July 19 we decided to take as many forms of transportation possible for a Grandma, 2 parents, and 2 small kids.
We packed up our stuff and took the bus to the train station. We stored our big bags in lockers and then took a train to the Mt Pilatus cog railway stop. We had actually been there on our first day in Lucerne via boat, but didn't have time to do Mt Pilatus then, so we came back.
 |
| Can you find the red railway car? |
We caught the cog railway up to the station at Mt Pilatus, marveling at how steep the cog railway was. Impressive people were hiking up the very steep trails all around us. Ava fell asleep in her stroller at the top, and we took turns being with her while parts of our group walked around and looked at the views.
Paragliders launched off from the top every few minutes. Jason walked a longer walk around one edge of rock. Rachel and I walked a short walk and then she did some scrambling and good hiking. Grandma, Jason and Rachel hiked up some stairs to enjoy views back to Lucerne.
After a very short alpen horn performance, I rushed us all on to the cable car because we had a long way to go on that day to get to our next home of Wengen, in the Bernese Oberland area. We caught another gondola down, then a bus back to the train station.
 |
| Chamois (animals like goats) playing on the rocks |
 |
| The steep cog railway |
 |
| Hikers appear coming up from a very steep trail |
 |
| Grandma waves in front of the city of Lucerne |
 |
| A brief alpen horn performance (brief because we left) |
 |
| When Ava is tired, she pulls my hair so I can't see |
 |
| On the city bus back to the train station |
At the train station, we did our first serious sprint of the day in order to catch our train. Grandma and Rachel and a stroller ran from the bus to the train platform. Jason sprinted to the luggage locker, opened it, emptied out 2 huge backpacks and a large suitcase and Rachel's little backpack. He took a huge backpack, Grandma's suitcase, and a little backpack and headed to the platform for the train. I had Ava in the carrier, sprinted to the locker, grabbed my big backpack, and joined them all in boarding the train.
We took several trains from that point forward. To Interlocken, then Lauterbrunnen, the to Wengen. The country side was beautiful! Mountains, clear amazing lakes, green trees, grass, chalets, cows all over. Each time we got off a train and on to another, we had to negotiate bags/children/stroller/steps/finding seats/people/rushing to the right platform. It's a miracle we didn't lose anybody or anything along the way!
 |
| Did we forget to bring hair conditioner?!? |
 |
| Ava asleep in the luggage compartment |
We arrived in Wengen for ice cream and chocolate to get keys to our apartment. Wengen is a charming alpine village in the hills below the Eiger, Monk, and Jungfrau mountains. No public cars are allowed. We learned our apartment was 800m from the train station and uphill, so we opted to wait for a taxi, because our bags were heavy and our group was tired. A lady in an electric van picked us up and drove us along the very narrow road (which is a ski piste in the winter) to our chalet.
 |
| Lauterbrunnen |
 |
| Arriving in Wengen at the train station with our crew and all our stuff |
 |
| The view toward the mountains from our chalet apartment |
 |
| The train coming by, behind our chalet apartment |
That night we cooked a simple meal in our kitchen, unpacked, played a little, and went to sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment