Fifth day in Swiss

12/9/08

From our cubic led hotel room no.584 NH hotel Lucerne , the day didn’t seem to dawn only. It was a cloudy day and we slept into the day till 6.30 a.m only to get up with a start as we were scheduled to catch the 9.22 launch, the first lap of the journey to Mount Pilatus.

This was a trip we had not really anticipated in this grand way. It was only on coming to Lucerne and going through the brochures we could Mount Pitatus can be traveled as a Golden triangle. From Lucerne township along the huge lakes adjacent , a large motar boat will be carting us to a place called Alpnachstad. The boat ride carrying about 200 people is a 90 minute ride along most picturesque landscape dotted with many small towns. Then it is a steep climb for one hr by a small mini train to Mount Pitaltus ( at 7000 ft). Then journey back to Lucerne by a cable car.

We had not dreamt that our excursion pass given by Yatra.com to Mt. Pilatus will entail all these. But on enquiry the precious day we were told it can be accommodated. Hence this trip is the real bonus to us.

Lucerne is actually like a peninsula surrounded on all 3 sides by lake waters. The Lake surrounding Lucerne is called Viuerwaldstattersee. As we started moving out of Lucerne into the lake waters we found after every 10 minutes there is a Lucerne like township Now our boat was halting for a short while in every township. The anchoret of our ship is a girl. She was hauling the rope to the hooks to make the boat halt. Inside the atmosphere was real bohemian. There was a eating joint with many table and chairs around. People were sitting casually around the table eating drinking or chatting not like Indian launches where people are properly seated. Very soon people started moving around to the open along the ale and frontage and enjoying the balmy weather and scenery. After a while the boat moved along a strait ( a narrow patch of water way) and entered into the next lake Alpanacher see.

Here everything is so open just from where we were sitting in a well like portion below we could stand on the railings around and see the working of the huge pistons and engine and could understand clearly how this boat’s engine is working. The mornings threatening weather cleared up luckily and we could stand in the haul at the front and enjoy the beautiful scenery around.
Soon we reached the end of the 90 minutes ferry to the base of Mount Pilatus.

The mini train for going up the mountains were just in front of us in the slopes waiting for us. We literally had to rush out of the ferry to get into the trains as there was only 5 minutes gap.

These trains are the worlds steepest cogwheel train and are recorded in the guniees book of world record for the steep gradient they negotiate. Each train is a 45 seater railway car inching up the 6km vertical climb in a remarkably athletic way as a lizard would climb a vertical wall at an incline of 48 degrees. It seems these railways were started in 1898 and electrified in 1937.
Unfortunately half way through we were immersed in clouds and any further view was obstructed. But we could feel the thrilling experience of inching up to Mount Pilatus.
At Mount Pilatus too the weather did not clear. But as proximal view was there we started moving around. The place seems to be trekkers paradise not too high too and suitable for novice trekkers too. We found a trail going through long caves . The trail was for 30 minutes and we went through it and got some idea of trekking. As it was raining any long climbing trails wont give us an advantage of a view.
We were meeting here a variety of nationalities, some from Spain, England, Australia and lot of Indians too.
After loitering in the area for couple of hrs and having our lunch of Thepla and Apricots we scouted for a while in the souvenir shops there and located a nice buy for Venkat. A small casket containing many alpine stones like quartz, Amethyst ,Jasper ( Interesting on Geological point of view) and decided to return picking up the cable car route.

The prospect of traveling back in cable car was appearing a bit apprehensive as by then we were surrounded completely by thick layer of clouds and visibility was limited. However as cable cars were plying nevertheless we thought it should be safe and alright. The Euro pass was again taking us through the ride or the regular fare of the trip was 98 F ( about Rs 4000) a 30 minute ride from Mount Pilatus to Kriene ( the station to get down). The most part of the ride was along thick pine forests. We were grazing through the top of the pine trees and soon it opened to the valley and lakes. Now the visibility improved and we could see the beautiful landscape below as a bird flies. We were dropped in Kriene ( a township similar to Lucerne) .From here we had to walk for a while along the residential areas of Krine to catch the big trolly bus to Lucerne ( again the bus ride was on the Euro pass)

It is really astonishing to find these residential localities as though swept by a magic wand, so neat and trim buildings, well laid out side walks with pleasant greenery, flowers at every place, well laid out roads but not a soul around toiling to maintain this perfect place.

We returned to Lucerne by 3.15 p.m The bus dropped us right in front of the hotel. Lucerne is in fact an old settlement having many historical gothic type monuments. We visited one right close to our hotel. A huge lion carved in a single piece of rock. There were many tourist hovering there. They claim it is most photographed piece of rock etching.. A monument erected for some departed soldiers in a war of 18th century. We also took some photographs and again went around looking for things in the souvenir shops. We bought some famous Swiss army knives. Every thing else is so costly when we do the conversion from swiss franc to Rs.-- A cup of tea costs -3.50 F= Rs.140 , one cone icecream costs -3.6F= Rs 150/ Good hotels costs 200 f = Rs 8000 to Rs 10000/.
To go to toilet at places we had to pay 2f= Rs 80. A cup of plain curds costs 1 f – Rs 40. So it was a wise thing we carted our food or else sizeable amount we would have ended up for eating only.

After a bit of rest, around 7.30 p.m again we walked to the station a km and half far to enquire about the timings of our next days Zurich trip. We got to see then Lucerne by night. They have so tastefully lighted the place the lake side monuments and the weather was breezing and it was a pleasant walk except our leg muscles were getting sore with all these sudden activities over the last few days. After soaking in the Lucerne for a while we returned to the hotel back and settled for the night.

Night it was dinner of Bisibelabath and matar panner. Here in this hotel they didn’t give us our ubiquitous kettle. Hence we were heating our dinner by dipping them in hot water coming from the tap for a while.About this Lucerne hotel few things we appreciated. One was the bath area which is generally a tub is cordoned off by semi transparent plastic doors giving us the privacy and allowing us not to spill the water outside. Here using the bathrooms requires planning and method. The bathrooms are stone dry and you are supposed to keep it that way even after use. Any water can be spilt only in the bathtub or washbasin. Hence lot of planning has to be done even to wash plain undies. Then to dry them also is a job as it should be done most unobtrusively. Further in the hotel there was one cubicle for bath another for lavatory. But in the toilet there were no taps a situation foreign to Indian needs. But having the bath and commode separate was some solace.