Wilhelm Tell Express Pictures
August 17, 2004
These may take a little time to load, so be patient. Although most of
the pictures have been optimized for those of you with "girlie"
modems. If your browser stops loading for some reason, just hit "REFRESH"
and it will reload the cached pictures right away, then continue loading
the rest.
|
| Wilhelm
Tell Express (Lucerne to Lugano, Switzerland) |
 |
The Wilhelm Tell Express is a paddlewheel boat and train route from Lucerne
to Lugano.
|
 |
It is somehow connected to the poet Wilhelm Tell.
|
 |
I didn't pay much attention. I pretty much just watched the scenery.
|
 |
It starts out with a 3 1/2 hour
boat ride from one end of Lake Lucerne to the other (Lucerne to Fluelen). |
 |
With a lot of things to see on
the way. |
 |
It seems like this is the standard
lake-side church in all the towns around the lake |
 |
It's a big lake... |
 |
... surrounded by big mountains. |
 |
It's august and there is still
snow up there... that gives you some idea of how tall these mountains are. |
 |
See? There's another church.
What'd I tell ya? |
 |
Once we arrived in Fluelen, we hopped a train to Lugano.
This interesting building was just across the tracks from the station.
I though it was unique... but I've seen a few like it since... not sure
what the significance is, but I think the shutter colors are canton-related
(a canton is the Swiss equivelant of a state in the US... only different).
|
 |
The train to Lugano goes through
the St. Gotthard Pass. |
 |
The mountains and valleys are
very pretty. |
 |
It's a long ride, so there is
a lot to look at. |
 |
We started our trip late, so
we were getting pretty tired toward Lugano... over 5 hours of travelling. |
 |
But Erin is never too tired to "pose" for a camera.
|
| At this point
we arrived in Lugano, the southern-most large town in Switzerland. It is
very close to Italy and a short train ride to Milano (Milan). The priciple
language spoken there is Italian. Note that you do not see any pictures
of Lugano. It was cold and rainy. We ate at an outdoor cafe in a thunderstorm,
stayed at a bizarre hotel and left the next morning. |
 |
The train ride back was more
scenery... |
 |
Only wetter... |
 |
The weather cleared up a bit
through the pass. |
 |
And we enjoyed the ride. This
time we took a train all the way back to Zug. |
 |
There are quite a few waterfalls
along the way, but they are very tough to get pictures of. |
 |
But we tried. |
|
|