Mt. Pilatus

Mt. Pilatus is situated above Lucerne at 2,128m (6,982ft.) and is a beautiful sight to behold. Mark's Mom suggested we go here and boy was it quite an experience. There are some different ways to get up there, but the hotel suggested we go the route of taking the bus to where the gondolas lift off and returning via the cog railway and boat. The gondola ride was fun (a little frightening at first) and it dropped you off at a midway point where you could ride the longest summer toboggan ride which we of course did (1,350m or 0.88miles) and/or a cool obstacle/zip lining course. Or you could just take the second gondola up to the top.

Taking off!

There were lots of herds(?) of goats on the hillside. And along the ride you could see the brave/fit people who would climb up!

The second gondola to the top.

You can see the toboggan winding down here. 

I didn't take any video going down, but I found a video online from someone else. If you skip to about a minute in to this video you can see what it was like to go down!!!

Mark on the toboggan.

To get back to the top there is a hook that attaches to your toboggan and pulls you up. A good view along the way!

Loads of butterflies.

After riding the toboggan several times we finally made our way to the gondolas and continued the last leg of the journey up to the top. At the top there is a hotel, some places to eat, and... I think that's about it. The view is spectacular so I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

The second gondola. 

Very steep...

The view at the top.

The cog railway that we took to get down. It is the steepest cog railway in the world and I believe it!

That mountain peak on the left is the one we saw on our bike ride out to Horw.

To get back down we took the cog railway which is the steepest cog railway in the world.

Going down!

Pretty flowers along the way. And more good views.

When we made our way back down to sea level we apprehensively went to see about catching that boat back to the city center because it was going to take about an hour or more and there was a train station right there at the bottom. The last boat had already left so we were happy to take the train which only took about 15 minutes. At the train station there was a vending machine selling pregnancy tests and other necessities!