Exploring Switzerland

In front of the Chapel Bridge.
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Friday was cloudy and rainy so we decided to explore Lake Lucerne by boat. The scenery, mountains, little villages and hillside chalets were all beautiful. We took the boat to the farthest end of the lake to try to get as close to the Swiss Alps as possible. We spent some time exploring the little village of Brunen and stopped for lunch at a cafe by the water as well as some postcards.

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day and we took the boat into Lucerne and explored the town including the Lion monument, and the Chapel and Spruer Bridges. These beautiful old bridges were both built in the 14th century as part of the walled city. Lyndsay and I treated ourselves to Swiss watches, swiss chocolate and iced coffees from Starbucks!! It seems that Starbuck and MacDonalds are everwhere!

On Spruer Bridge
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The sun shone again on Sunday and the clouds were high so we took this as a good opportunity to go up Mount Pilatus. We took the gondola up, switching to a large gondola part way up the 7000m mountain. The view along the way was incredible! At the top we took a 40 minute hike to the highest point(we did this without sunblock or a water bottle.............but we did have on good running shoes!!) We sat at the top and wrote out a couple of postcards home(and mailed them from the top), enjoyed the view as well as some bratwurst sausages and apple strudel! Maybe we should have hiked up the whole way!!

With Lyndsay on boat
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After our trip down by gondola, we drove back to Mannheim.