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| Iz before they boarded their boat! |
After riding on the lake and reaching the village of Alpnachstad, the kids took a ride on the world's steepest cogwheel railway to the summit of Mt. Pilatus (if that sounds familiar, it's because DJ went there back in April (here) but because the railway was partially under snow, we had to settle for going up on the gondolas and cableway). The kids really enjoyed the ride on the train.
Once at the top, instead of being able to see the lake, the cities and farms, and the mountains like we did,
...they got views like this:
They said that once in awhile the clouds broke and they got a quick glimpse of what was below.
When they got done, they rode the panorama gondolas and the aerial cableway back down, but part way down they stopped and had lunch and look who was providing some entertainment:
...caught a bus, and met us back in Lucerne around 5:30 that afternoon. Meanwhile.....back at the ranch....well, really back in Lucerne (checked out of our hotel), DJ and I got to entertain Miss Kate for almost seven hours "on the street" so to speak. Hmmmmm....what did we do?
Well, Katelyn's vocabulary is increasing daily and one of her latest things was to tell us what the the train says, "CHOO, CHOOOOOOO"! So what better place to begin our day than the train station. First, we started upstairs between all the tracks and watched train after train pull in or pull out. Katelyn was quite fascinated, but these trains are extremely quiet so we didn't get the whole benefit of a good ol' Choo Choooooooo.
After the novelty of all that wore off, we went downstairs at the train station which is full of stores and restaurants and lots of benches and space. Katelyn got some good time out of the stroller and had fun watching the birds which fly in from outside. We also stopped at a bakery and got some goodies and some fresh fruit for a late-morning snack. Katelyn had fun walking and climbing. Our most interesting adventure was getting locked in the baby changing stall in the restroom (long story), but luckily the attendant who had been so helpful and actually caused us to be locked in there heard my near-frantic knocking, and let us out!!
We decided that a walk across the bridge to the other side of the lake would be fun, and Katelyn decided it was a perfect time to take a nap....a long nap. She had not slept well at the hotel the night before. DJ and I found a wonderful little spot with a bench under a tree on the lake's edge. We had a delightful time while our princess slept. DJ found us some bratwurst from nearby street vendor so we had lunch and visited and dreamed and people-watched. We had fun watching some beautiful ducks (different, with golden heads) as well.
When Katelyn woke up, she was a hungry girl so we headed to McDonalds where we fed her and then spent some fun time upstairs in their playground.
Next on the agenda was another walk back through old town, a walk across a bridge, and then some time with the swans:
Then Grampy had to get in some tickle time:
At 5:00 we went to the Chapel Bridge to wait for Sarah and Israel. They got there around 5:30 but before they did, the rest of us walked back and forth on the bridge a lot. Katelyn started playing peek-a-boo with the canopy on the stroller. She would put it down in front of her face and then swing it up again.
We were headed back to Basel that evening so we wanted to take the kids to see the lion monument. Since DJ had been to the monument twice before, he actually went back to the hotel to have the valet service "fetch" our car so he could park it in public parking, and we wouldn't have to wait the half hour later in the evening. The rest of us marveled at Thorvaldsen's work and got some good pictures (on Israel's cool new camera).
Then we wandered down to the street to our favorite little pizza place when DJ later met us for dinner.
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| Somebody got a lollipop! |
We had a great trip home. It really helps that it stays light until close to 10:00 p.m. You can really crowd a lot into a day!
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