oxygen and climbing around really takes it out of you! Arrived back around 7.30 - I wandered down to the edge of the Zürich See to have some tea and watch the sunset (only goes down about 9.30 or so). Met two guys who I tried to talk to - their English wasn't great (only one of them spoke it slightly, although they could both speak 4 languages - it's just amazing, everyone is bi- or multi-lingual) and my German leaves much to be desired so it was a lot of simple sentences and sign language. They were originally from Tunisia and thought I said I was from Israel which caused confusion for a bit w
hen they tried to talk to me in Arabic!Fun fact about Switzerland - the water everywhere is drinkable no matter where it is apparently - you can drink from any tap, any of the water fountains that dot the city, and people go swimming in the river in warm weather! That really freaked me out, coming from Adelaide and the Torrens! Very handy for refilling water bottles though.
Anyway twas a gorgeous sunset made the more beautiful by the clouds that had started to spit a little, so I decided to make my way (read: limp - I had walked way too much!) back to the hotel for the night. And zzz.
No comments:
Post a Comment