Dad and Loni Come to Visit - Part One: Zug & Luzern

I hope everyone enjoyed watching at least part of the London Olympics. We certainly did because this year's Olympic games were a little more exciting for us than usual - for a couple of reasons: first, it meant that we had something to watch on TV that we could understand and enjoy even though it was in German; second, and more importantly, it meant that my dad and Loni were coming to Europe! My dad got tickets through NBC and was able to attend four and a half days of the games with Loni. They got to see several events, including swimming, volleyball and gymnastics. In fact, they were there to see Gabby Douglas win her gold in the All-Around competition. Super jealous. 

Anyway, after London, they spent a few days in Paris and then boarded a train for Zug. Westin and I eagerly awaited their arrival at the train station. I made the mistake of getting there a little too early, thinking W would enjoy watching the trains to pass some time, but instead, he would ask, "is that their train?" every time a train arrived. When I said no, he would let out a huge sigh and say, "well, when are they going to get here?!?!". 

Headed to the train station - looking oh so cool in his shades

It took us a few minutes to spot them, but as soon as we did, Westin went running up to grandpa and gave him a huge hug (really sweet moment). After all the hugs, we grabbed their luggage and walked over to their hotel in Old Town (about a 10 minute walk and right next to the lake).

We spent a few minutes at the hotel, where Westin would be spending the night for a little sleepoever, and then grabbed a bite to eat out in the courtyard.

Afterwards, we walked about 20 steps to the lake and rented a paddle boat. Westin has been dying to do this since we arrived in Zug and I kept telling him it would be something really fun to do when my dad and Loni came to visit. He clearly did not forget and mentioned it to them shortly after they got off the train.

My dad's legs were too long to sit in front and paddle, so Loni and I powered the boat while these two relaxed in back.

It was actually more of a workout than we anticipated, so we didn't stay out as long as we had planned. And having worked so hard on the boat, as soon as we docked we treated ourselves to gelato and walked around Old Town.

That night we joined most everyone in Zug in Old Town for dinner. Apparently it's the hot spot to hang out at in the evenings. We clearly never got the memo about this since Ryan works late and we never go out during the weekdays. 

Dancing to some authentic Swiss tunes 

Westin loved his sleepover with grandpa and Loni. He had an even bigger smile on his face when he woke up to this little surprise - a Team USA outfit from London. 

On Thursday we took the train to Luzern, where we explored the town and ventured out to Mt. Pilatus. 

Keeping himself entertained by taking pictures of himself.

Once in Luzern, I pretty much took them on the Rick Steve's tour - making sure to hit the main sights mentioned in his book. We had beautiful weather and less crowds than our previous weekend there.

With the absence of phone booths in the US these days, my dad thought it would be fun to take pictures in the phone booths in each of the cities he visited while in Europe, so we had to stop for one in Luzern.

Checking out the Reusse River Water System - Westin's favorite

Our first of two stops at the Laderach Chocolate store. Seriously. We went in before lunch and grabbed a few pieces, loved them so much that we went back after Mt. Pilatus. Loni and I discovered this coconut truffle that was to die for! It had this soft, creamy coconut and dark chocolate inside with a white chocolate and coconut coating. I have dreams about this truffle, it's that amazing.

We made a quick stop by the Lion Monument... because Rick Steves says you have to and I wouldn't want dad and Loni to feel like they missed anything :)

After a couple hours in Luzern, we grabbed pretzel sandwiches and hopped on a train (first, going in the wrong direction and then another in the right direction - whoops) to Mt. Pilatus.

To get to the summit, you have to take two gondola rides (or on the other side of the mountain, you can take the steepest cogwheel train in the world. That base was harder to get to, so we opted for the gondola). 

At the end of the first leg of the gondola ride, at Frakmuntegg, there are a bunch of activities to do, including tubing, a toboggan ride, and a ropes course. The ropes course looked awesome, but we could only do the tubing and toboggan with W.

First run and he didn't even want to go with one of us.

We finally convinced him to let my dad hop in with him.

Part of the huge ropes course

W and I braved the toboggan ride, which is exactly like the Alpine Slides in Park City. W loved it and kept asking me to go faster.

Instead of taking a ski lift back up the mountain, they tow you up in your sled, which provided us with a great view of the mountain as well as the wildlife. This guy was literally in arms reach.

Once we finished up at Frakmuntegg, we took the second gondola ride up the remaining portion of the mountain... the very, very steep part.

Unfortunately, it wasn't very clear from the top, but I managed to get this pic of the lake from the ride up.

However, the further up we went, the less you could see below

And this is what we were going in to. A little ominous looking, right?

The weather was actually nice at the top - sun was shining and there weren't many clouds. Also at the top of Mt. Pilatus are two connecting hotels and several hiking trails... and a bit of entertainment.

Headed back down the mountain

We finished up at Mt. Pilatus and then went back to Luzern for dinner before catching the train back to Zug that night. The next morning we were off to Lake Como, this time with Ryan joining. So, lots more pictures to come from our two days there.