Yodelling, horn blowing and broom dancing in Lucerne

The gondola at Mt Pilatus
see all photos »

Lucerne was a last minute addition to our itinerary in Switzerland, but I'm really glad we went.

I was really disappointed that we didn't get to go up into the mountains in Interlaken (due to the freak snow incident) so was determined to visit Mt Pilatus in Lucerne. We're in Switzerland, for goodness sake, we have to climb at least one mountain!

The Swiss have some crazy musical instruments and cultural activities

Once we arrived at the tourist office, the lady recommended we go that afternoon as storms were expected the next day, and it was nice and clear that day. Well, we weren't taking any chances, so we locked our bags in the train station lockers and were on our way to Mt Pilatus in 30 minutes.

The view from Mt Pilatus
see all photos »

We took something called the 'Golden Round Trip'. Firstly, we got a 90 minute boat cruise down Lake Lucerne to the base of the mountain. Then, we got a 30 minute ride up the mountain in the steepest cog railway in the world (at 48 degrees). The higher we got, the more snow appeared. Apparently, 2 days before there was no snow at all... a result of the freak snowstorm. The views from the top of the mountain were absolutely amazing and Richard and I threw a few snowballs at eachother. Richard also got his photo taken with a hilarious old guy blowing a Swiss horn.

Richard and the hornblower guy
see all photos »

After spending some time at the top, we started to make our way down the mountain. You basically take a series of gondolas all the way down, and it takes about 35 minutes. If you're scared of heights, this is not for you, because the gondolas looked like they were hanging in mid air, way above the mountain. Great views though.

Half way down the mountain, we got off the gondola to take a toboggan ride in the longest summer toboggan track in Switzerland, at over 1000m. It was lots of fun, with great views over the mountains. Jamberoo just doesn't compare. Once you get to the bottom, they pull you back up so you don't have to make the long climb up the hill.

Richard in the snow at Mt Pilatus
see all photos »

On our second day in Lucerne... guess what, it didn't rain. We went for a walk around the town and saw the medieval city walls/towers, the famous Lion of Lucerne sculpture, the famous wooden bridge and more. We also hired a paddle boat and had a quick cruise around the river.

That night, realising it was our last day in Switzerland and we hadn't seen any yodelling, we decided to go to a touristy dinner show with traditional music and dancing. It was pretty funny. The Swiss have some crazy musical instruments (I won't even begin to describe) and cultural activities, like flag throwing and dancing with a broom (which really has to been seen to be believed - we have video evidence!). It was fun though, and we had a huge 4 course traditional dinner including fondue. Richard even had a 1 litre stein of beer!