Day trip to Lucern and Mount Pilatus

Today we hopped on the tram to the main train station in Zürich (Bahnhoff) and took a train to Lucern.  It was a smooth ride south along Lake Zürich, and then west towards central Switzerland.  The train went through a few tunnels and had great views of mountains, lakes, and a few cities and small towns.  It was the first train ride for the kids so they were impressed with the speed and comfortable seating (compared to the trams).  When we got to Lucern we went to the information desk to ask for a good mountain day trip and they directed us to Mount Pilatus.  We took a bus to the base where we climbed into a gondola car (small for 4-5 people) and road straight up the side of the mountain.  At the mid-point, we had to get off and wait for a bigger gondola car that went to the peak where there was a restaurant and hotel.  We made it just in time to have an amazing view of the surrounding mountains, the lakes down below before the clouds moved in.  Even Elisabet hiked up the stairs to the summit (with Travis trying not to panic from his fear of heights).  Then we walked through a tunnel they made on the side of the mountain and we could see the valley and a small church that looked only accessible during the summer by hiking up the mountain.  The snow started blowing harder so we headed back to the mid-point to try out the toboggan run.  They provided little wooden sleds with runners- it looked perfectly tame, but turned out to be quite a ride.  Hanna and Leif were the perfect weight and size for the sleds, but Travis and I (w/Elisabet as rider) had to spend much of the run with our feet down as brakes.  Travis and Leif chose the difficult section and apparently had some amazing crashes, which included both of them losing their sleds at a few points.  Hanna, Elisabet and I took the easy run and it was like nothing I've ever done.  I think it took us at least 30 minutes to make it down to the end and there were several sections where the snow had gotten icy and we were flying nearly out of control.  Elisabet tried a few sections on her own, but usually ended up crashing into the snowbank (never crying about it though).  When we got to the finish, Hanna wanted to go again, but Travis and Leif were so bruised and battered that we took the gondola down the rest of the mountain and headed back to Lucern.  We were back in Zürich by 4:30pm, thanks to the efficiency of the trains and trams.

Tomorrow it's back to school and work!