Parcly Taxel: European countries put their faith in rail from the moment the train was invented, with its promise of carrying passengers and goods en masse over distances far longer than a typical pegasus’s flying range. Later on these same countries were the first (alongside Japan) to introduce high-speed rail as a more energy-efficient alternative to the car and aeroplane in a then-booming economy – a slightly faster and significantly more compact alternative than the aeroplane too, when security checks are included.

Shining, unbroken tracks run across the countryside beyond city limits, drawing attention to themselves by pantograph cables. Inside the cities these tracks end at stations of historic masonry and sweeping glass; it feels more like an exhibition centre, with all the shops…

Rainbow Dash: Wake up! I told you that Munich after two days is too boring.

Like Japan there is a rail pass for most of Europe offered to tourists, which the genie princess bought beforehand. Her particular instance was valid for seven freely chosen travel days, where during each of those days she could take as many trains as she could; she had used the first day for the ICE train from Frankfurt to Munich, and would use the second here to reach her next accommodation in Luzern.

Spindle: A late sunset means an early sunrise, so we checked out at 6am, well before most shops open, and trotted to München Hbf in pleasantly surprising cool weather. There we bought breakfast from one of the few places that was open, Yorma’s. It was a few buns and coffee, which is a common breakfast anyway in this part of Europe, though I know Pinkie Pie doesn’t like hard bread.

EC 198 was the EuroCity Express train that would bring us into Switzerland, one of only two such ICE-priced services then operating. The first section (from Munich to Lindau-Reutin, whose electrification was completed in December 2020 with a corresponding timetable change) was pretty fast… and then the train made one stop in Bregenz with Lake Constance in sight. Thus in order to get from one country to another country we passed through a third country.

Parcly: The train’s speakers announced “Welcome to Switzerland! Enjoy your stay!” upon crossing the Austrian/Swiss border, but it almost felt like a metro train after that, all the way to Zürich HB, where I transferred to IR 75 bound for Luzern. There I checked into the Stern Luzern (Dependance Münzgasse), a cross between a hotel and an inn with breakfast service in a restaurant.

Rainbow: While Luzern lies south of Zürich, closer to the cloudy and sometimes snowy (but always awesome) Alps, its main attraction is the large lake from which the city and surrounding canton take their names. Parcly and Spindle had once again disembarked around lunchtime with physical and spiritual stomachs to fill respectively, so they found a lakeside restaurant and ordered a huge bowl of spinach and sausage slices sprinkled liberally with grated cheese. Suffice to say that Parcly couldn’t finish everything and Spindle was glowing with warmth.

Spindle: The bowl had rösti too – one of those dishes whose presence immediately gives my dear alicorn heart eyes, even though it’s only sautéed grated potatoes at its heart.

Rainbow: A lot of calories indeed. How did you burn them off, Parcly?

Parcly: Well, the closest mountain to Luzern is Pilatus, six stops out on the S5 at Alpnachstad (yes, Luzern has an S-Bahn too, like many cities across D-A-CH). The latter station serves yet another station: the starting point of the Pilatusbahn, the world’s steepest rack railway. We got a discount from our Europe rail pass!

Prominence: It’s called a rack railway for following one toothed rail rather than two smooth ones; gears below the car mesh with the rail from both sides and drive it up and down gradients of up to 48%, well beyond the limit for two smooth rails. The Pilatusbahn’s cars are parallelogram-shaped as a consequence, with compartmentalised rows of seats.

Dragons have lived here for hundreds of years. They staff all the mountain’s facilities from ticketing to the shops and hotels on top, and one features in its logo.

Spindle: Along our ascent we saw trails, paved and otherwise, leading to retreats also served by intermediate stations of the rail route. The retreats in turn sell cheese made from Alpine cows and goats who graze on grass above the treeline, large black cowbells marking the point of sale. One goat blocked the train we were in as it plodded across.

At the very top, however, this living nature gave way to exposed rock faces parting the clouds, cawing crows crowning. We would have been wanderers in a sea of fog if not for other tourists climbing the last steps to the summits, which we also did. (The railway only operates in the summer.)

Parcly: The fog made Pilatus somewhat underwhelming and there was a sign reading “last trip down 5:30pm”, so I had no chance of watching the sunset. Instead I descended by cable car lines strung about fifty years after the Pilatusbahn opened, this all-year-round transportation mode offering stunning panoramas of the lush hills immediately below and Luzern beyond.

Prominence: Thus the alicorn completed the bulk of a “Golden Round Trip” from the city to Pilatus and back. The missing part was a cruise across Lake Luzern, but she wasn’t interested.

Parcly: Sunset by the lake was much clearer, and after reflecting on my excursion to the Pilatus in the Franziskanerkirche (very near where we were staying), I walked across Kapellbrücke, a mediaeval wooden hoofbridge linking at its middle to a now-disused tower standing alone. Embedded in its roof are triangle-shaped illustrations of Luzern’s history.

One mountain had been visited, the only feasible one given how I arrived around noon. Three more were on my schedule for the following day.