Rail Travel in Europe

Another "helpful hints" post about the mechanics of travel by rail in Europe.

If you are already familiar with the subject, feel free to skip this one.

As I come to the end of my epic-length European trip, I find that I have learned a lot of important lessons about travelling by train in Europe.  Some of these things I mastered when much younger, and had forgotten, some of them are new lessons to be considered.  My comments are based on the idea of an extended trip involving a number of train travel segments.

My key advice can be boiled down into five main points:

[1]  Get a Rail Pass

The time you will save, as opposed to trying to buy individual tickets for each trip, will please you almost as much as the money you will save.  There is such a diverse range of travel pass products available now that it's almost foolish not to buy one.  Of course, there is the classic Eurailpass, but under that umbrella name there are numerous variants based on limited groups of countries, set or flexible time periods, and so on.  Many individual countries also offer their own national passes.  As my experiences in Switzerland clearly show, the national pass there covers even more travel options than the Eurailpass.  It's a point to check for whichever country you are heading to visit.

I bought an 8-days-in-a-month Swiss Travel Pass, and it had more than paid for itself before my sixth day of travel was over.  

Research is key.  Be sure to read all the fine print relating to whichever pass you are thinking of buying.  I didn't follow my own advice, and ended up paying almost $100 more than I needed to pay for one train route, simply because I didn't read that I could have gotten a discount on it with my Swiss pass.  Ouch.

Passes are almost entirely limited to travellers from outside of Europe, who must purchase the pass before they leave home.

Key point: the Eurostar trains through the Channel Tunnel between the U.K. and Europe are not covered by Eurailpass or any national pass.  That trip you have to book and pay directly through Eurostar.

[2]  Go First Class

A lot of people will just say, "I can't afford that."  Actually, in Europe, you probably can -- the fare difference is nothing like as great as one might expect in air travel.  The difference?  Trains generally have 4 seats on a row, 2 each side of the aisle, in second class, and three seats, 2 and 1, in first class.  Bigger seats, more leg room -- these you would expect.  The really big difference comes when you realize that second class often fills right up all the way, and then some.  Do you really want to spend three or four hours of your holiday standing in the aisle of a train because there are no seats available? 

First class rarely, if ever, fills up.  Euro trains love seats which face each other across a table.  On 27 train rides, I had a vacant seat opposite me on all but 5 trains.  On 2 of those 5, I had an airplane-style seat with a seat back in front of me.  Some trains also offer at-seat service of snacks, drinks, or even meals (depending on the travel time) if you are in first class.  Second class, you are most likely leaving your seat and walking how many cars to the buffet -- or lugging all food and drinks for the trip on board with you.

Another key point: many European trains have nowhere near enough space for baggage, as most passengers are making short local trips for only a day or two.  First class has fewer people competing for the limited available space.  Moral: arrive at the station early, and be ready to board as soon as the train arrives -- your chances of snagging baggage space are better.  And in first class, your chances are much, much better.

[3]  Reservations

Many trains require reservations.  Required!  No res, no travel.  This applies to popular tour trains like the Glacier Express, to most international trains, and also to virtually all high-speed train routes like the French TGV, the Eurostars through the Channel Tunnel, the Thalys, the German ICE, and others.  Some of these trains now have three classes of service, an added complication to life with a pass.  Again, read the fine print.  Reservations sometimes (not always) come at the cost of a reservation fee, which is additional to either your basic ticket price or your pass price.  The reservation fee does not upgrade your second-class pass to a first class seat (I saw one guy get evicted from a train for trying to argue that point and refusing to give up).

I booked tickets for this trip through a U.S.-based company called RailEurope, but I don't think I will go that route again. It seemed easy enough to get all my reservations and my pass through one source. But there were problems. The RailEurope system didn't include many stations, and also had less than complete information about trains and routes that were available. In reserving seats, I got much less favourable seat assignments than other passengers who booked directly with the train operators in Europe, even though they reserved long after I did.

I would have done better to make my reservations using the websites of the various railway companies, all of which have full English-language versions of their websites.

[4]  Schedules

Train schedules in Europe are clockwork-precise in many countries, and beautifully interwoven so that a change of trains rarely requires you to stop for any longer than 30 minutes -- and often much less.  So precise is the planning that the German railway, Deutsche Bahn (DB), actually hands out leaflets on their major inter-city trains which give the timetable of the train, and also list all connecting trains at every stop, complete with the numbers of the platforms where those trains will board.  In every station, you will find video display boards like those in an airport, listing departure times and the main destinations of each train.

