Bucket List

I don't think I had ever heard the term "bucket list" until the 2007 movie with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, but I suppose that for most of my teenage and adult life I've had some mental list of things I would like to either see or accomplish while I'm on this earth.  I've never bothered to write anything down, especially since I figured that most of my list was just a fantasy anyway.  But as travel happens to be a hobby of mine, most of my of imagined bucket list items pertain to the places on earth I'd love to see one day.

I seem to have a fascination with most everything there is to see or do in the mountains...a fascination I suppose that stems from the fact that I grew up in a place that was so flat and close to sea level that you couldn't dig in the ground without your hole filling up with water.  Maybe that's why I felt the need to see the Swiss Alps for myself.

So the third weekend in September, the family and I packed our bags and headed for Luzern (or Lucerne, depending on your language of choice), Switzerland.  As it turned out, the trip getting there was almost as much of an adventure as the time spent in Switzerland itself.  Our destination was too far away to drive and still have time to see the sights, and we've flown plenty of times, so Keith and I decided we should take an overnight train, just to say we'd done it.  Honestly, I didn't know what to expect, but I can say with confidence that  I don't think we will ever take the night train again.

This was our compartment.

The other side looked the same.  Little beds that have been slept on for many years by many different travelers, but at least they gave us clean sheets and pillow cases... we think.  Beyond gross bathrooms...Levi gagged the first time he had to go.  And then there were the paper-thin walls.  I didn't get much sleep that night with the guy on the other side of the wall sawing some serious logs, but I'm still glad we got the experience.   And oddly enough, we were in the same train car with a group of students from Baylor...small world!

Our trip improved greatly once we left the train station.  We had a rented car waiting, so we drove ourselves to our hotel to get checked in and settled.  This was the view from our hotel.

After thoroughly inspecting the hotel and its grounds (killing time while Keith had to work), we hopped on a bus and went back into the city.  This is a picture of Schwanenplatz (Swan Place, or more literally Swan Square). I just love the swans!

And this is the Chapel Bridge, the world's oldest covered wooden bridge, which also happens to be the most photographed spot in Switzerland.  It's easy to see why.

There are actually about 7 different places in and near Luzern to cross the River Reuss.  The shot of the bridge above is looking east toward Lake Luzern, while the one to the right is looking west back toward the river.

The shot below was taken farther upriver but looking back toward the lake.  One of my favorite buildings is the one on the left in the picture below.  It is the Jesuit Church, built in 1666.

On our second day we drove over to Mount Pilatus and rode the world's steepest cog railway to the top.

  

Once at the top, we were pretty free to roam around.  There were two restaurants, a hotel, and lots of different walking trails to get great shots of the view.  Below you can see our view while we ate lunch. Yes, that's the Swiss Alps in the background.

 

And below is probably my favorite shot from the top.  Absolutely breathtaking!!

 

After an unnerving experience trying to keep Levi from rolling down to the bottom of Mount Pilatus, we descended on an aerial tramway.  In the picture below, you can see our view from the tramway car.  That is one of the longest alpine slides I've ever seen or been on in my life. 

 Yes, we HAD to try it out.  That was so much fun!!

  

The pic above shows our view from the slide...cows!!  The Swiss are known for their cheese, after all.

Then on our third day, we did what I've been waiting for...we drove through the Swiss Alps.  

 

The pic below shows a view from Furka Pass, listed as one of the "World's Most Spectacular Roads" by dangerousroads.org.

 

I have a slight obsession with James Bond films, so I guess it's no surprise that we had to drive the very same road that was used in one of 007's typical car chase scenes from Goldfinger.  To see the clip try this .  The road looks pretty much the same as it did when the movie was filmed in the 1960s, including the buildings and the meager concrete blocks that are supposed to prevent a person from accidentally driving over the edge.

To the left is a view from the top of Furka Pass looking back down at the road. Quite a drive!

And finally, the perfect ending to an outstanding trip to Switzerland...dinner and a Swiss music show, complete with yodelers, alpenhorns, and traditional cheese fondue.

Participation from the audience was even encouraged, so Levi joined in on the fun!

There were some adults who couldn't make sound come out of this alpenhorn, but Levi did on his first try!  As the only child to volunteer, he received a hearty round of applause. 

So for an imaginary bucket list, I'd say we did pretty good for ourselves.  Now that I've seen the Swiss Alps, though, any other trips we take just won't be quite the same...or maybe they will.  We always have Paris!