Return to Lucerne

Twenty years ago our family, with all three boys, was in Lucerne overnight, on our way back to Slovakia from an Easter trip to Paris.  I'd always wanted to go back to this  beautiful city.  We had been living in New Denver, B.C., situated in the West Kootenays on the glacial Slocan Lake.  The area reminded the early settlers of Switzerland, so they named the local school "Lucerne".  When Terry taught there, it was the Lucerne Elementary-Secondary School, with all grades.
Lucerne was Bongwol's choice for a trip with us before going home. There are a certain number of day passes for unlimited travel sold for every day; if one went to Epalinges, one could buy them with no complicated questions asked, but only 3 per day are sold. Bongwol managed to get a pass for Nov. 3, which gave her unlimited access to anywhere in Switzerland on that day, by rail or by bus.
The train trip itself took 2 hours 15 minutes with no changeovers; we arrived in Lucerne at 10:00 am. Our first destination was the tourist information, conveniently located in the railway station.  Then we walked through the Saturday market, and across the wooden Chapel Bridge with its octagonal water tower.

These paintings on the ceiling of the bridge are from the 17th century; some of them were destroyed in a fire in 1993, when a leisure boat moored under the bridge caught fire.  Parts of the bridge were reconstructed, but some paintings were destroyed completely, and only charred wood remains. Now the bridge is a non-smoking area with security cameras!

After pushing our way through the Saturday market, we crossed the Reuss River via the Covered Bridge; this one was original.

Bongwol's dream was to go up Mt. Pilatus, so we hopped onto a train that rode for 20 minutes along Lake Luzern.  We were so blessed by the weather today--beautiful sunshine and a high of 16 degrees C.

This is the lake looking back towards Lucerne.

a little like Slocan Lake

 

At Alpnachstad we bought tickets for the cog train, but had to wait about half an hour before we could board.  About halfway up, we started to see patches of snow.  Apparently one could see Ibex on this mountain, but the only one we saw was the stuffed one at the observation building on the top.  I could just imagine it jumping from rocky crag to rocky crag as in the photo below.

 

 

Half an hour later, we were at the viewing platform, which included a hotel, restaurants, and a gift shop.  We were at 7,000 feet!  Terry and Bongwol climbed another 5 minutes on foot, to a higher viewpoint, but I was too hungry.  I scouted out the buffet style restaurant instead; later, Terry and I shared a "smokey" and the fast food version of rosti.
The name "Pilatus"  probably comes from a Latin word for cloudy, but we were blessed that day to be able to see a fine view.

I'm not smiling because I'm hungry and I forgot my sunglasses
 

Terry was thrilled that he was in his shirtsleeves, but he's actually wearing several layers under his shirt.

On the way down, there were fewer people in the train compartment, so we had more freedom to lean over and take pictures.  Sometimes we went through tunnels. This cog wheel train is supposed to be the steepest in the world at a 48% grade.

 

There are still leaves on the trees at the lower levels.

 

 We had a great day!

This is the last time we'll be able to go on an outing in Switzerland with Bongwol!  On Nov. 5, she flew back to her home in Texas.  We're going to miss you, Bongwol! Thank you for blessing our lives. We hope to meet Bongwol in January in California, when she goes to visit her daughter.