Adventure 2011 – April/June 2011

April 18, 2011 Monday – Luzern, Pilatus

Slide Show

A look at Viki's apartment. Perfect location very close to the train station and old city. Big kitchen.

With everything.

Dining table in the big kitchen.

Mens room/half bath.

Main bathroom with tub and shower.

Main bathroom.

Hallway with computer and internet connection. Looks out over Zurichstrasse. Printer and wireless internet.

Living room.

The room I had. A double bed and a single bed. Very comfortable.

This apartment is advertised at www.airbnb.com/rooms/65750, which is where I found it. I also found Sarah's apartmnet there. Viki was very helpful, personable, and a pleasure to chat with. The apartment was very clean and has everything you could need. The location is absolutely perfect for visiting Luzern. The bus stop is maybe no more than 50 meters from the front door. One note though is that it is 3rd floor with no lift. If you get to Luzern, give it a try.

I'm off to go to the top of Pilatus. I take the #1 bus and I'm looking for the stop Kriens-Busschliefe. We pass a stop called Linde-Pilatus, then continue to Kriens and on . I figure I've gone too far and go back the other way. I stop at the  Schappe-Center and pick up a couple of beers for the trip up the mountain. Then I finally get back to Linde-Pilatus.

Where I find a directional to the cable car.

Like Hergiswil, it's an uphill walk. In Switzerland, everything is uphill. Both ways. Unlike Hergiswil, there's a lot of people coming and going. These little stairs on the left make the going a little easier.

Looks like I'm still on the right track.

On the way, I see where I might wind up if this trek up the hill lasts much longer.

Then I find it. Cool.

And the little cable cars are running.

It's 66 chf to go to the top round trip. I think about going one way and walking down. I don't think about that very long. I use my half fare card and get a round trip for 33chf.

And off we go.

That's a long way up there

There's several stops on this trip. The first one is Krienseregg at 3369 feet. It's a high meadow with a restaurant and childrens play area. This is no wimp-ass USA kids slide. The drop on this is easily 50 feet. Maybe this is why the Swiss are good at going down mountains real fast.

I stop here for one of the beers I got at the Co-op.

This guy is splitting wood to make firewood for next winter. There's going to be a lot of it.

I get back on the little cable car and go to the next stop at Frakmuntegg at 4649 feet.

You change here for a much bigger cable car. I look at this thing coming in and see where it's coming from and I get a funny feeling in my stomach. I start thinking maybe this is high enough.

Then I get this view and am sure I've gone high enough. So I sit and have my other beer.

I work up the courage to give this a try. A few years ago, Olga Jonathan and I passed through Palm Springs and they took this aerial tramway. I took one look at it and said, no way. Now I'm about to do the same thing.

The trip up to the top was not bad at all. It's all on video which I can't process yet. But the car for this part of the ride was much larger. They squeezed about 30 people on it. And it was a relief when the guy that put us all in the car, got in with us. I think it doesn't make much fifference if you fall from 40 feet or 2000 feet. You just have longer to think about the stop. When we got to the top, I saw why the cog-wheel train wasn't running yet.  They're still digging it out of the snow.

There's a lot of construction going on  up here, but this hotel has been here a while. I did get a bit of a WiFi connection here and called Olga over Skype on my Android phone. The connection didn't work very well, but, here is where I was when I called you, Olga.

That's Luzern down there.

I've got a little further to go.

That's a new hotel they are building. The Bellevue. The cable car arrives just to the left of the hotel so you can see the precipice we were hanging over. I can't wait to get launched out of there for the trip down. I wonder what rooms cost here.

This is as high as I go. It's 6943 feet. That's good enough for me.

On the way back down I find a nice little snowman guy

I go to the self service restaurant in the Bellevue and buy a tiny bottle of wine for 9.90 chf. It was two glasses worth though. Cheers everybody.

Back in Luzern, it's just sunset.

I stop  by the lake and sit for a while. That's the mountain I just came from.

A nice place, this Luzern.

While I'm waiting for a bus home, I notice the way the street is laid out. Bus lane on the right, car lane on the left, and bicycles in the center red lane. Scary.