[5]  Take the Train, Not a Car

I would never rent a car in Europe unless I had to travel in an area which doesn't have trains.  It doesn't matter that the German Autobahn has no speed limit (except when it does), when the German Inter-City Express train can cruise all the way at 300 kilometres per hour or more (180 miles per hour).  Even the more normal trains on conventional lines often cruise in excess of 150 kilometres per hour.  Despite those speeds, the real reasons to skip using a car are the crowded streets and growing numbers and sizes of pedestrian-only zones in cities, towns, and villages all over the continent.  Parking can be hard to find in many locations, and expensive.

And then there's the price of gas -- so high it can make you wonder why you ever thought gas was expensive in Canada.  It's a loser's game -- and those are only some of the very good reasons why so many Europeans don't travel by car. The people I really feel sorry for are the ones who rent a car at the airport to drive up to Zermatt -- only to find that they still have to park the car at Täsch and take the train the rest of the way!

Even for day trips, the trains are amazing.  I wanted to go from Zurich to visit the dramatic Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen.  Of course, there's a train station right there, made to order for the purpose.  No, wait -- there are actually two train stations, one on each side of the river.  Visit the northwest bank views of the falls, take a boat tour, then ride the train into Schaffhausen and come back out on the other line to visit the southeast side views.  Easy to do with a pass.

A Couple of Notes:

A special commendation to SBB, the Swiss Federal Railways.  Just as my first Swiss train was leaving Basel, some idiot tried to light up a smoke in the washroom -- with predictable results.  All of us were asked to decamp into the next car, and were glad to do it because of the raucous smoke alarm.  At the next station, police met the train and hauled the idiot away.  Right after that, the conductor came through and gave us all discount vouchers for the inconvenience -- CHF6 or near Cdn$10.  The voucher could be used for travel, or to buy products in station kiosks, or to buy food/drinks on trains, including the Glacier Express -- which is where I used mine.

And finally: European trains are much more modern, quieter, smoother-riding, comfortable, punctual, and easy on the nerves than any passenger trains in North America.  Only one problem: most of the trains have air-conditioning systems, but those systems were having trouble coping with the epic high temperatures which Europe experienced this summer.  Dress lightly -- this isn't going to be an Arctic expedition like so many long-distance air flights.

European Epic # 16: A Tale of Two Cities and Some Running Water

I'm the first guy to admit that Stuttgart does not come high on most people's lists of must-see European tourist destinations.  Why am I here then?  My nephew and his husband recently relocated to Stuttgart from Toronto, and I was able to tweak my travel plans to have a little 3-day family reunion.

But I also had a certain amount of free time on my hands, and so I naturally wanted to look around and see what this sizable city, sixth-largest in Germany, has to offer.  As it turned out, there was a good deal to see even on a short walk around the city centre.

As the historic capital and seat of the Dukes and (later on) Kings of Württemberg, Stuttgart contains a number of historic buildings reflecting that ducal and royal heritage.  Others can be found in more outlying suburban areas which I have not had time to visit.  But this is also a vibrant, modern city with plenty of ongoing new construction and superb infrastructure.  The hotel I'm staying in (left), and the apartment complex where my nephew is living (right), are both perched atop a huge new multi-level shopping mall just a 15-minute walk (or 1 stop on the light rail transit system) from the main railway station, and the heart of the downtown area.

I strolled downhill from the mall and through a tunnel under the tracks leading out of the main rail station, and entered a beautiful, sizable stretch of public parkland, formerly the private parks and gardens of the Dukes and their palaces.  As in many public parks in Europe, you can find lakes, fountains, artworks, and outdoor game areas all near each other.

This unique ruin is all that's left of a building constructed in the late 1500s as a more luxurious home than a drafty stone castle for the then-Duke.  The Neuen Lusthaus ("New Pleasure Palace") as it was called was allowed to go to pieces in subsequent centuries, and the remaining ruins were removed from the Schlossplatz and re-constructed in this park in 1904.  And here, I thought it was only the ancient Greeks and Romans who went around building ruins!

This piece of modern sculpture fascinated me far more than many modern artworks because of the complexity of the multiple planes and angles, especially when you move around and view it from other sides.

