Oops - forgot to post these. During my first weekend here in CH, and before Alison and N. arrived, Asish and I went to Pilatus near Luzern. Here in CH there are 3-4 mountain top touristy trips you can take. Some are snowy, some aren't. Like Pilatus. Pilatus however boasts the steepest cogwheel train in the world. And lemme tell ya folks - it's steep. From Bern, Luzern is a little over an hour on the train. In fact, most things are about an hour or so away from here. But anyway. Luzern. About an hourish away. From the tourist center you can purchase a round trip ticket that takes you to the top of Pilatus via two cable cars, down the other side via the steepest cogwheel car in the world, then by boat back to Luzern.
In between the two cable cars, there is a restaurant, picnic area, playground and zip ropes and loads to do. It's so spectacular you really don't even need to go all the way to the top. I keep thinking I need to go back now that the family is here because the playground is one that you don't see in CH very often (if ever). And by "typical CH playground" I mean a broken down metal swing with possibly a slide. Which typically end up being used by teenagers who smoke and drink crappy CH beer out of cans. But this one! Big, wooden climby thing. The awesome kind.
Once at the top, you can obviously see a lot. But in reality, it's so far down there, you can't really see it. One of the more odd visual experiences was seeing an small airport. Imagine standing on the ground, and looking down at airplanes taking off and landing. Somewhat surreal. We hiked around a bit and had some rather delicious wurst, then waited for the next cogwheel train down the other side of the mountain.
After the cogwheel train we jumped the boat back to Lucern, hung out around the lake area for a while then jumped the train back home. In the end, a fabulous day trip that begs to bring the family along.
