Lucerne, Switzerland

I spent Friday packing/traveling to Lucerne, Switzerland. Ben and I arrived in Lucerne at 9pm, checked into our hotel (Hotel Ambassador), and set out to explore Lucerne and find a place to eat dinner. We ended up eating at a place called Cafe Gretel. The waiter was really nice and friendly and Ben and I both had tomato soup and ciabattas--it was delicious :)

This morning we woke up early, had some breakfast at the hotel, and headed for Mount Pilatus. We took the cable car halfway up the mountain and then stopped to do some toboggan sledding, which was fun. We then continued all the way to the top with the cable car and hiked around the peak. Unfortunately, it was very foggy and we couldn't see much, but what we saw was very pretty. While we were at the peak we saw some yodelers and other people playing these long Swiss horns--it was really interesting to see/hear. I loved being up in the Swiss mountains--it reminded me of Heidi. I also love that wherever you are you can hear the jingling of the goat bells somewhere on the mountain. While we were hiking, we actually saw a mountain goat pretty close to us. Another thing I liked was that there were tiny flowers everywhere in the grass around the mountain. It was so pretty. After we headed down the mountain (again via cable car), we did some souvenir shopping, and I found some great gifts for my family (get excited).

Ben and I then dropped off our gifts at the hotel and headed out to the lake for some paddleboat action. It was so much fun and so relaxing! There were so many swans and ducks around us (another thing I love about Europe--swans everywhere) and the view was gorgeous! After our wonderful paddleboat ride, we had a snack while overlooking the lake.

For dinner, we went to a Pizzeria and had some gelato for dessert (gelato is one thing I will definitely miss about Europe). We also went out to an Irish pub which was very cozy and had a nice atmosphere. We have to get up super early to catch our train to Paris tomorrow since I have to be at the airport at 2 :(

I really don't want to leave--this has been such an incredible experience and I have loved all of it. I wish I could stay for another month. This has definitely been one of the best experiences of my life.