The grand Opera House isn't quite as old as it looks, dating from just over a century ago in 1909, but is certainly an elegant building.  This theatre is the home of the Stuttgart Ballet, which became world-famous during the tenure of the great choreographer John Cranko.

The Neues Schloss ("New Palace") dominates the southern end of these parklands.  It's now used, like many similar urban palaces in Europe, by government offices of the state of Baden-Württemberg.

Beyond the Neues Schloss lies the Schlossplatz ("Palace Square"), the lively centre of the city and location of many large public events.  It was in the process of being converted into a carnival with a dozen or more classic kiddie rides being set up, wired in, and tested, and other entertainment games, booths, etc., also being added.

Across the square lies the Alte Schloss, now home to a major museum.

A little way up a side street is the principal Protestant church of the city.

Along the northwest side of the square lies this building, which may have been a part of the palace complex, but is now completely given over to cafés, restaurants, and shops -- their brightly coloured modern signs peeping out between the dignified old columns.

My walk continued back along the Königsstrasse ("King's Street") pedestrian mall, and there I found myself faced with indisputable (maybe?) evidence that -- yet again -- my ancestors had been here before me, and I hadn't known anything about it.

At the end of the Konigsstrasse stands the monolithic, Art Deco Hauptbahnhof (main station, or, if you want a literal translation: "High Railroad House").

"Station." That's one of those key words that you really need to learn in every language when travelling in Europe.   Dutch is easy: "Station."  Czech: "Nadrazi."  French:  "Gare."  Italian: "Stazione."  German:  "Bahnhof."  And so on.  The term Hauptbahnhof, then, clearly denotes the largest or principal station of the city.  It matters because many suburban stations in German-speaking countries will also have names beginning with the name of the city and ending with "-bahnhof."  Examples: "Stuttgart Nordbahnhof" or "München-Solin Bahnhof."

Altogether we spent 3 evenings hanging out together, eating, drinking, and talking.  I also seized eagerly the chance to see my nephew taking daily company class with his new dance company, Gauthier Dance, which is based here.

On September 23, I took the train back again to Zürich in Switzerland for the final brief stop of my lengthy overseas holiday. Zürich is the business and financial centre of Switzerland, and the country's largest city. Not surprisingly, then, it hosts the busiest airport and the busiest railway station. There are also many museums and historic buildings in the centre of the city, and the beautiful lakefront on the Zürichsee (the Lake of Zürich) which stretches many kilometres to the southeast of the city.

Zürich was another place I had visited back in 1979, but memories fade out -- so I just wanted to make my way around and begin to get a feeling for the place again.

Zürich has an amazing public transport network of tram lines, bus lines, two funiculars, a rack railway, and a raft of commuter rail lines to outlying suburbs. It's a little complex to try to figure out all the zones and prices but here comes the short-cut of all short-cuts: the Swiss Travel Pass is valid on every inch of that network!

The payoff came on my one full day when I totalled up 4 train rides, 6 tram rides, and a round trip on the rack railway, all at no cost -- since the pass had already paid for itself. Add to that another tram and another train to get me to the airport the next morning, and I really made a great deal for myself with that pass (a single tram ticket in the city zone costs CHF4.40 or almost $6.00 Canadian).

In the morning, I rode the train north of Zürich to the village of Neuhausen, just outside the larger town of Schaffhausen at the northern border of Switzerland. At Neuhausen, the still-young but energetic and boisterous Rhine River encounters a solid reef of hard rock in its path, with results that are dramatic to say the very least. Meet the Rheinfall.

The Zurich commuter train network has stations just up the hill from the river on both sides of the Rheinfall. There's actually one direct train every hour from Zürich to the Neuhausen Rheinfall station (as well as multiple connections), so that's the easiest way to get there. From the station platform, you can ride down the steep hill in two elevators, and then walk down the rest of the way to the shore of the river, and around the deep bay which the falling water has carved out. This gives you the best complete view of the falls.

In the middle of the falls, you can see a Swiss flag and some people on top of the narrow rocky crag protruding out of the river. You get there by boat from the castle, Schloss Wörth, across the bay on the Neuhausen Rheinfall station side of the river. The boat company offers 15- and 30-minute sightseeing tours, as well as a 30-minute round-trip to the rock. It's a stiff climb of 100 very steep concrete and steel steps to the top, but worth every minute of the time and every penny of the CHF20 cost.

More great views are found on the various landings of the stairs on the way up and down.

