Yesterday was Tyler’s birthday. He spent it in an airplane flying to The Bay Area for work. But before that, we did something just a little special. We celebrated by having a short one night getaway to Lucerne. Turns our this famous little city is only an hour away from Zurich by train. We left on Friday evening after Tyler got home from work and hopped on a train for a bit of adventure. I had booked us a room at the very old and unique Hotel Winden Mann that started as a tavern in 1517. After checking in we walked the old town and had dinner in a classic French brasserie. Here are some shots of Lucerne. I’m going to link the entire photo album from this trip at the end so these are just a taster.
Lucerne at night.
Stairway kdjfkdjkfdfin Wilden Mann hotel.
This outdoor restaurant had a rack of fur coats for guests to use.
The next morning we decided to take a hike to one the alpine mountain areas near Lucerne. We didn’t really do any research before we left so we were winging it. We decided to try Mount Pilatius mainly because we could start and end our journey at the main train station where I wanted to leave my luggage. We took a bus to the outskirts of town and were then told we had to take a gondola up and then a different type of gondola to the summit. Like I said, we really knew nothing about what we were going to see. We just went with it. The weather was not great but it wasn’t raining. Visibility was quite limited and it was very foggy. The first gondola ride took us up over many green pastures and wooded areas. Then we started to see some snow on the ground. When we reached the end of that gondola line we were flabbergasted to see the snowy expanse we had entered. This is us at the (almost) top.
The second conveyance was called a aerial cableway. They look like this.
Pilatus Bahnen AG | Switzerland
We piled on with about 40 Korean tourists and were stunned as we rose into the white, snow bound void. We were literally in the clouds and then all of a sudden we were at the top of a huge mountain with expansive views of the alps. It was incredible. Awe inspiring. Breathtaking. Humbling. And it was COLD! It was snowing and windy as hell. We walked through a cave that had icicles hanging from the ceiling. We came out the other side of the mountain and were treated to even more mind-boggling vistas. We hiked about 40 minutes along the ridge of the mountain and hiked back, all the while marveling at what we had stumbled upon. Here is a glimpse.
The pictures really don’t do the scale justice. It was something I will remember forever. I said “OMG, we really DO live in Switzerland!”. I can’t wait to take visitors here and share with them this special, special experience. And there is so much more to explore! This trip was a last minute whim that came up with huge rewards. If we continue to experience extreme moments of grace like this my heart may explode.
Here is my photo album of this trip. Enjoy!