Luzern, Switzerland

The Swiss Alps.  Hiking.   Alpen macaroni.  Enough said!

I would leave this post at that, but I have much more to say!  We headed to Luzern, Switzerland yesterday and hiked up [some of] the Swiss Alps.  The views were absolutely incredible!  We went to the tippy top of Pilatus, a mountain in the heart of the Swiss Alps, and we did it with tourism gusto!  Matt's girlfriend, Sandra, drove us to Alpnachstad where we all got out of her Swiss (read: small) car and headed to our first leg of the climb: a gondola ride!  We took the gondola to a small restaurant with stunning views and gobbled down some energy in the form of alpen macaroni (a specialty in the Alpnachstad area), brat wurst, and a delightful salad.  Once our bellies were full, we were ready for our second leg of the climb: a 45 minute hike to a cable car which was to take us to the top of Pilatus.

On our way up to the cable car, we noticed a very long, very sweet looking toboggan track.  (This track, by the way, is the longest summer toboggan track in Switzerland with a length of .88 miles!)  This quickly became a priority for all of us, so before we headed on to the third leg of journey, we took a quick ride down part of the mountain that we had just climbed up.  (Fortunately, there was a track that pulled us back up!)

Once we were all through with our tobogganing, we took a cable car to the tip top of Pilatus.  The views here were absolutely stunning.  You could see for miles and miles.  The snow capped peaks were surrounded by steep drop offs and cliffs, and the sun was shining so brightly!  We had a fantastic day for this adventure!  We bumbled (our new Swiss word, if you haven't noticed!) around the top of Pilatus for a bit and then carried on to our fourth leg: a train ride on a cogwheel railway down the mountain.  (And, this railway, by the way, is the world's steepest railway reaching a slope of 48% in some areas!)  It was unbelievable!  We were able to enjoy the views while we relaxed on the trek down the moutain. 

When we reached the bottom of Pilatus, we then headed on to our fifth and final leg of our Luzern travel: a boat ride from Alpnachstad back to Luzern.  Amazing!  Relaxing!  Beautiful!  And we were surrounded by Swiss Alps, lovely weather, and wonderful company!  When we returned to Luzern, we walked around town, grabbed a bite to eat, and enjoyed an evening in Luzern!

It was an unbelievable day!  We cannot thank Sandra enough for organizing such a fantastic travel route and showing us the town where she lives.  We are still amazed at the beauty of the entire area!

My words will not do Luzern justice, perhaps our photos will!

Zürich, Switzerland

We arrived in Zürich yesterday morning at 7:30, not so bright eyed and bushy tailed, but we arrived!  We left Columbus, OH at 12:30 pm on Thursday, flew to Altanta, GA, and then straight on to Zürich, Switzerland.  When we got off the plane and walked into the terminal, we were amazed at the cleanliness and care placed on maintaining a near perfect airport, train station, train car, toiletten, etc.  Switzerland is an extremely clean city, and it is clearly evident!

Matt, Brian's friend from Scotland, who has also visited us in the states, picked us up at the Flughafen (airport) and chauffeured us to his flat where we are to stay until Monday morning.  Being that we had just missed an entire night's sleep, we took it relatively easy on Friday.  I snuck in a quick snooze while Brian and Matt headed to the grocery for goods for this weekend's barbeque.  I just couldn't stay awake.  While I was sleeping, they also picked up a small bistro table and two chairs for Matt's balcony and a grill that was going to be delivered later that afternoon.

When they returned, which felt like 15 minutes but really was nearly 2 hours, we headed to the Adidas outlet.  (Ahh, the life of having an extreme sports enthusiast husband!)  In all honesty, this place was amazing!  It wasn't just Adidas workout gear, it was Adidas fashion and European fashion at that which means fashion that us Americans have yet to witness.  It was definitely a cool place.  We got to take the train to Zug and then on to Cham where the outlet was located.

When we returned, the grill delivery guy, who had delivered the grill via a small trailer attached to his bike, was awaiting our arrival.  We got the grill and started the grill assembly.  Two and a half hours later, we had a working grill!  And, of course, had to test it out!  The rest of the evening was pretty much a blur.  Matt's friend Dave came over, we all hung at Matt's place, and then I went to bed.  2 hours of sleep just doesn't keep me going, folks.  I need way more than that!

This morning definitely found both Brian and I much brighter eyed and more bushy tailed!  It was a fantastic day - the sun was shining, the sky was blue, the temperature was good.  We really couldn't have asked for more!  Our first stop, was FIFA Headquarters.  (Would expect anything else touring Zürich with two guys?!)  It was an amazing place!  Very state of the art, very inspiring, very sporty! 

After FIFA, we headed to old town Zürich where we climbed to the top of Grossmünster - a beautiful Romanesque-style church that has incredible views of the city.  And it is a beautiful city!

For the rest of the day, we bumbled around Zürich, took a walk around a part of Lake Zürich, stopped by a boot sale, and headed back to Matt's to have a barbeque.

So far, it has been an amazing visit!  Click on the photo for our Day 1 and Day 2 Zürich, Switzerland album!