Pilatus

The first out-of-Zurich trip that Brian and I took when we moved here in July was to Luzern and Mt. Pilatus. Luzern, about 45 minutes south of Zurich, is a tourist mecca, with a beautiful lake and boat trips, access to three major mountains, and lots of pretty and historic buildings and bridges. A popular activity in the summer is to do the "Golden Roundtrip", which takes you from Luzern by boat to Alpnachstad, up to Pilatus on the Pilatus Bahn (the steepest cogwheel train in the world), down Pilatus on the other side by cable car and gondola to Kriens, and then back to Luzern by bus. While we enjoyed our multi-modal trip, the view from Pilatus that day was clouded in, so we couldn't see much of the view from the top.



This past weekend, we took a trip back, after first checking the webcam on the top of Pilatus to make sure we'd get a good view. The Pilatus Bahn closes at the end of October, so we could only make our way up from Kriens. At the top, it was much less crowded than in July, much windier, and much clearer. We had a great view of Central Switzerland, including all the surrounding peaks and of Luzernsee (Lake Luzern).



With the addition of a sausage and roesti for lunch and some raclette and glühwein that we picked up at the Luzern HB Christmas market, we successfully negated any hiking we might have accidentally done on the mountain. A lovely Sunday!