Switzerland

We had two nights in Lucerne and I have to say, the Swiss are quite bizarre people. We did a Swiss folklore night - there was yodelling, horns, flag tossing, cows, drinking and more drinking. Lucern is nice too, although it was cold.

We went up Mont Pilatus, the steepest cog railway in the world. About halfway up we hit the snowline. At one point the overhead electric cable shorted on an icicle and went BANG! with a specatular shower of sparks and everything jerked to a stop. At the top it was snowing with about a foot of snow, which was really cool, but also freezing. Getting down was a lot of fun, we had to take first a huge cable car, then smaller ones all the way back into the town.

In the town is the Lion of Lucerne Monument which was commissioned to mark the 700 Swiss guards that died defending King Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and their children not knowing that the king had already fled the palace. If you look closely at the monument you'll see the outline of a pig which was added by the sculpter Bertel Thorwaldsen apparently after he was told he would not be receiving the agreed price for the commission.

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Lucern in Switzerland
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Typical Swiss chalets


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Mt Pilatus from Lake Lucern


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Mt Pilatus from Lake Lucern


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Mt Pilatus train station


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World's steepest cog railway, Mt Pilatus


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Snow on Mt Pilatus


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More snow!


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Ice even


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Me! Yes, it was freezing


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Icicles


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Everyone having fun in the snow


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Cold birds


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This was our way down the mountain


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Coming down


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More of the view


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That was a long way up


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Smaller cable cars now


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The last of the snow


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Long cable cars


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Almost there


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The Fallen Lion monument (notice the pig?)


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Lucern


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Swan at Lucern


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The old bridge in Lucern


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Lucern


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Lucern


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The Swiss folklore night


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Swiss folklore night


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Swiss folklore night


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I still don't know what the cow has to do with it


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Flag tossing


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Swiss folklore night


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Swiss folklore night


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Swiss folklore night


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Swiss folklore night


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Swiss folklore night


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Another Swan


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Last of the mountains


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And the last of the Swiss snow


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Last modified: July 02 2023 03:59:45.
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