Day 24 Lucerne:

Today is our second and final full day in Lucerne and it started the same as yesterday, down at the hotel restaurant for breakfast, Tyler’s favourite part of the day. We are doing the Mt. Titlis excursion today which involves catching a train from the main station to Engleberg. We get down to the station in time to catch the 9 o’clock train for the 50 minute journey. We get off the train and make our way to the Mt.Titlis front gates. The first leg is a gondola ride which takes us about half way up. Then we board a large square cable car which takes us up to another stop where we board a round revolving cable car. This cable car revolves as you are going up so you get a 360 degree view. We thought yesterday was a long way up, this is taking us up another 3000ft higher than Pilatus so we are really starting to feel the altitude. We get to the top and we are now in the clouds. We get off the cable car and go outside and the mountain is full of snow. The kids are extremely excited and start making snowmen and slipping and sliding around. We walk around a bit and the kids seem unaffected but Kris and I are really feeling the pinch with the altitude, especially when you walk up a hilly bit of the mountain. We take the Ice Flyer chair lift across the glacier and back again. That was a lot of fun as we hovered above and looked straight down into the glacier. We get off the Ice Flyer and head inside for some lunch. We get a table looking straight down the mountain, it looks like a 2000ft drop and the clouds are streaming up the mountain and over the top of the restaurant. We have lunch and make our way into the glacier cave which was very cold. We head back out into the snow and take a walk around. I’m taking steps and my feet are dropping about 2 feet into the snow it’s that thick. It’s also very slippery in parts so coming back down hills is a pretty funny sight. It’s a beautiful day again on the top of the mountain and we have been very lucky again. We actually had to whack on some sunscreen as we got a little burnt yesterday. We take a bit of time to enjoy the snow before deciding to take the trip back down the mountain. We stop of at Trubsee where there is a lake and we go for a walk. This is an amazing spot where people are picnicking and hiking. We walk around to the lake and get a coffee at the restaurant on the other side. We can’t believe how many people are hiking these mountains. People bring their bikes and take them up chair lifts and ride back down or people will bring their dogs up gondolas or the cog wheel trains and take them for walks up here. It’s weird, you’ll be sitting in one of these things hanging from the sky miles up and you look around and a dog will be staring at you!!! Anyway, this spot is beautiful and Kris and I decide that when the kids are off our hands this is where we will come every year during Perth winters. We make our way to the bottom of the mountain and catch the train back to Lucerne. We go back out for dinner and I hand over the remainder of my superannuation for another feed and then it’s back home to bed. Tomorrow we are off to Zermatt and the mountains there are even higher. The Matterhorn is the big attraction there and we can’t wait to see it.

"Out the front of the Mt Titlis front entrance"

"The train parked at Engleberg station"

"The kids enjoying the snow on top of Mt Titlis"

"The view at the top of Mt Titlis"

"I think I might where my crappy ill fitting suit and leather shoes to the top of this snowy mountain.......beep, beep, beep....weirdo alert, weirdo alert.....beep, beep, beep"

"The view of the lake at Trubsee"