Swiss Alps Baby!!

 So long Vienna! You will forever be burned in my brain as the place where we got bed bugs.

After we made our day trip to Salzburg, Austria (where Mozart was born and raised) we hopped on another international train to Lucerne, Switzerland. Just an hour outside of Zurich, Lucerne is a smallish, picturesque mountain town. Beautiful and expensive as hell! The most expensive place I've ever been, comparable with Tokyo. So, when we arrived it was about 11 pm and you know what I was thinking!? Ack! It's even colder here!! But, I am so happy that I purchased long undies because I was actually warm in Lucerne and it was the coldest place on our trip . 2 degrees and socked in with fog. Lucerne was just a passing- through stop on our journey. I am happy we made the time to explore! The one day we spent there, we hiked Mount Pilatus...actually we took a gondola up and hiked down. Our day started out foggy and pretty chilly on the ground, but once we made it past the clouds on the gondola, it was warm, beautiful and sunny! Swiss Alps baby!! We have been told a few times on our travels that hiking is a very Canadian thing to do...and that day in Lucerne we hiked our asses off...literally! Our lower bodies were killing us the next day.

Jeni and I @ Mt. Pilatus

"Hello!" I say through chattering teeth!

Gondola

The surroundings were beautiful. I love the mountains and have been blessed to have had the Rockies basically in my backyard for most of my life, as Jasper is 4 hours from Edmonton. I am always amazed every time I visit the Rockies, and the Alps were equally as spectacular!

Observe: Swiss Alps!

One bummer thing that happened was that I lost my camera on our hike (very sad face). It was in my pocket one minute, and gone the next. I retraced my steps a long way...to a point where I knew I had my camera...but found nothing. No one had turned it in at the bottom either. I have contacted the mountain as well since our visit...and nothing has been found *sigh*. Lost in Switzerland...forever. Or in someone's North Face jacket pocket! Not to worry though, J-Sak has a sweet camera and has so far taken like 1400 pics! Haha!

When I look back at the day spent on Mt. Pilatus in Lucerne, I feel it was one of the best days along our travels thus far. I was so tired of being chilled and when I woke up that morning and saw nothing but grey fog, I wanted to sleep the day away in the hostel! No joke! It turned out to be one of the sunniest snippets of time on our European journey...as soon as we were higher than the cloud cover.

Observe again: Swiss Alps!

I'm pretty sure it was around here that I lost my camera...having some fun in the process!

Ok...so we packed up our gear after one day/2 nights in Switzerland...and we were north bound...headed for a big doozer of a city...the one on the map that everyone goes to when seeing Europe for the first time: Paris!