The boat operators also run a ferry service back and forth across the river, and the cost is included if you buy one of the more expensive packages, like the boat to the rock. This makes it easy to experience the falls from the other side if you want to. Just be aware that a different operator has control of the walkways under the high castle of Schloss Laufen on the south bank, and you will have to pay a separate admission fee. I felt no need to do that after having climbed the rock.

Right at the foot of the Schloss Laufen's is the other railway station, Schloss Laufen am Rheinfall. From here, the trains run only twice hourly to Schaffhausen or to Winterthur, and you will have to connect to go back to Zürich or other destinations. Then why bother? Because the train from this station to Schaffhausen crosses the stone bridge just upstream from the falls and you get a good view of the turbulence as the water rushes towards the brink.

This aerial view taken from the Internet may help to explain matters a bit more clearly.

Compared to Niagara Falls, which I often visit, the Rheinfall is neither as wide nor as high, and most definitely doesn't have as great a flow of water. What the Rheinfall does offer, and where it beats Niagara hollow, is the sheer elemental wildness. Niagara's waters pour over the broad, even edge of the cliff in an almost picture-perfect series of curves. The Rheinfall hurls itself recklessly at the rocks in its path, spraying mist into the air, breaking up into multiple chutes and streams, flinging white foam every which way, leaping and roaring and bellowing as if daring the impudent boulders to stand in its path...

...until the churning mass of white water finally rockets out into the lower river.

Getting up close and personal with this example or nature's power at its most rambunctious was one of the greatest highlights of this entire trip.

After grabbing my now-customary sandwich and water bottle lunch-on-the-fly, I took the train back to Winterthur, connected back to Zürich, and went for a bit of downtime before resuming my explorations.

Although I did ride the Dolderbahn rack railway up the mountain east of the city, I didn't bother trying to find my way into the deluxe Dolder Grand hotel, and settled for a quick photo from the corner of the building.

Next visit, I'll go for the other mountain line, the Rigiblick funicular, which allows for better views. Little useful detail: the tram line # 8 serves the base stations of both mountain railways if you want to go straight from one to the other.

Back down in town, I enjoyed a walk along the Limmat River as the sun was dropping in the west, giving a golden glow to the beautiful buildings.

The church with the twin towers which dominates the view is the Grossmünster, the "Great Church," where Huldrych Zwingli preached his sermons and dominated debates on the subject of church reform back in the 1500s. This church is considered as the founding site of the Swiss-German Reformation.

I had a final Swiss meal in a restaurant by the river, but indoors as the temperatures were now definitely "autumn" rather than "summer." I'd have wanted one or two extra layers before joining the brave patrons on the patio!

* * * * * * * * * *

After two nights in Zurich, it was time to head for the airport and the flight home to Canada.

Just for the record, one final version of my Europe map giving the complete picture of my travels.

And then it's time to go home. Time to lick my (considerable) financial wounds, time to finally catch up on laundry, time to relax and breathe and reconnect with my books, my recordings, my daily walks in the woodland along the river at the west edge of Woodstock.

And time to start planning the next trip.

Let the blow fall soon or late,
Let what will be o'er me;
Give the face of earth around
And the road before me.
Wealth I seek not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me;
All I seek, the heaven above
And the road below me.

--  Robert Louis Stevenson        

Thanks for sharing this wonderful holiday with me, and see you all next time!

European Epic # 15: The Jewels of the Lake

In a real change of pace, I've returned from ski-resort villages to city life in one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen in all my travels: the city of Luzern (Lucerne) in Switzerland.  I'm going to keep using the German spelling because that is what you see on all signs and print materials in Switzerland -- highway signs, railway stations, tickets, etc.  Like Vancouver, Luzern has it all -- mountains, a river, a beach, and gorgeous views in every direction -- but all in a smaller, more livable scale with almost no sign of the bigger city's traffic congestion.  

The prize jewel of Luzern is, of course, the lake itself, with its spectacular Alpine backdrop.  

It's often called Lake Lucerne but this is not its proper name.  Its full name is Vierwaldstättersee -- "Lake of the Four Forest Cantons."  The name Luzernersee ("Lake of Lucerne") is properly used to describe only the arm of the lake which ends at the city of Luzern as the lake drains into the river Reuss, enroute to the Rhine.  The river's name is pronounced pretty much the same as a certain famous luxury car brand: Rolls-Reuss.

