Mt Pilatus Trip

Today the weather cleared enough for us to take the round trip to Mt Pilatus. We started our journey with a 90 minute cruise on lake Lucerne to Alpnachstad. We then boarded the steepest cog railway in the world to ascend Mt Pilatus. A height of 2132metres above sea level. The train ride took 30 minutes and then we were in the snow!

Unfortunately, snow and ice can be a bit slippery and who should fall flat on her bum?? (Twisted my right leg and am now resting back at the hotel....but I digress) the photo of Peter and I in the snow was taken after the fall...note he is clutching me quite firmly

We had lunch in the self serve restaurant and bought a couple of souvenirs...a woolly hat for me for Alaska and a little present for Joe.

The way back down the mountain to Kriens was via cable car and then gondola. Great fun

It was a bit tricky walking back to the bus top to get back to Lucerne and then back to the hotel but a bit of ice on the leg, an anti inflammatory tablet and some nurofen gel....I should be fine!

Off to Poschiavo tomorrow, can't wait.

All in all, a very eventful day.

For Ollie

This post is just for Ollie as we know you like fountains and marbles

Poppy made Nanna play with the water cannon even though she felt a bit silly

The other photos are of a huge marble tower. People can buy marbles made in the glass factory and take them outside to drop them into the really big marble slide. Just like the ones you make, only much bigger!

We did think of you when we saw it. :)

Love Nanna and Poppy

Sarnen - Family heritage

The weather in Lucerne and surrounds still terrible today and the trip up to Mt Pilatus cancelled due to ice on the tracks so we set off by train to Sarnen where my Great Great Grandfather, Otto Carisch was born.

It's obviously changed considerably since the early 1800s but still, the views up the hills must have been very much as it was in his day.

There was a street market on in the town square. Mostly edible items.

We walked what seemed miles in one direction looking for Sarnensee (the lake) before we found we were walking in the wrong direction. We had intended doing a cruise on the lake but when we did find it, the weather was not great for the views.

We headed back to Hergiswill to do a tour of the glass factory. Peter made me play on one of the water cannons. The things one does as a tourist!

Hopefully tomorrow the weather will be fine enough for the Mt Pilatus trip, if not, perhaps a cruise on Lake Lucerne.

We feel absolutely no guilt at all with all the delights we are sampling because we sure are walking off the calories!

So glad I did all that extra walking with Carolyn and Tayla to get the legs used to all this work.

Hello from beautiful Luzern

What a beautiful place Luzern is! We arrived by train about 11am and took a taxi to the hotel.....already fed up lugging suitcases around.
However, the staff at Drei Konige were very helpful and friendly and allowed us to leave our luggage here while we explored the Old Town. Still wintry cold and we probably looked like proper idiots dressed for Tassie weather.
We quickly found a shop to buy two very useful windproof, waterproof jackets. Will come in very handy when we hit Alaska.
Tomorrow we are heading off to see Mt Pilates and do a cruise on Lake Lucerne.
We're still having no trouble at all with the language as everyone (except the taxi drivers) speak very passable English.
A very nice bonus of staying in Switzerland is all the free chockies they leave us in hotel rooms!
Can't understand why the Swiss are not all overweight. We see them in the shops buying chunks of chocolate sold in slabs. And the cheese!! So much in one meal. we chickened out of the fondue last night but we will try one in the next few days. Rosti was delicious!
That's it for now. Have to search out somewhere for dinner.
Auf Wiedersehen
Jackie and Peter

Hello from Zurich

Well after 36 hours travelling time with only four hours sleep, we arrived in Zurich. The only hitches along the way were almost missing our flight from London to Zurich because we were lounging about in the wrong terminal building and had a very hurried walk under the runway to terminal 5 to join the already boarding queue. Lucky we noticed there was hardly anyone else in the gate lounge and Peter thought to ask!

At Zurich airport, at Passport control, the Immigration official assumed because I was born in Germany that I should be able to speak German and going through Customs we were given a tough time importing chocolate to Switzerland when we declared we had some Tassies on board. (for family and friends when we hit England)

Had a nice surprise when we checked into the Marriott....we were upgraded to a Tower room. So much for Priceline customers being treated as second class customers. the staff here have been outstanding...very friendly...all speaking excellent English.

A lovely dinner last night in one of the hotel restaurants and then a good sleep.

Thursday, rain and cold. The hotel lent us an umbrella and we set off to explore the Old Town and take a water taxi cruise. A bargain at 2.80 CHF with our half price Swiss travel card.

Tonight we are going Swiss and having a fondue. Another kilo to walk off!

I'll add some photos and sign off. More news when we get to Lucerne. We've had little luck logging on to free internet (even in Maccas) so I have paid for an hour at the hotel.

Auf wiedersehen

Jackie and Peter

Can now count down on fingers and toes! 19 days to go.

A worrying few days with the havoc caused by the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland. Thankfully flights are leaving Sydney for Heathrow again (much to Lizzie's chagrin). It doesn't look good for being able to grab a couple of extra seats to spread out though as I'm sure our Airbus A380 will be chockers!
Writing this on Anne's dinky little netbook....almost done with loading all my travel info.
Shopping almost done too...just a few minor alterations to purchases due to height deficiency.
More thanks..... to Val for the loan of the smallest hairdryer I've ever seen.

Well that's enough typing practice for now.
19 more sleeps!

Five weeks to go!

Not exactly starting to get into panic mode but feeling slightly anxious about not having absolutely everything booked!

Note to self "Just let it happen" (Can I do that Nicki?)

Thanks to all family and friends for advice on where to stay...
To Nicki and Phil for where to stay in Lucerne, Poschiavo and Venice and what to see.
To Carolyn and Rob for the Rome B&B recommendation...really looking forward to meeting the host and tasting her Tiramisu :)
To Lizzie for the links to Monastery stays...a real alternative but maybe for next time as I was lucky enough to get a real bargain or two in Italy.
To Anne for the advice on Hotelclub.com....booked Venice with this one.

Other websites I have utilised.... Priceline.com and .co.uk for some great bargains bidding on hotels in San Francisco, Anchorage and Zurich. Pity I hadn't checked out biddingfortravel.com and read all the advice before bidding as I may have got even better bargains....hoping for success and a good bid on Vancouver.

Things to do/buy/borrow
Beg, steal or borrow a travel hairdryer. I cannot do without one for four nights on a cruise even if I am wearing a beanie most of the time.
Just a few items of clothing perhaps (Maryanne says Europeans are so well dressed....pointless to try and compete!)
Thanks to Anne (again) for the offer of her Netbook. It's completely out of the question for me to be offline for 6 weeks! Now looking for a little cordless mouse.
Thanks to Brendon and Emily for the loan of the Lonely Planet Europe phrasebook. I'll be able to say "Mi dia un anestetico, per favore" should I need a filling, or lots of other things I'm more likely to need.

Plan for this week...
Check out day trips in various places. Download brochures etc
Set up Anne's netbook with my email contacts and everything else I'll need while away such as Skype.
That's it for now.