Mt. Pilatus

Up Mt. Pilatus today!

There is an old story that the reason this mountain is called that is because Pontius Pilate is buried there.

I started out the morning with some veggies in sauce

and a banana with blueberries.  Yum!

Then I packed my lunch . . . 

I even made you a little video of the lunch I took with me!

We went down four flights of stairs . . .

Out into the rain - hooray!

We bought a few supplies at Coop to make sure we had good stuff for our journey.

And then we found the quay where our boat was waiting for us!

It wasn't time to board yet, so we waited under the canopy so we didn't get wet.

We were headed to Alpnachstad, from where our specialty train would leave for Mt. Pilatus.

The ceiling in the boat was mirrored.

And there was an interesting little magazine with some info

on the ship, the areas it visited, and the region in general.

Ship ahoy! - SO much cuter in German!

There was a container for umbrellas!

It was a rainy, chilly day, and the boat ride was beautiful.

I checked out the bathroom.

And then I went outside in the rain for a bit to enjoy 

the chill and the damp and the view.

Here's a little video for you:

We made it to Alpnachstad too quickly (I would've liked a longer boat ride!)

and the Pilatusbahn was very easy to find - it was right across the street from the pier!

Can you see the red train car?

There are more stories about dragons surrounding this mountain,

which is why the logo of this Bahn is the flying dragon.

Supposedly, a man long ago was stranded on the mountain as winter fell and he curled up in a cave.  Dragons came in and went to sleep for the winter and kept him warm. 

During the winter, they licked particular rocks to nourish them, so the man licked the rocks, too, and survived until spring, when he was able to climb out and go home.

Here is a better version of the dragon lore surrounding this area.

Here it is: the world's steepest cog railway!

And then we were off!

Lovely rugged scenery.

And snow!

Oopsy - blurry.

It says, "48% - steepest cog railway in the world".

We walked out of the train into a building, which was nice and warm and dry.

This was the view:

We saw some people in caves across the way and realized that the doorway went right onto a walkway (outside) that led there.

The Dragon Gallery!

There is more than one way up to the top - this one only takes 3.5 minutes.

I got really excited about the "Dragon Gallery" and raced out the door before even putting on my sweater (under my coat) or my gloves.  I needed them both and had to put them on in the rain after getting chilled to the bone because of the rain, the caves, and the wind.

Delicious.

Here's the beginning of the Dragon Gallery.

There's the building.

Here's the story about the dragons taking care of the man on a sign in the caves:

Some of the walkway was next to steep cliffs 

(don't worry, there were fences!)

There was a barrier to close off the walkway in cases where it wouldn't be safe.

The weather and the views and the dragons were making me feel very happy.

There's a sign that the foliage up there is protected by law, so we shouldn't disturb it.

"Plant protection area":

Here's a tunnel the cog train goes through on its way up and down.

Worms were out to play!

Weather equipment?

Greg was getting sleet in his face and made a squinty nose, but I still think this photo is pretty great.

Eventually we made it back to the building and headed back down.

On the way down again, we saw this sweet big-eared cow.

We decided to take the train back rather than waiting for the boat.

We went through a town called Horw, which is pretty much pronounced "whore".

We laughed.

On some of the more revealing advertisements, we saw these stickers, which said "sexist *^&%*$&".

(I won't translate the bad words).  I laughed some more.

And Greg was fascinated by the keys to our apartment.

They are very interesting and different!

After we got back, I made up some veggies . . . 

And then we worked hard to translate and understand this German TV cooking contest show,

"Grill Den Hennsler".

It was really funny and interesting and hard to turn off even though we needed sleep!

Maybe next time we're in Switzerland, Hennsler!