Pilatus

Okay, yes, I realize how late this is but if I don`t write it now you`ll will never learned what happened on Monday. I`m gonna say that it`s not our fault that you`re learning the happenings of that day this late as well as Tuesdays, which you might have to wait for a bit more due to the fact that I`m expected to wak up at 6 am tomorrow *groans*.

Anyways, Monday Mariann had insisted that we go to Pilatus, home to the world`s steepest Cog railway system. I don`t think she`s realized yet that if we do anything out of the program we have to pay for it out of our own pocket. We got half off on the tickets thanks to our swiss passes but still, it cost a pretty penny. So we got our tickets and onto the train with Mariann and her 8 month old nephew (me and Jesse were estatic, Mathew`s all grown up and we`ve missed the gurgles and the pudgy cheeks). The train ride was alright, except for the fact that my ears were yodeling their own tune as we rode higher and higher. It was pretty scary to see just how steep of a mountain the train was climbing.
So eventually we reach the top and to get out of the train there`s this small flight of stairs we have to climb, easy-peasy, right? HA! As if! We were gasping and heaving for air before we had even reached the top, the air was so thin! I was surprised! Then again, I don`t think I`ve ever been as high up as I was on Pilatus.
Now the whole place was built for tourists. Two ritzy hotels stand at the summit with a whole viewing deck laid at their base as well as two peaks (of Pilatus) you could climb to view the scenery. Of course we could have just hiked the mountain as we saw some daredevils doing *laughs* and gotten in free, but we were so high up, I cannot see how they managed to do something like that! *shudders*
We eat lunch there (yes, I tried something new, I`ll have you know that Jesse and I BOTH ate a tomato sandwich. All of it. No, that does not mean that you get to strat feeding them us at home now, Jesse has already vowed never to eat a tomato again once she got home) then left Mariann to wander on our own. We found this cool trail that passed through the mountain in a series of tunnels with a bunch of historical facts dotted here in there telling why Pilatus was so famous. The best part was that it was in english so that I could actually READ it! It was actually really interesting, their was a whole series of legends of how Pilatus was considered to be the land of the dragons and sacred only to them because humans could not (yet) scale the mountain.

Once we got out and Jesse nearly had a heart attack due to the height, we took a...oh jeez, I`ve forgotten what their called. It`s like a cart that hangs from a cable to-a cablecar! Yes, we took a bunch of cable cars one after another and then went on a horrible walk in 95 degree weather to a bus with no air conditioning to finally end up in Lucern, where we spent the rest of the day wandering. Well, I say wandering but Jesse had a purpose. She had seen an advertisement for a tourist shop and happend to see a bag in the background so she dragged me halfway across the city just to get the bag. She`s happy and my feet are sore. It wasn`t all bad, though, I got to see this monument of a lion carved into a cliff since it was close by. Do not ask me what it was called, you know me with names. I just remember it being something mom showed me in her little tourist book on the plane, it being a monument for the Swiss mercernaries who died in the front wave of the French Revolution. It was really sad to see, a mighty lion brought down by a hail of spears. I wish I could post a picture but me an`Jesse have yet to figure out how. *Sigh* Well, it`s late, I`ll have to write about what happed Tuesday and today another time. I have an early start tomorrow *groans* Until next!

And with love,
Alex an`Jesse