From Schonbrunn Palace to the Peak of Pilatus: Three Days in Pictures

Three Princesses make their way down

the staircase at Schonbrunn Palace, already

immune to the paparazzi.  The foreign travel, the

glamour, the constant clicking of the camera.

 I don't know how they handle all that.

A three-fer shot by Torie -- the gardens, the Neptune

 Fountain, and the Gloriette -- a typical summer palace

backyard.  Only the Weber grill is missing.

Now touring Europe: The Iron Tourists!  (Shown

in a special publicity shot at Schonbrunn Palace).

Some monks lived in rough

surroundings, but not the monks

of Melk monastery. 

The morning view from our hotel room at

the Jagdhof. 

Hiking up Elfer Trail from the Elfer Gondola to

the Elfer Hutte on Elfer Mountain.  Now that's

branding Nike could learn from.

Lunchtime at the Elfer Hutte

If Maddy and Torie look small compared to the

Tyrolean Alps, it's because they are.

Off in the distance is Innsbruck.  Home of two Winter

Olympics.  Oh yeah, right behind them is the valley we

parasailed into.

Torie getting ready.

Swiss Brown Cows contemplate paragliders

from their vantage point 6500 feet up.  Btw,

nice job with the cheese, and the chocolate, girls.

Torie takes off.

Torie and Reinhard sail off.

Maddy looks excitedly apprehensive.  Or

apprehensively excited.  Or both.  For good

reason -- she's about to jump off a mountain.

Not just an mountain, but an Alp (which

presumably is the singular of Alps).

Maddy and Reinhard in the foreground, Michael

and I in the background.

And here, controlling the high ground, I strafe

Maddy's parasail.  (Just kidding -- I wasn't

actually flying with a loaded gun.)

The dying Lion of Lucerne.  Mark Twain wrote

that it is: "the most mournful and moving

piece of stone in the world."  It's far grander than

we had imagined.

 

Two of my favorite places:

Water Tower bridge in the foreground,

Mt. Pilatus in the background.

After dinner in the Old City of Lucerne,

we were serenaded by a local band

parading through the streets.

The early morning view from our hotel room.

Lake Lucerne and Mt. Pilatus.

Torie smiling because we are boating to

Alpnachstad, and then

Cog railroading up the Mountain, not

hiking it, which would have been an all day event.

Mrs. and Mr. Iron Tourist in the fore on Esel peak,

Swiss Alps in the back.

(Hope these captions help!)

The Bolger Five at 6,953 feet up.

Lunch with a View to Kill For.

Even though I cable car through the

Valley of the Shadow of Death. . .

While the girls were summer tobogganing,

I deftly survived the running of the goats,

which is like the running of the bulls, but

less scary and not as dangerous.

At 4,649 feet up, Frakmuntegg is higher in

altitude than Pamplona.

Gondola-ing it down to Kriens.

No doubt you can tell that Carol and I

are in the gondola to the right.