May 28-30 May 31 June 1 June 2 June 3 June 4 June 5 June 6 June 7 June 8 June 9 June 10 June 11 June 12	Saturday, June 8 We set the alarm for 5:30 am, but wound up waking up earlier. We finished packing up and were all ready to go in much less time than we thought... So, we put the suitcases out in the hall a bit before our assigned time (yes, the morning of departure, not the night before). Then we went up to the Lounge for some tea/coffee and to watch other suitcases being unloaded from the ship. Finally, the restaurant was open for breakfast, so we ate. Then we made one last check of the room, grabbed our carry-alongs and headed for the Lounge area to await our bus call. Soon it was time to load our bus. We were all seasoned travellers, so we were quickly on our way from Basel to Lucerne. There were 19 of us on this bus. 15 will be continuing on the Lake Como tomorrow. The other four of us are staying longer in Lucerne. The other couple for 2 nights, us for 4. We stopped just outside of the city for the inclined railway up Mt. Pilatus. It's the steepest railroad in the world. It was a nice trip! The train went through several tunnels along the way. We met our guide for the city at the Mt. Pilatus station. His name is Christian and he's very good and very helpful. (And his laptop was almost identical to mine....) Mt. Pilatus supposedly was once the home of dragons. There were several legends of the dragons - all involving people who climbed the mountain and were killed by the dragons before they finally disappeared. The photo on the left shows the boarding platform for the cog railway up Mt. Pilatus. Above the station, you can see a couple of the trains waiting to pull into the platform for loading. The second photo shows another view of the boarding area with the Pilatus dragon looming overhead. The third photo shows the ticket building for the Pilatus train. And the photo on the right shows the view out the back window (where we were sitting) looking back along the track. The brown roof in the distance is at the edge of the parking lot for the train station. The climb begins quickly... The photo on the left shows Lake Lucerne from the cog railway. We were near the beginning of our journey at this point. The center photo shows some of the cows that summer on the mountain. The slope doesn't seem to bother them. The photo on the right shows our expanding view as we climbed higher and higher up the mountain. The lake at the bottom is Lake Lucerne. I think the water at the upper left is another arm of the same lake, but I don't remember. The photo on the left above shows part of the hiking trail that winds up Mt. Pilatus. The trail is wide, paved, and gentle here. Higher up, it's a narrow track with snow still covering parts of it. The center photo shows the way station on the ascent. It's primary purpose is to allow the train going up and the train going down to pass each other. Most of the trip involves a single train track. As a secondary benefit, people can get off here and hike up or down. The photo on the right shows the descending train passing on the other section of track. At the top, we walked around for a while enjoying the wonderful views. We never left the main terrace, however. There were way too many very steep stairs to other viewpoints. The photo on the left shows the cable car we will use a little later to return from the top of the mountain. It's a high capacity cable car, holding about 40 people per trip. The center photo shows the same cable car just seconds after leaving its station. That's the city of Lucerne far below. The photo on the right shows the cable car station, Lucerne, and Lake Lucerne. The photo on the left shows two holes in the side of the mountain, making it look like a face. I think there was a walkway out to the holes, but we couldn't locate the start of the path. The center photo shows the long stairway to one of the highest points you could climb to. The other one was closed off because it still had snow blocking portions of it. We didn't climb the stairs.... The photo on the right shows the view across the main viewing platform. There were views off both sides of the mountain from here. The building on the right is a hotel. On the highest point of the mountain were some observatories. That area wasn't open to the public. The photo on the left shows the train tracks near the terminal station. They're hard to see, but make a dark diagonal across the center of the photo. If you look closely (especially at the larger version of this), you can see the hiking trail just below the train tracks. There's a hiker nearing the end of the trail there, too. The center photo and the photo on the right show some of the gorgeous scenery visible this day from Mt. Pilatus. I don't know which lake that is. We grabbed a bite of lunch in the self-serve restaurant, took a quick swing through the gift shop, then we were on our way again. The photo on the left above shows a large sign on the viewing platform with the elevation and another dragon. I happened to catch it in a rare moment when there wasn't a crowd of orientals posing in front of it... Coming down was a different route. This involved a very large cable car taking us to the half-way point. The cable cars held about 40 people at a time. The photo on the right shows our view as we started the descent. At the halfway point, we switched to smaller gondolas. These were similar to the ones at many ski resorts - the type that held 4-6 people at a time and that you got to jump on and off of - they never stopped. A couple of people in our group had problems with this, so the attendants had to hold the cars still for them to get on. We wound up riding down with the couple