Lucerne...

Ok, I wrote this yesterday evening when we got back to the hotel, but I was unable to buy internet time last night for some reason. So I am posting this a day late.

Hey guys! Just got back from Lucerne! We arrived at the Lucerne hauptbahnhof at about 11:50am. We walked over to the opposite side of the station and found the museum and a really cool looking fountain. The southern Swiss Alps were in the background and they were unbelievable! The temperature was about 65 - 70 degrees when we first arrived, but that would definitely change later on in the day. So we stopped at this little gift shop and I found some very cool pieces to bring back. After shopping for a bit, we decided to go to Mount Pilatus. As soon as you get out of the train station, Mt. Pilatus is the first thing that you see on the right. It is HUGE! There was snow all over the top of it that you could see from below.

We purchased a ticket to ride the boat to Alpnachstad-Pilatus. The boat ride was very fun and the views of the alps were great! Mount Pilatus sure towered over Lucerne! After we arrived at Alpnachstad-Pilatus, we took the tram up the mountain. It was such a fun ride up and at some locations, there were 47% gradients! There were about 8 of us crammed into a small tram car, so I was not able to get very good shots, but the ones that we managed to get were pretty good. As we ascended, the temperature dropped VERY quickly. We put our warm clothes on and prepared. The snow began to appear and the top seemed like it was getting closer, but in reality, it was still thousands of feet away. After about 20 minutes of riding on the tram, we finally arrived to the top (7000 feet up!!). The temperature was probably 30-35 degrees and it was not windy. The panoramic views of the Swiss Alps was amazing! We walked through a cave-like area that circled from one side of Pilatus to the other. There were numerous lookout points with fantastic views of Lucerne and surrounding areas. The snow was beginning to melt and icicles were forming on the ceiling of the cave. I had to be very careful with my camera because the water was dripping all over the place. Mom was almost struck with a falling icicle! We were dodging falling ice and snow at every turn! We finished through the tunnel and my hands were frozen. As we left the tunnel, I witnessed a mini avalanche and it sounded like a bomb going off when it fell. I cannot imagine what a large avalanche would sound like!!

We descended the mountain on a cable car, the world's steepest cable car. We arrived at the bottom and continued our tour of Lucerne. We saw Chapel Bridge, Lion Monument, and extravagant shops everywhere! All in all, Lucerne is a must-see city when in Switzerland. We took the train back to Zurich at about 10:10pm and it was a quick 50 minute ride back. Tomorrow we will be heading to Bern, Switzerland's capital. It is supposed to be fascinating. Will post again tomorrow. We will be at a new hotel tomorrow, so hopefully they will have internet there. We miss everyone so much!

-Dan and Andrea