Climbing every mountain in Lucerne, Switzerland

What I thought would be a tiny town tucked into the Swiss Alps was instead a bustling city on the edge of a massive, pristine lake. But oh, what a view to wake up to every morning!

Mt. Pilatus in the distance:


The city itself was fun, with typical Swiss goodies like cheese and chocolate around every corner. The architecture was wonderful too---there was a great medieval section of town with towers that we climbed up to get a better view of the city. Most of the buildings also had beautiful paintings on them. My favorite landmarks, though, were the wooden bridges dating from the fourteenth century, the Kapellbrucke and the Spreuerbrucke (with a creepy death theme).



Our first day there we walked around part of the lake, and even dipped our feet in. The sun was shining, it was hot out, and the breeze from the water made it feel like summer. Being around water makes me happy, for some reason. And did I mention the Alps in the background? ;)

It was so surreal to actually see them. I'd grown up on movies like the Sound of Music (ok, so that's the Austrian Alps, but same range!) The best part was going up them by cable car the second day. It was incredible how different the weather was up there. Down in town it was summer; on the top of Mount Pilatus it was freezing cold winter, with many of the trails covered by snow! The cable car journey took us up three legs, passing over ski trails and forests of evergreens. As we ascended higher and higher, the mist clouded our view and at one point we couldn't see anything!



When we reached the top, though, we got the most spectacular view of the rest of the Alps. My freshman Walden class randomly came to mind: experiencing the sublime in nature lifts up our souls with both terror and wonder. Mt. Pilatus was the very definition of sublime: "Of things in nature and art: Affecting the mind with a sense of overwhelming grandeur or irresistible power; calculated to inspire awe, deep reverence, or lofty emotion, by reason of its beauty, vastness, or grandeur." Thanks, OED. I suppose that's as good as a description as any for the view that left me speechless. The air itself made me heady: it was so fresh and pure, the oxygen like a drug. I would have happily lived up there if I could.





We were even treated to a performance on the alphorn, a traditional Swiss instrument (it sounded like a muted trumpet). My favorite trail up there was the Dragon Path, so named because according to legend dragons once lived there. Another legend is how Mt. Pilatus got its name. Apparently Pontius Pilate is buried somewhere up there...maybe the dragons got him.

But of course, as with all high places, we had to come down. Once we got back into town, we looked up at the peak and it seemed unreal that we had ever actually been up there. And that's how I remember it now: the highest to Heaven I've ever been, but even though we didn't want to, we had to leave Lucerne that afternoon. We had a train to catch.