For the first time this trip, we were faced with weather different than the hot sun and humidity that we've been used to, and instead woke up to pouring rain and cold temperature. We boarded the bus and headed down to the beautiful city of Lucerne, driving past green pastures and the amazing view of the Alps surrounding us. We took a bus tour and saw a beautiful carving of a lion, and finally drive into the city to explore. Lucerne pushed us to the brink of our wallets, because it seemed that wherever we went there was Swiss chocolate on sale or shopping to be done or coffee to be bought. We finally made it out of the town and headed by boat to Mount Pilatus.
We took a tram up the mountain where we saw rain all outside our windows. As we got higher and higher we even started it see snow built up on the ground and we entered a huge cloud of fog where we could barely see. At the summit we started to trek up the stairs bad climb to the very peak, and as we looked out into the abyss of fog we felt cleansed and at peace. We went back into the building at the top where we sat in a cafe and drank hot chocolate and looked outside the window as the fog cleared up and our classmates had a snowball fight. Finally the fog had moved and we could see with clarity the beautiful city below us. We felt free and on top of the world, and for me, sitting with my feet dangling over the skyline of Switzerland, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.
Finally we headed back into the town where we had dessert and strolled and shopped, coming down from our high of being in paradise. Despite the weather we had one of the greatest days just walking around and seeing the beautiful town of Lucerne with smiles on our faces. Best day ever.
-Marianna
Today in Lucerne, we didn't let anything stop us. Even though the cold and rainy weather wasn't too fun, everyone still had a positive and excited attitude to go explore Lucerne. We first started off the day with a walking tour throughout Lucerne visiting places like an old monastery, a Catholic Church, and the lion monument that memorialized the soldiers that died in the French Revolution. After the walking tour, we all had some free time and went for some lunch and roamed around. During this free time, we got some Swiss chocolate which was delicious. It makes all other chocolate taste lame in comparison.
After our food filled free time, we boarded a water taxi and took a nice long boat ride to Mount Pilatus. It was nice and relaxing to be inside a boat away from the rain and cold. Once we disembarked the boat, we got some pretty cool matching tourists hats, and we had to load onto a tram to ride up one of the steepest inclines up a mountain in the world. It was frightening, especially because there was so much fog. You would look outside the window and see mountains and fog but not the ground. Once we got up to the mountain we climbed up the little hill that was left. I am not going to lie, I am really afraid of heights, and the walk up the slippery stairs in the freezing rain with only a shaky wooden hand rail for support was terrifying. After the trek up the stairs and you reached the top, the view was all foggy, but then the clouds cleared and the view was beautiful. You were able to see everything down below, and it was breathtaking. After the walk down it was time to board the gondola to return to the bus. It was tightly packed on the huge gondola, but then we got into groups of four in smaller gondolas and finished the journey. We boarded the bus again and had some more free time in Lucerne. Lucerne was a cute town that had a lot of watch stores. I am so happy I was able to Lucerne because it was definitely a fun time!
-Abby
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