Today was a splendid day! I was pretty proud of myself this morning as I easily learned to navigate the Zurich tram system and found my way to the bus stop where my tour group was meeting. My group consisted of the guide, me and a woman from Atlanta... that was it. Ellie, the woman from Atlanta, used to work in consulting for Arthur Anderson before ENRON occurred, so we had a lot in common and had a lot of fun hanging out all day.
Our trip started out with a tour of the city of Lucerne. This city is located about 20 miles from Zurich and has a real country feel to it. It is located on a beautiful lake, but unfortuantely, there was too much fog this morning to really appreciate the scenery around the city. We learned about the city's history and took a few pictures and then headed to Mount Pilatus. We climbed 8,000 feet into the sky on a gondola. The views were outstanding once we got above the clouds. About 1,000 feet from the top we stopped at a little restaurant in the clouds to eat some lunch. We had a traditional Switzerland lunch that included bratwurst. After lunch, we headed to the top of the mountain on a very high flying gondola. I have never had a fear of heights before this final gondola stretch. However, I must admit that being 8,000 feet up in the air in a tiny container finally got to me. I felt a bit weak in the knees by the time we reached the top of the mountains. Good thing our views made up for it! Once we reached the top, Ellie and I decided to climb the rock stairs to the top of Mt. Pilatus. Even though the climb was only 300 or so stairs, I felt absolutely exhausted when I reached the top due to the lack of oxygen from being so high up. The height didn't bother me until I reached the top and looked over the edge... even with steal guardrails I felt sick to my stomach from the height. Below us was about a 1,000 foot drop. I had to talk Ellie into going back down the mountain as she was freaking out even more than I was after getting to the top. There were guardrails up and down the mountain and land on either side to protect against any strange fall, but still, it just didn't feel great being up that high!
View from Mt. Pilatus. The white you see beneath the
mountains is not land. The white is actually clouds.
After our climb, we got into a cogwheel train and headed down the side of the mountain. This train hold the world record for the World's steepest cogwheel train. It was a beautiful ride down!
My flight leaves tomorrow afternoon, and if all goes well, I should be back in the US by tomorrow evening! I have loved my time here, but it will be nice to sleep in my own bed once again!
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