Today we were up early and had our staple breakfast of eggs, toast and coffee freshly made in the apartment.
We were off for a big day out – a Golden Round Trip Tour to Mount Pilatus (that’s golden as in the best tour, not age related).

We took the boat from Lucerne to Alpnachstad. Lake Lucerne was a picture – blue sky, hardly a ripple on the water, and crisp lines against the beautiful mountainous backdrop.

Kirsteen and Suzanne kept asking which one was Mount Pilatus, and I did a good job of convincing them it wasn’t the huge one we had admired over the last two days, but rather it was “over there”. That lasted for quite a while until we got closer and Suzanne realised there was something up the top of the large mountain in front of us! Then she noticed a wire going down it with moving things – gondolas apparently! 🙂

We went up on the cogwheel train which is the steepest cogwheel railway in the world. It was commissioned in 1889, has a gradient of up to 48 percent, and takes about 30 minutes travel time. It scales the way from Alpnachstad to Pilatus Kulm, passing alpine meadows and striking rock formations. We sat on the left-hand side as I knew when we got above the green meadows of cows with cowbells, and past the open gently rolling walking hills scattered with jagged rocks, that the reality of where we were would be apparent.

As we approached the landing, it was noticeably cooler and the landscape had changed.

We were greeted at the top by a man playing with his horn… of the musical kind. He wasn’t standing in positions that were great for getting good photos, and he was a bit older and tired quickly! But we got the picture and understood the sentiment.

We wandered around the top of the mountain. It was very steep in places, and there were several occasions when I thought that Suzanne and Kirsteen were going to push me over the edge – they both didn’t like heights and this was challenging them. What they didn’t realise at the time, was I was a bit nervous at points as well! I did try and look brave – brave face while thinking my knickers may need changing soon!

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We encountered some Instagrammers from the USA who decided it was clever to hold a yoga pose at the top, off the track and on the edge. You hear how people fall off the edge of the Grand Canyon while trying to get that Insta photo… well this could have been the same, but thankfully they got down ok.

Going down from the top we went by Cable Car for the first section, and then by gondola to Kriens, We had the front seats by luck – actually by walking fast and getting ourselves just ahead of crazy tourist groups.

From Kriens, we caught the bus back to Lucerne where we reflected on the experience of Pilatus.

P – Petrified, I – Impressive, L – Laughing hysyterically, A – Ass-clenching, T -Terrifying, U – Unnerving, S – Smiling (upon reflection)

We had a late lunch of fantastic burgers at Bahnhofli. They were fabulous, full of flavour and a nice wine helped us relax into the afternoon.

On the way back to apartment we brought some bits and pieces for a platter for dinner and spent the evening relaxing, looking over our photos, uploading, chatting and reflecting etc.