Previous
Saturday August 1, 2015
and Sunday August 2, 2015
USA to Luzern
Monday August 3, 2015
Luzern, Pilatus, and Grenoble
Next
Tuesday August 4, 2015
Grenoble, Alpe d'Huez,
and Lyon
07:06
Spreuerbrücke / Mill Bridge
My hotel was nearly a kilometer from the train station, so I needed to
find a locker at the train station for my backpack while I explored
Pilatus to avoid another round trip to the hotel
I had mixed feelings about spending the morning on Pilatus since I'd
seen plenty of alps before and would be spending most of my trip on
higher mountains, but I figured I was here so I'd see the sites as
planned.
The Danse Macabre / Dance of Death paintings on Spreuerbrücke are
excellent, even better than the endless series of beheadings on
Kapellbrücke
07:07
07:07
07:07
07:08
07:09
Looking up the Reuss River toward Lake Luzern
07:12
The city walls above Spreuerbrücke.
My hotel is on the opposite bank behind the bridge
07:14
07:17
Kapellbrücke
07:20
Kapellbrücke
The international ticket desk didn't open until 8am, so I couldn't buy
my ticket to Grenoble yet.
I put my backpack in a locker and boarded the train to Pilatus.
The local train was full of commuters.
07:58
I was shocked at the angle of the train tracks.
Very cool engineering!
Three train cars travel up the mountain one at a time.
A train load with a tour group went up first, then the locals and
myself who had been waiting went on the next train.
08:06
08:19
08:21
The train stopped at Aemsigen and the engineer showed the other front
row passanger and I the rack and pinion cogwheels under the train.
08:22
08:37
08:31
08:36
08:38
08:43
The heavily fortified mountain top with artillery and radar
installations
08:46
08:51
08:51
08:49
08:52
Never walk when you can ride...
08:53
08:56
Looking north
08:56
09:09
Looking south to the Bernese Alps
The Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau are in the background - it was nice to
see them again after 10 years.
09:10
09:22
The Eiger and Monch are now hidden in the clouds on the right
09:14
iPhone panorama
Click here for a full size image
09:21
Eventually I'd seen everything there was to see on top of Pilatus and
took the gondola down the other side toward Luzern.
Pilatus from Fräkmüntegg
Switzerland's longest luge at Fräkmüntegg. I waited behind a
family of four and then rode the luge. Riding behind children is
always a mistake since they go way too slowly.
The gondola back to Kriens takes quite a while.
It is scenic but nothing terribly pictureworthy after Pilatus.
I was stunned at the hordes of tourists and tour buses at the Kriens
station.
Clearly I'd made the right call to go up early - I had no idea there
would be such a mass of humanity on Pilatus later in the day.
I took the bus back to the train station
Once there, I retrieved my backpack, got a ticket number for a place in
the long line at the international train ticket office, bought a beer
and a smoked salmon sandwich for the long train ride, bought a proper
Swiss to American AC adapter, bought my train ticket, and got on my
train, all within about 30 minutes.
11:55
Quadruple score!
The trainride was kinda long.
Once I left Switzerland the French train was much slower, louder, and
hotter.
Grenoble was sweltering when I arrived.
After quickly dumping my backpack in the hotel I wandered the town for
perhaps an hour to see the sites.
I determined that there are no sites in Grenoble.
It was a gritty town.
18:05
Grenoble.
19:34
In tonight's edition of Food Porn from France, we bring you the 28 euro
menu from L'inattendu, highly rated by both tripadvisor and my
receptionist, and in my building as well.
The waitress also spoke very good English and explained the whole menu to me, which made all the difference in the world.
We start with a recommended local beer with some citrus overtones -
good, but did not match the meal at all, but no beer would match this
meal.
Next we have a cucumber gaspatcho with lemon and mint, served in a small glass with a straw.
I don't like cucumber and it was good.
19:43
I selected the chicken liver as my entree and it did not disappoint.
Served with salad and bread.
I caught wiffs that were reminiscent of
nine lives, and it kind of looked like nine lives, but it was nice and
warm and very tasty
20:06
For our main course I selected the white fish. The sauce was
extrodinarily light and slightly buttery, a liitle creamy, and perhaps
the best sauce I've ever had.
It was also served with two tiny crepes (?
Tasted like light pancakes) and an olive based (tapanade like) filling
for a suspected squash of some sort.
20:27
For desert I selected the chocolate mousse.
Without a doubt one of the three best meals I've ever had.
Number one
is still from our hotel in the Dordogne in france 2005, and the only
other competitor is the meal from Grimentz in 2012.
It will be tough to
top this tomorrow night in Lyon but i shall try.
I really need to learn to cook.
Shoving food down my piehole day-in day-out is not eating
Previous
Saturday August 1, 2015
and Sunday August 2, 2015
USA to Luzern
Monday August 3, 2015
Luzern, Pilatus, and Grenoble
Next
Tuesday August 4, 2015
Grenoble, Alpe d'Huez,
and Lyon
