We arrived in Luzern around 8am and set out on the Rick Steve's town walk. First stop was the beautiful Chapel Bridge with its 16th century paintings and colourful flowers.
Next we visited the Baroque Jesuit Church where we were lucky to hear the organ being played.
As we continued along the bank of the Reuss River whe stopped to watch a couple of men who were working on the weir system - the river was flowing very strongly and the men were tethered to the railings to avoid being swept away.
Further along we came to the picturesque Mill Bridge which also boasted 17th century paintings. From there we wandered through the Old Town where there were many buildings with colourful murals, often with humorous messages.
We returned to the railway station to catch the bus to Kriens and then continued via gondala and cable car to Mt Pilatus. We had hoped that we might find sunshine above the clouds as we travelled higher but that hope was disappointed. Although the outside area on the roof of the Pilatus station was lively with a man performing on an alpenhorn and some other folk musicians, we could hardly see to the edge of the terrace because of the fog.
We had some lunch at the Pilatus restaurant before taking the steepest rack railway in the world down to the lakeside resort of Alpnachstad. There we caught a boat for an hour's cruise back to Luzern. We then continued our exploration of the town by taking a walk along the 15th century city walls and continuing on to see the Lion Monument (Lowendenkmal) which was dedicated to the Swiss mercenary soldiers who gave their lives in defence of Louis XVI during the French Revolution. It is a remarkable and most moving memorial!
Our final stop in Luzern was the Glacier Garden where we saw some interesting excavations which revealed the effects that glaciers had on rocks and boulders during the Ice Age. Then back to Zurich by train - and sugar-coated, cream-filled pastry cornets for supper.
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