Annie Walker: Zurich – The Unique City

June, 2009

Zurich – The Unique City

This was my first time visiting Zurich. My traveling life is not considered to be complete without visiting Zurich. It is a charming city, indeed. This time, we took a tour visiting Pilatus Kulm, the high spot of Central Switzerland. The trip was beneficial. Because it was a ‘Golden Round Trip’ which included traveling by Coach, Cable Car, World’s Steepest Cogwheel Railway and the Cruise.

At first, our guided coach tour brought us to Kriens, our starting point. We then traveled up by panorama gondola and aerial cableway over steep chasms to the summit of Mount Pilatus (7000ft/2132m)! We spent few hours having our meals, lounging about the souvenirs shops and roaming around at the summit. After that, a spectacular ride down on the world’s steepest cogwheel railway (48% gradient) took us to lake-side Alpnachstad. From there, we enjoyed a pleasant 90mins boat cruise to Lucerne. We didn’t have much leisure time spending at Lucerne before we met our guide and returned to our hotel. We only managed to get to see the main sights of Lucerne – impressive Chapel Bridge!

Hopefully on my next visit, I could cover other attractions of Lucerne: Lion Monument, Town Hall, Jesuit Church, Concert and Congress Hall. In fact, a visit to this lovely Old Town shouldn’t be missed! Yet the day was too short to cramp everything into it; a day excursion to Mount Pilatus was quite simply an exceptional experience!