Lovely Lucerne

One of our Swiss day trips involved taking the train to Lucerne to go up to the top of Mount Pilatus. Actually, we took a train, and a bus, and two gondolas. In fact, on the entire European trip, about the only forms of transportation we didn't take were cog railway (we were there in the wrong season), and dog-sled. Okay, I'm exaggerating a little, but only a little.

The views from the top of Mt. Pilatus were stunning. There's a hotel up there, and it was being renovated, so we also got to watch helicopters bring up giant loads of supplies. And we saw Swiss sunbathers.

Do you love the tanning goggles?

Lucerne also had a wonderful Medieval bridge, a Medieval wall (we couldn't walk along the top...again, we were there in the wrong season...this seems to be a recurring theme for us in Switzerland). Lucerne also has this giant lion carved into a rock wall. Strangely, I couldn't find a single mention of it in my Lonely Planet. Next to the little park where the lion is, is a glacial garden that was "discovered" in the late 19th century. We think something was missed in the translation, given that Lucerne was founded hundreds of years earlier. Needless to say, we skipped the glacial garden.