The Swiss Alps

Our tour of the Alps yesterday was awesome! We hopped on the tour bus at 9:30am in Zurich and headed out for a 9 hour adventure. We drove through the beautiful countryside checking out the quaint little towns in the hillsides on our way to the first stop which was the town of Luzern. Luzern is sort of like a Leavenworth, but about 3 times the size and the buildings date back about 800 years! Every street tapered off into random side streets with little shops and restaurants. While walking down a little side street we stumbled upon a very colorful restaurant that was calling to us. It turns out the restaurant was originally built in the 1430's as a hotel and converted into a restaurant in 1602. The walls were filled with paintings from the time it was built, the tables had open flame candles, and the food was the best we'd had on the trip so far...Marshall had Polish Sausage with hash browns and onions (+Beer), Shelly had (you guessed it) chicken with orange sauce and rice/veggies! 

We had about an hour and a half in Luzern then jumped back on the bus to head to Mount Titlis to see the Swiss Alps. The drive was only about 2 hours further, but it felt like a short trip with the views of the farmhouses, waterfalls, and pointing out all the animals to Tyson. When we arrived to Mount Titles the sky was so cloudy that we couldn't see the top of some of the mountains. To get to the top of the Titlis, you have to take 3 different gondolas. The first was a nice/private gondola that flew us past a few farms/fields with a great view of the town. The second fit about 80 people (land we were crammed), but we were able to snag a spot next to the window to get a view threw the clouds and see the neighboring mountains. The last was a rotating gondola that allowed everyone to see the view, though looking up was mostly clouds at that time.

Once at the top, there were lots of adventurous things to do. We went into an ice cave carved through the glacier, walked along a wobbly suspension bridge, and took a chairlift ride called the Ice Flyer over the glacier. Tyson napped for about an hour on our shoulders towards the end so we just some Swiss chocolates and Marshall got about 15 mins worth of a nap in the restaurant. The view from our table was great and the clouds separated occasionally so we got to see the view from the top.

Off topic, but worth mentioning for those of you who know Shelly--It was raining most the day that day so we brought an umbrella to protect her hair (even though she had a hood too). Problem is, mountains are snowy (and slippery) and when she was on the top of the mountain she slipped and used the umbrella as a cane to catch her fall and somehow  broke the umbrella into four pieces. Oh well, if that's the worst that happened to us that day, so be it. We got back to the hotel minus 1 of their umbrellas... but those things are like robes right...totally free (?)..

When we got back to the hotel, Tyson had a nice long bath and we packed our bags since it was our last night in Switzerland. Once the bags were packed and we read Tyson some books we all conked out by about 8pm. That night was the best night of sleep we all got so far. Must have been the clean air and 9 hours of 'oh wow, look at that' experiences.

Next stop: Florence, Italy!