Well the Funicular last night in Lugano wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be so all in all we had a reasonable nights sleep.
We were away early this morning heading through the Swiss Alps. This is very similar to Milford Sound. Indeed it was very picturesque with plenty of waterfalls to try to photograph. Not easy in a moving bus. One can only imagine what this must look like in the heart of winter and perhaps these waterfalls freeze.
During the course of our journey we have travelled through quite a few tunnels, but none can compete with the St Gotthard Tunnel. This is 16km's long and took us 14 minutes to get through this. This is the second longest road tunnel in the world. I specify road tunnel as some train tunnels are longer. Not only is this tunnel long, as you get to the end of it, it even diverges off into several ways out, just like an open air motorway. Pretty amazing.
It was raining on the Lugano side of the tunnel, but when we came out the other end, the weather was a bit better as we were on the other side of the Alps heading into Lucerne.
Lucerne is considered the most Swiss looking city and seeing all the chalet homes, brightly painted shutters around the windows with flower boxes and the cows with their cow bells, it truly looked just how you imagine Swiss villages to look.
As we drove into the city, we passed by the ornate houses, a covered bridge which I later walked across and the Lion Monument, (a massive stone sculpture of a lion in commemoration of the heroic Swiss Guard of Louis XVI).
We decided to take advantage of both the optional tours today. The first was a scenic lake cruise on the most beautiful lake in Switzerland according to our tour guide and certainly it gave us a lovely panoramic view of the city and the surrounding areas. Our boat captain was an English speaking German and he had a very sing song voice which made his commentary all the more interesting.
Following this we went on the second excursion, the one we had both been looking forward to here in Switzerland. This was going up Mount Stanserhorn for breathtaking views. This sits at a mighty 6,300 feet and is reached by two modes of transport. Well three if you count the coach ride to the bottom of the mountain.
The first part of the climb up the mountain was an old time funicular with 100 year old carriages with fringed curtains. These were quite beautiful - all wood inside. This took us up through farmland and how lovely it was to hear the cow bells ringing. Some of the bells were massive so gave off quite a loud ring.
The second part was via an aerial cable car. These were huge, having two levels from which to view your journey. We went up onto the top level which was an open air deck with sides. Certainly gave you a spectacular view but not for the faint hearted.
There was one thing that happened on this cable car ride which reminded me of something I forgot to mention in a previous blog. It was something Colin said which has become the "quote of the trip" according to the other passengers who were with us when it happened. Stay with me a moment and I will explain.
I will have to take you back to the Capri day. Do you remember that horrific trip we did up "Mamma Mia Drive" in the bus being hurled around corners, swaying it seemed over the edge? Still a vivid memory! Well when we got up to the top, there was a moment of silence as we all tried to regain our composure, and Colin pipes up in a quiet voice saying "I think a bit wee just came out". The whole bus roared with laughter and I think if there was any dry underwear following the drive, there certainly wasn't following all the laughter.
So I think you can guess what happened in the cable car today? One of the girls, not so fond of heights, got a bit of a fright as the cable car lurched over one of the joins on the cable and let out a squeal and said, "I think a bit of wee just came out" much to the delight of us all.
Now as you know, I was going to raise a glass on my Kiwi birthday and as it happens, as we were having lunch, time ticked over to the 27th in NZ, so we said a cheers with our wine and beer and I got wished a happy birthday by Colin.
The alcohol was later to turn into a mistake as we took on the 30 minute walk up to the very top of the summit. We puffed and we huffed all the way up there and on reaching the lookout I collapsed on a rock to rest. I blame the wine and altitude?!
Once recovered, we both enjoyed the view and took a minute or ten just to take in what we were seeing. The air force has a strip you can see from up there, but as they are very conscious of attacks/acts of terrorism, there were no hangars visible as all the planes are housed under the ground! There were many mountains around us to look at and an almost aerial view of the lakes down below and the little villages. We were both very glad of our jackets as it was pretty darn cold considering we have come from temperatures in the high 20's.
We finished the trip up the mountain at around 3 pm and made our way back down again via cable car and funicular. We then checked into our hotel and had some free time to go exploring/shopping.
I mentioned that this town was meant to be more geared for the tourist. Not sure I would really say that as we didn't think the prices were much different from Lugano and following our dinner at the hotel, some of us thought we would go back into the township but all was closed. Well just as well really, it gave me time to get this written.
Big, big day tomorrow. Of course the 50th and dinner at the Eiffel Tower will be the main focus, however we have to get there first which means a 680 km bus ride first!
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