Lake Lucern

  Lake Luzern, Switzerland
Friday, August 29, 2008

We went back to the train station to take our train to Lucerne, Switzerland.  Lucerne ended up being my favorite place of the trip.  The train ride was a beautiful journey through the Swiss Alps and we saw a lot of the countryside on the way.  Once we arrived in Lucerne we checked into Tourist Hotel Luzerne.  It is a quaint little hostel right along the river.  Lucerne is a city that surrounds a lake and a river that goes off to the side.  The city must have inspired the Disney stories because it looked like a fairytale and even had real swans in the water.

Monica and I and a view of the city

After we checked in we got a map and followed it along this wall that led to a castle looking tower.

On the Wall

There we enjoyed a beautiful view of the city.  We continued down to the lake and Bobby, Sara, Brandon and I took a peddle boat on the lake.

Peddle Boats on the Lake

We peddled around the lake for an hour and enjoyed the scenery.  Brandon of course wanted to go in the lake so Bobby and Brandon jumped in.  Being out on the lake was one of the most pleasant moments of the trip and the four of us had a lot of fun.  We met the rest of the group and walked back to the hostel. 

Our Dinner Date

That night Brandon and I had our dinner date.  It was such a romantic setting.  We got dressed up and ate at a restaurant that sat along the river.  The sun set while we had our dinner and we spent a few hours together. I could not have imagined a more romantic setting and it stands as one of the best dates we have ever had even though it was only a few hours.  A Canadian man offered to take our picture on the bridge and we walked back along the water to our hotel.

Lake Lucerne was like a Fairtytale

 
Day 11: August 30, 2008
We got up early so that we could eat breakfast and go up to mount Pilatus.  This was probably the best excursion of the trip.  We paid 72 franks for all of the transportation up and down the mountain.  It started with an hour and half boat ride across the lake where we stopped at many of the cities.  Then we took the steepest cogwheel in Europe up to the top of the mountain.  It felt a little bit like a roller coaster ride and I was definitely scared on the way up.  At the top of the mountain there is a restaurant and stairways that take you to higher viewpoints.  We climbed both of the stairways and enjoyed the views at the top.  We were worried that the fog would block our view but we were actually above the clouds and had a beautiful view of the Swiss Alps.  It also felt very mystical that when you looked down you saw the clouds beneath you.  On the second viewpoint we ventured down the mountain a little and found our own little spot.  We could hear the cows in the distance because they all had bells around their neck.  A man appeared seemingly out of nowhere and he explained that he lives in Lucerne and climbing up the mountain was a normal occurrence for him, we were very impressed. It felt spiritual and calming to be at the top of the mountain.  We got a hot dog and took the gondolas down.  The first one was packed with people and that took us to a smaller one that fit just our group.  We saw the countryside as we rode down the mountain.  From there we took a bus and rushed back to the hostel to get our stuff to the train station.  Going up Mount Pilatus was one of the best experiences of my life and I was so thankful to be able to do it.  We caught our train to Interlaken.  This train was a panoramic train and we enjoyed the views of lakes and waterfalls along the way.  This was the prettiest train ride of the trip.  Brandon and I even enjoyed a meal in the dining car. The hostel we stayed at was called Balmers and was walking distance from the train station.  We decided to stay there for three nights instead of two because we had heard so many good things about it.  We ran into our travel buddies in the lobby and me them for dinner after we checked in.  We found a cute restaurant where I had a prawn salad that had fruit in it.  Brandon was jealous of it and I shared half of it with him.  Switzerland was the most expensive place that we went and every meal at a restaurant was at least 20 franks.  That night we went to the night club in our hostel.  We had fun but did not know a lot of the music that they played.  Reflection of Lucerne:
Lucerne was the prettiest of all of the cities that stayed in.  The city surrounded the water and covered wooden bridge take you to either side.  It was an expensive city but was very romantic.  The swans created a fairy tale like atmosphere and the views of the hills were gorgeous.  This was my favorite place on the trip and I would love to go back some day.