Woke up once but got back to sleep. Woke up at 05:08 for good. Feel like I've got a sore throat.
Got ready and headed out around 07:20 to find breakfast. Went into the Coop downstairs but the grumpy lady at the front waggled her finger at us and told us they weren't open (the doors were wide open), so we're like, what time does it open and she just pointed to the sign further over that said 07:30.
Fine, so went for a walk down to the lake to have a look at Pilatus which was shining in the morning sun.
Lucerne waterfront with Pilatus in the background
Went back to the coop and picked up some supplies and food for breakfast. But unlike in Australia where you weigh your fresh food at the register, here you need to weigh it in the fresh food section and stick a sticker on it to scan at the checkout. Grumpy lady was grumpy that she had to show us this.
Ate our breakfast in the hotel then jumped on a #1 bus right outside the front door which took us to Kriens. Then follow the red signs to Pilatus.
Got our tickets and hopped on a little gondola and up we went into the mountains.
Me and Mum on the Kriens-Krienseregg-Fräkmüntegg cable car
Cute alpine house on the sides of Pilatus
View up towards Pilatus
View back towards Lucerne from the first cable car
At Frakmuntegg we changed to the big gondola for the ride to the summit.
Klimsenkapelle from the Panoramic Gondola
Where we got spectacular views of Lucerne and the alps. It was pretty amazing.
Mum at the top of Mount Pilatus
Klimsenkapelle and cross from the summit of Mount Pilatus
Complex at the summit of Mount Pilatus
Swiss Alps from Mount Pilatus
Swiss Alps from Mount Pilatus
Lucerne from Mount Pilatus
Lucerne from Mount Pilatus
Cogwheel train on Mount Pilatus
Panoramic Gondola near Mount Pilatus Kulm
Hotel Pilatus-Kulm and one of the summits of Mount Pilatus
Lake Lucerne from Mount Pilatus
Feeding birds on Mount Pilatus
Took the 10:50 funicular back down to Alpnachstad. That was a lot of fun too.
Hotel Pilatus-Kulm from the cogwheel train
Sides of Mount Pilatus from the cogwheel train
Cliffs on Mount Pilatus from the cogwheel train
Cliffs on Mount Pilatus from the cogwheel train
Sides of Mount Pilatus from the cogwheel train
At the bottom we had a fairly relaxed lunch next to the train station.
Cogwheel trains at Alpnachstad station
Then hopped on a ferry back to Lucerne.
Winkelried boat that we crossed Lake Lucerne back to Lucerne
Mount Pilatus from Lake Lucerne
Mount Pilatus and Hergiswil from Lake Lucerne
Mount Pilatus and cute villa
Mandarin Oriental Palace from Lake Lucerne
Grand Casino from Lake Lucerne
Hofkirche St Leodegar (Church of St. Leodegar) from Lake Lucerne
So quite a lovely morning.
Back in Lucerne we wandered around the river again.
Entrance to Lucerne Bahnhof
Rathaus clock tower
Lucerne Old Town
Hotel Château Gütsch
Had a look inside the Jesuit church.
Inside the Jesuitenkirche
Then around the old town walls and went up the clock tower for views of Lucerne.
Nölliturm tower at the western end of the old city walls
Reuss River in Lucerne
Photo by Mum
Zytturm clocktower
View of Lucerne from Zytturm
Old city walls as seen from Zytturm
Old city walls in Lucerne
Me at the Old City Walls on Museggstrasse
Photo by Mum
Had a look in the cathedral.
Hofkirche St Leodegar (Church of St. Leodegar)
Interior of Hofkirche St Leodegar (Church of St. Leodegar)
And another look at the wounded lion monument in better light.
The Wounded Lion monument
Got back to the hotel and grabbed our bags and loaded up the car. Set the GPS and the quickest route was going to take nearly three hours. So I'm a bit panicky because I'd told them we'd be there by 18:00 and it was going to be nearly 19:00 by the time we arrived. But my esim doesn't work in Switzerland so I couldn't message them. Then driving out of Lucerne I was concerned at the petrol level and whether we'd make it or not, but felt like we didn't have time to stop. When we got outside Lucerne I found somewhere to stop and tried to call the hotel, but even that didn't work.
So up into the mountains. The GPS said the quickest route was going to be over Furka Pass, which I was annoyed about because we'd have to go back the same way tomorrow (today). I had wanted to come from the other direction so we wouldn't be doing any backtracking. And I was too stressed to enjoy the drive. We did see a mountain goat of some description. But no photos of course because I'm driving.
Lake Lucerne on the drive out of Lucerne
Photo by Mum
SwissAlps on the road up to Neufenenpass
Photo by Mum
Swiss Alps from Nuefenen-Pass
Swiss Alps from Nuefenen-Pass
Got to the bottom of the pass and found a petrol station so decided we should stop. The lights were all on, but noone was there. Found the machine for paying, so did that, but then we couldn't figure out how to open the petrol cover. I'm freaking out cause we've already "paid" so couldn't just leave and the car manual was all in German and we had no phone or internet. Eventually this bicyclist came past and we called for help and he helped us so that was super nice.
Pressed on, but then at one point we were getting off a big roundabout with a lot of exits and I wasn't sure if we got the right one and then I saw these no entry signs and freaked out that I was going up an offramp and so braked but there was a car behind me and they got super angry at me for braking and blasted their horn repeatedly. It was exactly what I didn't need right then.
So eventually got to the hotel, at like 19:30, and then tried to find parking. What I thought was their parking lot was actually private, so I went into the hotel to ask where to park. Turns out they have a huge garage but they rent it out for long term parking so there were hardly any spots and they were all microscopic and eventually we found one with two spots next to each other right at the bottom and probably took a lot more of it than we should have.
So checked in, but then had to go out straight away to find dinner after 20:00 on a week night. The hotel recommended a place in town but we couldn't get anyone's interest in giving us a table. Eventually we did and he was like, no tables inside, you could try outside. So went outside but grumpy lady was like oh you can sit down but you won't get any service until 21:00 on account of they were busy. So left. Looked at the kebab place but it wasn't very inviting either. So kept going. Found another hotel restaurant which at least had friendly service. We ordered a rosti and a salad. But couldn't finish them because there was just too much food. Sigh.
So nearly 22:30 by the time we collapsed into bed.
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