On to Lucerne

Wednesday, August 8 was a long day - taxi from Ortisei down to Bolzano in Val Gardena (so sad to leave Ortisei), then a train from Bolzano which was supposed to cross into Austria to our connection in Innsbruck, but which due to construction, was halted in Brennero where everyone was rounded off the train and into buses to complete the trip to Innsbruck. The Brennero area looked like a bit of a mess as it had rained hard (our taxi driver told us that Munich had been drenched when he was recently there) and there was quite a bit of mud both in the river and on its banks. At Innsbruck we caught one of the RailJet faster trains to Zurich and had a (big!) beer and wurst served on the train. Finally we made the quick connection from Zurich to Lucerne. The ride from Innsbruck to Zurich was scenic, including the beautiful lake Walensee (pic), and based on the truck traffic we saw on the highway near Brennero as well as the traffic on the autobahn approaching Innsbruck, I was glad to be on the train even with the minor inconvenience of the special bus ride thrown in.
We again had a riverside room at Hotel des Alpes, with great views of the River Reuss and old town Luzern backed by Mt. Pilatus. Our room was pretty small but we really only used it as a place to sleep, and again the hotel staff, breakfast on the outdoor balcony overlooking the river, and convenience to the KKL (concert venue) and everything in old town – especially Dieci for gelato pretty much every day – were terrific.
Thursday we took the gondola up to Mt. Pilatus – a couple pics here including a ubiquitous Alphorn player. We didn’t see/hear as many Alphorns as last year, but the ringer who stepped in up at Pilatus was one of the better ones in our experience.