A good deal of significant Swiss history was written around the shores of this lake, not least the original oath of the cantons agreed upon at the meadow of Rütli (likely in 1307, but conventionally assigned to the year 1291).

The original settlement grew up around the point where the Reuss drains the lake, and it is here that the most historic parts of Luzern today are located.  The centrepiece is the long, oddly-angled covered wooden footbridge called the Kapellbrücke ("Chapel Bridge"), with its fortified tower and its ceiling decorated in the 1700s with paintings of scenes from the area's history.  The name refers to the Roman Catholic chapel located by the bridge's north end.  The original bridge dating from the 1300s was severely damaged by a fire in 1993, and rebuilt the following year.  Only some of the paintings were able to be restored.  The fortified stone tower standing in the river closer to the south shore and attached to the bridge was one of many towers which protected the medieval town on the north shore from invaders -- in this case, invaders coming from the south and trying to cross the bridge.

Both sides of the river are lined in this area with historic buildings, many now serving as hotels and with restaurants on the ground floors -- plenty of riverfront terraces for eats and drinks in warmer weather, and we've certainly been enjoying that!

Dominating the south bank of the river is the twin-towered Jesuit Church.

The north side is centred by the Alte Rathaus ("Old Town Hall"), now housing a large and popular brewery and pub.

Downtown Luzern is compact and easy to get around on foot.  The river is spanned by just 2 road bridges at either end of the downtown area, but no less than 4 pedestrian-only bridges.  Do you think they're trying to tell us something?

In the morning, the walkways on both sides of the river were converted into the city's marketplace with stalls selling fruits, flowers, meats, fish, fresh bread, cheeses of all kinds, and so on.

There are two very prominent mountains which dominate many views of Luzern, even though they are both quite some distance away across the lake:  Rigi to the east and Pilatus to the south.  In the two photos of the Kapellbrücke above, Rigi is in the background of the first picture and Pilatus in the background of the second.

Both mountains are served by distinctive rack railways.  Rigi has the oldest rack railway in Europe (1871), and that railway now actually has 2 separate lines going down opposite sides of the mountain.  Pilatus has the distinction of the steepest rack railway in the world (opened in 1889), averaging 35% gradient and maximum of up to 48% (which is just shy of climbing at a 45 degree angle).

I'd ridden up Pilatus back in 1979 when I first came here, but for this visit I decided to get onto both mountain railways in one day.  It can be done, but requires an early start and a lot of patience.  Here, again, comes the payoff for using the Swiss Travel Pass: free rides on the lake boats or trains to and from the two mountains, free admission to the Rigi railway and half-price at Pilatus.

The other payoff, less easy to quantify but much more important to my well-being, is the sheer delight of an early-morning cruise on the placid waters of the Vierwaldstättersee.  You begin with a beautiful waterside panorama of Luzern as the ship pulls away from the pier.

Cruising slowly and easily across the calm waters, you have a succession of splendid mountain views which keep changing and shifting by the minute as you sail along.

The boat is fully equipped with a snack counter and bar.  Like a train, it's divided into first and second class sections, with the first class (on the upper deck or at the stern if a single deck) having more comfortable seats, both indoors and out, and a server who comes around to take drink and food orders so you don't have to line up at the counter.  Thank you, Swiss Travel Pass.

After an hour and a quarter, the ship arrives at Vitznau, the port for the Rigi railway.  By the way, if you really want to see it all, the same ship continues all the way to the southeast end of the lake at Flüelen, about 3 hours sailing time from Luzern including all stops.  You can return via frequent train services.  Vitznau, on the other hand, has no railway access so the ship is essential unless you really, really need to go on a long, twisty ride on a Swiss bus (but that's included in the Travel Pass too if you absolutely, desperately need a long bus ride -- you can tell how I feel about that!).

As soon as the 2-car train pulls away from Vitznau and starts up the incline, the views begin to open up before you.  Thank goodness for digital photography; you can easily take 200 pictures in 20 minutes and then sort through at a later date and discard all but the best, without paying for all that film as in the bad old days.

An awful example of what happens if you "forget" that you're on a rack railway and prop your camera on the windowsill for stability.

Eventually you reach the summit.  You'll notice that Rigi is nowhere close to being as high as, say, the Gornergrat.

The word "Kulm" means "summit" -- think of the related English word, "culmination."

