Mt Pilatus, one if the highest mountains in Switzerland at 21,000 ft, was said to have a dragon living at the peak. We arrived to an extremely foggy base to the mountain and unfortunately it only got worse. We took gondolas of four up about halfway up the mountain. We then switched to a larger one taking us to the summit. The whole trip took approximately 30 min. The view from the top of the mountain is said to be the best in Switzerland and what a view it would have been. It was too cloudy for us to see much of anything however, there was a bunch of snow in the summit so we had a snow fight between most of us on the summit. After our hands were too cold to make snow balls, we took a quick group picture and back down the mountain we went!
We then used a trolley to go down the mountain, which was the steepest trolley in the world. We had been using tickets to go up the mountain and we needed them to go down as well and during the snow right Jason lost his ticket. So he had to hop the turn style, despite a sign that says prosecutors will be fined 100 frank. Now that my feet were sufficiently wet, we were off to lunch in Lucerne. We went to a traditional Swiss restaurant that was obviously geared to tourists. However, with that being said, it was soo much fun!
They had live music of an upwright bass, piano, and accordion. Playing it reminded me of a few scenes in Zelda. It got much better though. After a few numbers they brought out their fluegelhorns! They played a few songs the. Let some of us up to play them. Talk about taking me back to my trumpeting days. I was able to make some music with it but nothing special. After those who wanted to had there chance at the fluegelhorn, they switched to a few yodeling numbers. Just like with the fluegelhorns, they brought people up to yodel. I figured since I played the fluegalhorn someone else could yodel so I didn't go up. We had Swiss cheese fondue for the appetizer and Swiss flag icecream for dessert. They also played the wooden spoons but the craziest thing is that they played a saw! And it was sooo good! They played it with the upright bass bow and it was awesome.
After having a very entertaining lunch, we had free time to walk around Lucerne and see what trouble we could get ourselves into. Jban and I went I to the buchener because we all had vouchers for free spoons. That place is incredibly expensive. There were watches worth over $100,000! Absurd! Anyways, after realizing I'm not a multimillionaire, jban and I promptly left the store. We walked around downtown Lucerne which is soo freaking pretty! We walked a bridge that was built back in the 1300 that had traditional Swiss stories painted on it. However, I can't read Swiss duetch so I didn't read them. But they looked pretty! I also bought a few things while there. The day turned into a beautiful one, which is a shame because we could see the mountain peak from the ground and the view would have been awesome! Guess ill just have to go back. Bummer. We also stopped by the art center to see what there is to see and then headed back to our hotel.
I ran back to my room because my feet were soaked and we had 10 min to get back on the bus to go to a gathering with the locals of Fluelen for a concert. We arrived at this little school gym that didn't hold more than 200. The gym had a rock wall though which was pretty sweet. Also, the rock was was probably practical for the kids to learn how to get home! There houses are so high up in the mountains! Anyways, the first group up was the local kids choir. Turns out they were a yodeling kids choir and it was awesome! They were so good! All the kids parents were clapping along to the songs and it felt like I was at a CCS kids choir show or something. Next was the highschool aged gospel choir. They really weren't that good. But, they said at the beginning they were a group of kids that just like to sing and get together for the fun of it. And for me that is pretty cool. Who cares if you are good at singing? If u have it in you let it out! Next the Purduettes went and did well. We finished up the show and killed it apparently. They were not ready for anything like strike up the band. I did my final runout to a lady that didn't speak a lick of English and that was interesting but o well. I made it work! After the show, we walked back to our hotel for good.
I promptly removed my shoes upon arrival because my socks were soaked still. Turns out I have a huge hole in my shoes so that would explain why my feet were ways wet! Anywho, we also got another gift from PMO. We got wooden jewlery boxes engraved with the PMO symbol and trip title. I will probably use mine for tie clips or something of the sort. Anyways, we all signed the guest book of the hostel and had a great idea to take a "last supper" picture with all the Seniors + Ted. So we did that, then had a few drinks and headed to bed.
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