Spectacular views from the top of Mount Pilatus, 7000 ft. above sea level
View outside the cogwheel train, going down the mountain side
The Duomo cathedral in Milan
Views around the central square in Milan
I was so excited about this morning that I woke up before the pre-arranged wake-up call. From this day forward for the rest of the vacation, I would find myself waking up before the wake-up call every day. I suppose I was just excited about the vacation that I was eager to get up and going every morning!
The reason for the excitement this morning was the optional excursion up to the top of Mount Pilatus, a mountain that overlooks Lucerne 7,000 feet above sea level. Andee purposely had us wake up extra early to be the first ones at the top and have it all to ourselves for an hour before the other tour groups and other visitors made it up there. After going up halfway in 4-person cable cars, we all piled into a larger tram and continued up to the top. All the way up, we saw brown cows grazing in the fields with their ringing bells around their necks. In the larger tram, we passed over a sharp cliff that dropped off so quickly and far below that many stomachs inside the tram did somersaults.
Only 2 out of the whole group decided not to partake in the morning excursion, and I have to say that it was definitely a huge loss for them. The view was absolutely breathtaking! Never in my life had I seen such a magnificent view. There were mountains as far as the eye could see, and with all the clouds around at that altitude, it gave it a very peaceful and somewhat eerie aura. I used up a whole roll of film alone at the top of the mountain. Eventually, crowds started filtering in, disturbing the peace and quiet. The trip down the mountain was by a cogwheel train, the steepest one in Europe.
We headed back into the center of Lucerne where we had the rest of the morning and early afternoon to ourselves. Most people went shopping, including myself. I ended up picking up a new Swatch watch, a Swiss Army knife with my name engraved on it, and a stuffed brown cow, complete with cow bell, that mooed when it was tipped over (it was for my younger sister). It also began to rain heavily, but it didn't seem to faze anyone. At least it didn't rain when we were on Mount Pilatus! But everyone was thoroughly enjoying Lucerne too much to even care about getting a little bit wet. Many would point out that this was their favourite of all the places we would visit during the entire trip.
But unfortunately, it had to end as we boarded our motorcoach and started the drive to Italy. The drive was one the most scenic ones I've ever sat through. This long drive was the only one during the whole trip that I was fully awake for. The scenery continued to be amazing as we drove through the valleys and between the mountains. With the rain coming down at a constant but peaceful manner, there was a little bit of fog and plenty of water rushing down the mountains to keep me in awe. We also drove through a 17 km long road tunnel, the longest in the world. As we drove through it, signs would indicate how far a distance we had traveled through it.
When we reached the Swiss/Italian border, it was a slightly disturbing sight, as we saw customs officers randomly pulling over and searching vehicles. We managed to get through customs without incident; a big bus like ours didn't even get a second look from the customs officers. We got into Milan in the middle of the afternoon rush hour, so our pace was slowed down to a crawl. It also didn't help that we had to make detours around road construction and the rain was still coming down hard.
We didn't have a lot of time in Milan. We were dropped off at a shopping centre where the Duomo cathedral was located beside it. After only a couple of hours, we were back on our motorcoach and headed to our hotel, the Hotel Ripamontidue, just outside of the city.
After our included dinner at our hotel, a large group of us hung out at one of the bars in the hotel and had a few drinks before retiring for the night.
