Last night, Mike and I checked into the Matterhorn hostel at 11pm and were faced with an unpleasant experience.  It actually became interesting witnessing firsthand how poorly this hostel was being operated.  Among other things, some issues included:

• Weak wifi
• Unlock-able storage containers in room
• Clogged showers
• basement showers smell like mold
• no locks on doors of building or individual rooms
• dirty dishes in TV Room (not cleaned by individual guests)

A few minutes after we checked in, Mike and I decided to just pull an all-nighter.  It was already 11pm and we were planning on boarding the 5:30am train to Bern.  We decided that a better option than sleeping in the horrible-smelling rooms would be to go out to town, have a drink, and work in the TV room of the hostel until 4:30am.

We ended up going out to a few bars/nightclubs in town and also split a 4-cheese pizza at an Italian restaurant.  By 2am, we were productively working and napping in the hostel TV room.

At 5:15AM we started walking to the train station and boarded the 5:37AM train to Lucerne via Bern.  The ride was beautiful and I was able to nap for a few hours.  Once we arrived in Lucerne, we boarded a train to Alpanachstad.  From Alpanachstad we boarded the steepest cog railway in the world up to Pilatus Kulm.  The 40 minute ride up to Pilatus Kulm was very scenic, starting out with views of the city and lakes below, and ending with beautiful, peaceful views of grass mountain slopes and rugged mountaintops.

Once we arrived at the mountaintop, we hiked for about two hours.  My favorite hike followed the summit for about a mile, for a total hike of about two miles roundtrip.  The hike offered panoramic views, walking through rock tunnels, and walking past deep caves.  This hike was one of the main highlights of the entire Europe trip and it’s hard to believe why a few people (especially the tour guide at Mt Titlus) tried to dissuade us from visiting Mt Pilatus.

After, we descended Mt Pilatus via the Kriena Route.  The Kriens route consists of descending via two aerial pod tramways to the town of Kriens, which is adjacent to Lucerne.

When we arrived at Kriens, Mike insisted for the third time that I try a specific ice cream bar (vanilla ice cream with Mango coating and swirls).  I picked one up from a mini-mart and really enjoyed the unique combination of rich vanilla ice cream together with tart mango.

After arriving in Lucerne again, Mike and I had another salad bar lunch and then boarded multiple buses/trains toward the Villa Hoenig hotel.  After the bus ride, we walked an additional 20 minutes to the remote hotel.  Mike had seen a photo of this hotel’s pool and view on instagram and really wanted to visit it.  The hotel is a 5-star boutique hotel which is known for its incredible Infiniti pool overlooking a vast valley and lake.  Although we weren’t able to visit the pool, we spent time on the patio overlooking the pool and also overlooking the valley.  I ordered a coffee and homemade cashew coconut sorbet which were both delicious.

We then rushed back to the bus stop to catch the 5:49pm bus back toward Lucerne, but we saw the bus driver from afar driving away at 5:45pm.  We would have to catch the 6:50pm bus instead.  This delay, along with missing another bus from Lucerne to Zurich, ended up putting us in jeopardy of missing out flight.  We were now scheduled to arrive at the airport at 9:16pm for a flight taking off at 10:05pm.

Fortunately, we were able to check in and arrive at security within 4 minutes and to arrive early at the gate for our flight