that's staying on at our hotel for a couple of days. They're from near Calgary, so we had a lot to chat about. The photo on the left shows the dragon that graces the end of the gondola track. You can see one of the gondolas in the background. The dragon has a sort of steampunk look as he's made from various metal parts. Then we boarded the bus again and drove into Lucerne itself. We stopped at the other hotel to drop one group's suitcases, then continued on to ours to do the same thing. Then we went on a walking tour of the old city. The bus dropped us off at the farthest point in the walking tour so that we could spend more time on the tour itself. It was a very interesting tour. The photo on the left shows the Lion Carving. This sculpture was commissioned by the French after Swiss Guard mercenaries helped them win a war. The dying lion represents the Swiss Guard (who were mercenaries who wound up fighting on all sides of the various wars in Europe way back when). The upright shield by his head has the Swiss cross on it. The bent shield still being protected by his paws has the French lily on it. The broken spear in his side shows his sacrifice. Shortly after the war that inspired this statue, the Swiss decided they were tired of losing men to other people's wars and declared their neutrality. The Swiss Guard only has one assignment outside of Switzerland and that's to guard the Pope and Vatican City. This statue is carved out of the side of a quarry. At the time of the commission, this quarry was outside of the town walls. Today, it's a short walk from the center of town. The photo on the right above shows a fountain in a square. According to Christian, this square is where Carnival festivities start each year (similar to Mardi Gras). The three photos above show three views of the Chapel Bridge, a long wooden bridge across the outlet of Lake Lucerne. At one time, this bridge, with its towers, formed part of the city fortifications. The tower visible in the left and right photo is one of the few remaining towers from this time period. Originally, one end of this bridge ended at a chapel (hence the name). It now stops short of that chapel. The center photo shows some paintings that are in the rafters of the bridge. They appear overhead for most of the length of the bridge and depict scenes from the history of Lucerne. We will wind up crossing this bridge several times in our stay in Lucerne. It's an interesting bridge. This section of the river leaving Lake Lucerne (the Reuss) has four major pedestrian bridges (and one auto bridge) in the space of about 3 city blocks. We crossed every one of them - some of them more than once. The photo on the left shows the view on one bank of the Reuss with the Jesuit Church (a very lovely church) and the next bridge downriver as seen from the Chapel Bridge. The center photo shows the hotels and restaurants that line the opposite bank. The photo on the right shows the front of the Hotel Des Balances. This used to be the guildhall for the weights and measures guild. They have a very nice restaurant on the lower level, near the river. We ate there twice... The photo on the left shows the "Chaff" Bridge, the fourth pedestrian bridge on this stretch of the river, as seen from the third bridge. The Chaff Bridge is the oldest bridge in Lucerne. It got its name from the fact that the millers would use the constant breeze in the area to separate wheat from the chaff. There's a millrace on the right end of the bridge. The contraption in the front of the photo is part of the "Needle" Dam. This is a temporary dam that can be put into place across part of the river here to control the water level on Lake Lucerne. The more of the dam is in place, the more water is left in the lake. These platforms gradually block the left side of the river, forcing most of the water to go down the right side, where the millrace controls the water flow. At the moment, just a short section of the dam is in place (the neeele-like projections are the only part visible) so the water flows quite freely. The bottom part of each of these panels fits into a permanent slot at the bottom of the river, which holds them in place. Our last stop on the tour was a really nice baroque church - it's just known as the Jesuit Church. It was very pretty inside - light and airy. The photos above are inside the Jesuit Church, an example of baroque architecture. The first three show the main aisle with a choir practicing. The photo on the right is the pulpit. The photo on the left shows the painted ceiling of the entryway to the Jesuit Church. Then we all walked back to the hotels to check in and relax for a short time. There was a short delay on our room as I had neglected to note feather free on the reservation... I really need to start doing that. So, we waited in the lounge area while they removed the feather pillows and duvet.... Once we got into the room and somewhat settled, we went back to the lobby and met with Christian again to verify the rest of the trip's arrangements (like the tour scheduled for tomorrow and the transfer to the airport on Wednesday). We also got a few restaurant suggestions and sightseeing suggestions. Then he showed us where to meet tomorrow's tour. Back to the hotel again to drop off the paperwork and then we headed out for dinner. We ate at Des Balances. Right on the river. Yum!!!!! Carl had the Scottish salmon with salad and I had the grilled salmon with market veggies. And we got a table outside (when in Europe...). It seemed pricey, but we compared menus and prices at a couple of other places on the walk back and it was actually pretty reasonable for this town. Now it's late and I still need to download photos... Next...