Swiss weekend!  Even though it was a late night of soccer, we were up early and caught the train to Lucerne.  It is a lovely city on the edge of Lake Lucerne.  Gorgeous baskets of brilliant flowers decorate almost every building.  We wandered around (we sure do a lot of wandering) and found a reasonable Italian lunch spot.  After lunch, more wandering and shopping.  The kids all wanted authentic Swiss Army Knives.  Georgia especially, since she has turned 10 and is therefore old enough to have one, according to Dad’s rule and her brothers’ precedent.

We took an incredible gondola ride up to Pilatus, a gorgeous mountain-top perch and lookout outside Lucerne.  Three connecting gondola rides up the steep mountainside, and we emerged in the clouds, with beautiful views through cloudbreaks.  At risk of overusing the word in this blog, it was simply STUNNING.  Many hikers also choose to CLIMB to the top of Pilatus, some along the defined trail, and others straight up the steeps, as we witnessed.  Wow.  We also witnessed paragliders taking off from the top, beginning their long, winding arcs down to the Lucerne countryside.  It was just so SWISS an experience; the gondola even passed over small herds of cows with the giant bells around their necks.  And as we arrived at the top, we caught a group of Swiss yodelers, in mid-impromptu-concert.  Unfortunately, no whisky-bearing St. Bernards….

After ice creams and hot chocolate at the top we rode back down to Lucerne and caught the train back to Zurich.  After the connecting trams and buses back to the house, we opted for an EASY dinner, so after a quick call to Domino’s, the kids had pizza and the grown-ups geared up for a fancy night OUT.

We left Jack in charge of the kids and drove over to the Dolder, the nicest hotel in Switzerland, with fairy-tale architecture and lots of Porches in the parking garage.  We felt very she-she as we sat out on the front patio and had drinks that you don’t even want to KNOW the prices of.  We sipped our drinks, enjoyed the gorgeous evening, and listened to the quiet roars of the Maseratis and Aston Martins pulling up to the valet.  A perfect ending to four days with our precious friends.

Carson & Georgia – on the train to Lucerne.

Stupid photo-bombing pigeon!

Boarding the gondola up to Pilatus

View from the top

These two hardy souls came up the HARD way!

This are ready-to-go-home faces.

The whole gang!

Aren’t they lovely children?

The incredible Dolder Hotel in Zurich