Karl Willhelm von Humboldt

The breathtaking mountainscape at the summit is awe-inspiring – experience, too, the unique alpine atmosphere. The best views at 2132 metres above sea level are a further five-minute cable car ride away.

More ‘On the Line’ can be found in the gallery.

From Alpnachstad to Pilatus Kulm, the world’s steepest cogwheel railway winds up through lush meadows carpeted with Alpine flowers, past sparkling mountain streams and fascinating rock faces.

We took a round trip to visit Mount Pilatus.  The first leg of the journey was across the lake, taking in the beautiful vistas.  The boat dropped us off at the bottom of the mountain so we could take a carriage on the cog railway to the top of the mountain.  After enjoying the beautiful vistas at the top of the mountain, we descended the mountain by cable car and gondola, followed by a five minute walk to catch a bus that would return us to the railway station at Lucerne.

At the beginning of the adventure we met a couple of New Zealanders who we kept bumping into throughout the day. We spent a lot of time with them over the journey and had some interesting conversations.

Before we set off in the morning I packed my fleece into Mr Cs backpack because mountain tops are always cooler than ground level.  Sure enough a cloud descended and so did the temperature.  I donned my fleece and tucked my scarf around my neck to keep warm.  Mr C decided to climb up to one of the viewpoints, I chose to stay behind and enjoy the relaxing atmosphere.

Whilst he was gone it started to rain, I briefly considered going inside but I realised that would be rather silly when I had a perfectly good umbrella in my bag.  Everyone else was rushing for shelter as the rain took a rather heavier turn.  An American lady glimpsed me as she walked past and said ‘Smart Lady’.  I smiled to myself and thought we Brits have to be prepared for all (weather) eventualities.

After we descended the mountain it got rather warm and we took the opportunity to relax in a cafe bar with a cooling drink and an ice cream cone.  We made it back to the hotel just ahead of a thunderstorm and torrential rain.  Luckily the storm had stopped before it was time to stroll out for dinner.  We didn’t pick the best of places for our evening meal, the food was nice but we were rather rushed through our meal.

We took another leisurely stroll through town arriving at the bar next door to the hotel for a night cap before retiring for a good nights sleep.

I woke refreshed after a good nights sleep. The breakfast choice was good and there were different seating areas to choose from including the balcony option.

After breakfast we took a leisurely walk along the lake past the Hofkirche, taking in the views of Pilatus on our way towards the Lion Monument.  We stopped for a refreshing drink along the way and after taking pictures of the poignant monument we explored the nearby Glacier Garden.  This natural phenomenon was on my hit list of things to see, but I didn’t realise that the attraction also housed a museum and a mirror maze that was based on Alhambra.  The mirrors had been kept so clean that the we heard many clunks along the way as people crashed into the mirrors.

After the Glacier Garden experience it was time for lunch where I experienced a rather refreshing mineral water drink that was topped up with summer berries.

After lunch the next port of call was the Bourbaki Panorama which depicted the internment of 87,000 French soldiers as they crossed the border into Switzerland in 1871.   On both an artistic and informative level, this was the best panorama that I have seen.

We walked back to the Hofkirche and went inside.  It had lovely calm and relaxing atmosphere. We then investigated the cloisters before sitting down for another cooling drink on our way back to the hotel, where we freshened up before our evening meal.

We were bored to death by two business men who were dining at the table next to us and talking LOUDLY about their work.  One of them was quite rude and ignorant and I had to think ‘calm’ because so many words were on the tip of my tongue

We then took a leisurely stroll through the ‘New Town’ arriving at the bar next door to our hotel for a night cap before we retired for a good night’s sleep.