Europe Trip (Lucerne, Switzerland #2)

5th April 2011
We had breakfast at the hotel. There, I had my first experience in cutting cheese out of the round cheese! And first time tasting such spicy cheese and also first time having to choose what kind of cheese I want.

We went to the morning market which was along the Reuss River. It was a bright morning, and the view in Lucerne changed completely from yesterday. The previous day, I got to see the gloomy, rainy Lucerne town and after that, a bright, colourful, lively town. Two versions. I could see swans swimming happily around the lake. The market was a little different than the one in Paris. It was more like markets at the country side.

One of the stalls, selling cheese.

Serene.

Cheese again hehe

Thank God it was sunny as our next destination was Mount Pilatus. It is the northernmost branch of Alps. We went to the Lucerne station to catch a bus to Linde station. We then followed the sign and walked to the cable car station.

The sign.

We had to walk up the hill, across a neighbourhood and a school. The view was just amazing! We stopped by and walked around the station to take in the scenery.


A rare moment.

The cable car station.

We bought our round trip tickets. One ticket was CHF65.50 (RM237.60). You can check the price in this website [link]. The last departure of the cable is at 5:30pm for the bigger cables and 5:45pm for the smaller ones.

City view from the cable car.

Mountain view from the cable car.

We dropped off at Fräkmüntegg station, which is 1415m from sea level. Took some pictures before transferring to another cable car which will take us to the higher parts of the mountain.

Beautiful.

View from the second cable car.

 The cable car took us to Pilatus Kulm, which is 2132m from sea level. During that time, there was some constructions going on and we had to pass through the area before reaching the stairs to the top.

Stairs to the top!

When we reached to the top, the scenery totally knocked me off my feet! It was my first time seeing something so beautiful until I did not even feel like blinking. I felt like I just want to stay here forever, drinking in the view.

<3

Carved my name on this little hut on top of the mountain so that
it can remain here forever.

We walked to another side of the mountain which had lesser people. That place brought me even nearer to the nature as it was closer to the mountains in front than on the peak. It has benched for tourists to sit. However, there were a few crows who were attracted to the bread my mother was eating. So, be careful not to get attacked while eating!

The other side.

We were there for 3 hours and were also the last to leave the peak. We took the same cable car and went back to the first station we came from. We walked out of the station to check out the surrounding area. Found an old chapel and a few houses. An obstacle course was also available near the station but I think it was built for kids.

One of the things we found.

After that, we took the cable car back to the base. We went back to the new town via bus and explored the whole place. It can be said that we had walked the whole area near the Lucerne Lake - the back streets too! We found the Lion Monument, which commemorates the Swiss Guards' massacre during the French Revolution. It is a sculpture of a mortally-wounded lion. Mark Twain had once praised this monument as one of the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world. I think this place is a good place for this monument as it is peaceful.

The Lion Monument.

View of the town from a church.

Lucerne Lake



We walked until night fall and were still walking to enjoy the night view. At the end of the day, we celebrated and toasted Switzerland with a bottle of Swiss beer. Indeed, a memorable day.

Next Post: Europe Trip (Salzburg, Austria)