When we arrived in Lucerne on Sunday our tour manager, Kirsten, annouced =
some terrible news. The wind was too strong on Mt. Pilatus and the cable =
cars had been stopped so we would no longer be spending New Years Eve on =
the mountain 
We went to see the Lion monument. It’s a huge skeeping Lion carved into a =
cliff overlooking a large pond.
We then walked over the Chapel brigde and went to look at some swiss =
watches and knives.
We then walked around and looked at some other shops and bought some more =
chocolate 
Then it was back on the bus and off to the hotel 10min up the road at the =
base of Mt. Pilatus. We have had some crappy hotels, but I think this one =
was the worst so far. The whole room smelt musky. The bed was like a cot. =
The matress sunk in so you could bash your ankles on the wooden sides. The =
bathroom turned into a water feature after you showered. It was just such a =
let down. I then also discovered that the liqure I had bought was not the =
flavour I had ordered. Dinner, unsurprisingly, was nothing spectacular and =
I was feeling rather glum by the time we finished dinner.=20
Originally we would have celebrated NYE in the hotel on the mountain, but =
now alternative arrangements had to be made. They managed to arrange free =
entry into a club in Lucerne, but none of us felt like spending the evening =
in a smokey club.
After dinner the whole group met on the roof of the hotel for a surprise =
from Kirsten and Jonnie (the bus driver). They had arranged for some =
sparkling wine and gold schnaps. You mix half a shot of gold schnaps with =
the sparkling wine to turn it into a tasty drink. They also gave us glow =
sticks, which we used to take some cool pictures.
Kirsten donated the leftovers to us, so we had some sparkling wine ontop of =
the two beers and liqure. Lindsy decided at dinner time that she would join =
us for an evening of cards and drinks in our hotel room. After a few rounds =
of Uno and some drinks I was starting to feel better. We had some good =
laughs and lots of chocolate. So in the end it was a cool welcome to the =
new year.
It was raining on new years morning (Monday). We had the option of going to =
Mt. Titlis to see snow which was an hour by train, but the train trip and =
cable car to go up to the ski resort would have cost us about R750 each, so =
we opted for more card games and chocolate in the hotel with Lindsy. By =
late afternoon the rain had cleared so we took a walk up the base of Mt. =
Pilatus. It gave us a really nice view of the valley and surrounding =
mountains. As we walked down the sun was setting and all the church bells =
were ringing which set a really perfect scene. I got some nice pictures of =
the sky and mountains.
This morning we are on the way to the Rhine Valley and have just crossed =
back into Germany.