Tamara in Switzerland: Luzern

Yesterday was my excursion to Luzern, probably the best place in the central part of Switzerland. So my day started at the butt crack of dawn (no kidding, even the sheep were still asleep when I was walking to the train). I caught my 6:20 am train to St. Gallen and then my 7:02 am train to Luzern. I finally got ther at 9:20. So I went to the tourist office to grab my city guide/map and then caught a short bus to Kriens where I then proceeded to ride an air gondola about 30 minutes up Mount Pilatus (which is named for Pontius Pilate as there is a legend that it's the final resting place of his spirit or something like that). Then I had to take a cable car the rest of the way up. The summit was very nice and cool. Unfortunately it was a bit hazy yesterday so the view wasn't as clear as it could have been, but you could still see most of the mountains around and that was nice. There are several little trails you can take to various viewing points. I managed to do all of them. I went up to the highest point of the mountain at 7000 ft, which was about a 30 minute hike, and very rocky. I very nearly sprained my ankle 2 or 3 times on the way down. There also were a ton of stairs to get to all these viewing points. I definitely got my exercise. I bought a sandwich and was able to eat my lunch at the top of one of the points with a very nice view. I also managed to spend some time in the gift shop where I proceeded to spend a lot of money and bought a swiss flag t-shirt (which I fully intend on wearing on Swiss National Day, not Swiss Independence Day like I said earlier). I also bought this awesome t-shirt that say LOST (like the tv show) in Switzerland, and instead of a background picture of the "island" it's the Matterhorn. I then took the cogwheel train back down the mountain, which is the steepest in the world at 48% incline, and then caught a ferry for about 90 minutes across Lake Luzern back into town.

In town I managed to see several touristy sights, including the infamous water tower and bridge and the lion carved into the rock. I also again managed to buy some more stuff including a swiss army knife (I mean how can I come here and not buy one of those) and some truffles and another Luzern specialty called Wasserturm Stein (basically an alcohol soaked piece of cake covered in chocolate) from a chocolate shop called Bachmann. Let me tell you that is the best chocolate I have ever tasted. I may have to go back to Luzern just to buy some more. Anyway, I also went to the old city wall and went into 3 of the open towers and walked up the top (let me tell you I walked up a lot of stairs yesterday). Then I also went across another bridge and then visited the Jesuit Church which was very nice. For dinner I had some Burger King because I don't know when I last had a good old fashioned cheeseburger and french fries. I then caught my train back to St. Gallen at 6:40 pm and then another back to Gais and walked home. I made back about 10 pm and was absolutely exhausted. I jumped in the shower, checked my e-mail, and then was in bed and dead by 11. I didn't wake up until I had to get up at 7:30 this morning for Ryan day. I'm still quite tired and my feet still hurt so I'll probably sleep well again tonight. It was a very nice day and Luzern actually warrants more than one day for exploring.