It was a pearler of a day today - clear as crystal and sun rays for days. Perfect for going up to the top of Mount Pilatus.

To get to the top, we took the bus just outside the hostel to Kriens, the town next to Lucerne. The hostel we were staying at, gave us a free mobility pass for the duration of the stay which meant that we could take any bus and train within Zone 10 - basically Lucerne city and surrounding areas like Kriens.

From the Kriens bus stop, we walked a little bit up the hill to the cable car station. The trip to the top involved 3 legs - gondola from Kriens to Krienseregg, gondola from Krienseregg to Fräkmüntegg, then an aerial cableway (which can fit 50 people) from Fräkmüntegg up to Pilatus Kulm.

It was pretty amazing seeing the view open up as the gondolas kept going up - Lucerne city nestled in the valley, the lake stretching out, hills and mountains in the distance. The snow kept getting thicker the higher we went and the top of Pilatus was basically covered in a layer of powder.

Once we were at the top, we went outside to see the view of the alps - so many snow covered peaks! On the other side, the view of Lucerne and beyond. We wandered through a rocky tunnel along the side of the mountain where legends of the dragons were started. Two of the peaks that make up Pilatus were closed by walking due to the paths being covered by recent snow however the path to peak Oberhaupt was cleared so we walked up to the top achieving an altitude of 2106 m above sea level.

There are 2 hotels and a few tourist shops at the top. We sat in front of the windows overlooking the alps in the hall connecting the hotels for some warmth and ate some pita bread and finished off the delicious chocolate chip cookies that our last Airbnb host had made for us.

Heading back down, we stopped off at Fräkmüntegg for the change over to the gondola. Stepping outside, we decided to wander a little while around down the path through the alpine forest which was beautiful - tall trees covered in snow and the sunlight peeking through. Along the path, we saw hikers walking up in snow shoes which looked exhausting, and saw people sliding down on sleds which looked like fun. So we decided to give sledding a go.

Both of us have never sledded before but it didn't look that hard... For CHF20, you can hire a double sled for a whole day. We started off on the short steep runs near the Fräkmüntegg for some practice. Calvin went first to make sure that it wasn't a fatal activity and when it seemed that he was able to reach the bottom of the slope without dying, Kate also hopped on. The short slope had a little lift to bring you up again so we practiced a few times on the slope and had some fun with going a little bit faster before taking the long run down to Krienseregg.

Sledding was so much fun!! And it was beautiful sledding through the forest seeing the trees loom up on either side. Steering was a little difficult with two people but Kate got the hang of it and was able to lean in the right direction while Calvin held the reins. There were no accidents and no tears (although there were near tears on the steep slopes of the run) and we got to Kreinseregg station safely.

After that, it was the gondola ride down to Kriens, bus back to Lucerne, a little bit of grocery shopping for omelettes for dinner and the an afternoon rest at the hostel.

We went out for one more walk at the water front as the sun was setting just to take one last look at the snow capped peaks reflecting the pink hues of the sunset and walked past the baroque styled Jesuit Church through the old town and back home for the night.