Lucerne and Mt. Pilatus
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This is Lucerne's lion monument. The lion is dying with a spear in his side as a memorial to fallen Swiss Guards in 1792. http://europeforvisitors.com/switzaustria/articles/lucerne_lion_monument.htm OK, sometimes you just gotta have one! Lucerne is an interesting place for a vintage Pontiac convertible. This is River Ruess. Another view of River Ruess. Doesn't it look like a painting? This is one of two covered bridges crossing the Ruess River.
This covered bridge has big triangular pictures depicting Lucerne's history. One of the bridges was nearly destroyed in 1993 by fire. They are slowly restoring it. A view from one of the bridges This was the view outside our hotel. Great eye-candy. We walked the medieval battlements above the city center. One of the towers was open to view. This was the stairway to the top.
On the battlement On the battlement The view from the battlement Cows on the other side of the battlement in the middle of Lucerne! A castle coverted to a hotel above Lucerne We walked up and down this path along the lake many times among the chestnut trees.
We went on a walking tour of Lucerne. The first thing I noticed about our tour guide was that she had an American accent. She had grown up in Denver but had spent the last 30 years in Lucerne. This is a shepherd and his sheep. The swans were everywhere! We watched these people play on the sand by the lake. It was a game similar to bocce but played with steel balls. The inside of one of Lucerne's churches. A street in Lucerne We went to Mt. Pilatus from Lucerne. The first part of the trip was by boat.
A view from the boat One of the towns the boat stopped at. The next part of our trip was a ride up the mountain on this cog railway. The train ahead of us. The "z" is a hiking trail. Not today, thank you very much. Looking down from the railway Once we got on top of Mt. Pilatus we climbed to the highest point (of course!). Lake Lucerne is below and the Alps are in the distance.
Another view of the Alps Pris climbing up to the visual pollution. I took off my zip-off pants to make shorts, showing the compression stockings I wear. I'm sure the blisters still were hurting. But what a view! /this is the top of the mountain. Maybe he flew over from the Tower of London to join us. We are looking down upon the Mt. Pilatus facilities. The yellow things are umbrellas over the tables. You can barely see Lake Lucerne below the mountain. The colors from Rich's camera came out entirely different from mine. You can see the gondola that we'll take on the first part of the way down the mountain. Click on the link to see a quick descent.
A view of the mountain as we're descending. We have switched to small cars for the rest of the journey. Lucerne is off in the distance. Rich on the way down. Here I am, only moderately scared to death! One of the resorts we passed on the way down. A small castle seen from the cable car. When we got down the mountain we walked to the public transit bus to take us back to the center of Lucerne. In all, a great trip!