What makes the Rigi viewpoint so spectacular is that it's far taller than anything else close by, so there are splendid views in every direction.  Downtown Luzern, on the zoom lens.

Pilatus, about fifteen kilometres away.

A panorama of the lake and mountains spreading out before you.  And because you made yourself get up good and early, the sun is southeast of the mountain and thus is behind you as you photograph the best views.

When it's time to leave, make sure to get on the proper train.  Hop on that blue train on platform 2 instead of the red train on Platform 1 and you'll find yourself in Arth-Goldau instead of Vitznau before you know what hit you (two different rack railways on the one mountain, remember?).

But not to worry -- Arth-Goldau is a major main-line railway station and you could very easily get back to Luzern by train from there.  But speaking of back to Luzern, it's time to head back down the mountain and -- from the Vitznau station -- just a few steps to board the boat for the return trip.

Back in Luzern, there's time to grab a light lunch of a sandwich and drink before heading for the next boat to the southwest corner of the lake and Alpnachstad.  Again, about a 75-minute voyage, but all new and different scenes to enjoy.

And then you come to the dock, walk through a tunnel under the railway tracks, and come up to the terminal of the Pilatus Bahn.  This mountain line climbs far steeper grades than any other rack railway in the world.  The secret is in the special rack designed by the line's engineer, Eduard Locher -- rather than a single cog wheel rotating vertically along a single toothed rail, the Pilatus rack uses two wheels mounted sideways on the two sides of the rack rail.  This set-up, with the flanges under the cogwheels' teeth, makes it virtually impossible for the cogs to disengage and come loose from the rack rail.

The cars are built like those of a funicular, staircase fashion, due to the steep grades of the line.  If one wonders why a funicular wasn't built, the technology of the day couldn't cope with the particularly sheer slopes of Pilatus since a funicular or rope-drawn car has to move along a fairly straight course with limited curves.  The Pilatus cog line has a number of wickedly tight bends to keep the gradient down to a mere 48%!  The cars travel singly, but with up to four cars each way at each departure time -- the all-important midpoint passing switch has room for a total of eight cars.  Here's what it looks like at passing time.

As the track climbs higher on the mountain and gets above the tree line, you begin to see just what a challenge this horribly steep mountain posed to the builders (particularly in the second picture where the following train car is visible, with a zoom lens close-up at a different point on the track in the third pic).

The summit station perches on a saddle between the mountain's two main peaks.  There's a pair of hotels, a cafeteria, a sit-down restaurant, a huge viewing deck, and the Drachengalerie (the "Dragon's Lair").  There's also the large cable car which comes up the north side of the mountain -- actually the topmost of a sequence of three separate cable cars which stretch up from the town of Kriens.

You can clearly see downtown Luzern at the left edge of this picture, and the sharp point of Rigi in the top centre -- and clearly see how much lower Rigi is (about 325 metres/1000 feet lower).

The sheer cliffs dropping down from the summit on two sides certainly helped me to understand why Eduard Locher's friends thought he was crazy when he said he would build a rack railway on this peak.

Speaking of those sheer cliffs, there's a long winding tunnel that's been bored through the rock wall of the north face, with multiple viewing windows cut through the rock on different angles.  If you make it through the whole tunnel, in spite of the periodic loud clanging noises (which prove to be the exit gate) you will come out on this narrow cliffside walkway.

You can then either climb a staircase onto the trail to the higher summit, or walk through another shorter tunnel to the terrace of the hotel for a drink. Congratulations -- you've survived the dreaded Drachengalerie.

And with that, it's a good time to catch the next train back down the mountain, connecting onto the 15-minute commuter train ride from Alpnachstad to get back to Luzern in time for dinner.  And there at last, on the walkway by the Kapellbrücke, my luck came back.  For the first, and probably last, time on this trip to Switzerland, I found a person playing an alphorn.

That was definitely worth celebrating with a farewell selfie in front of that beautiful old bridge, just as the sun was setting.

Yes, it was a long, crazy day but the combination of fresh lake air and clear mountain air, in alternate doses, certainly blew away the cobwebs in my mind, so it was well worth it.

Oh yes, the total price -- thanks to the Swiss Travel Pass -- CHF36 for the half-price ticket on Pilatus.  Everything else, except the food and drinks, was no-added-charge.  I've more than gotten my money's worth out of that pass already, and I'm not even done yet.

But first, I have to leave Switzerland for a few days on a side trip to another country.