When we first began planning this trip, Porter's one goal in Switzerland (besides visiting Janet) was the Jungfraujoch experience, with its cog railway and ride through a glacier, because he remembered it with such pleasure from 40 years ago. This week we gave up on that idea, deciding that it would be better done in colder weather. Every day has been somewhat hazy, and if you're going to spend an unreasonable amount of money to climb a mountain, the view ought to be spectacular, not merely good. If Janet ends up in grad school here, we may have another chance.
So we settled for "second best," a trip to Luzern (Lucerne) and a cog railway ride up Mt. Rigi. That was a lot less expensive, and made for a very nice day trip from Basel.
After about an hour's train ride (punctual and pleasant, as usual), we arrived in Luzern, bought our tickets for the Rigi trip, and did a little sightseeing, first to an old church, and then across the Kapellbrücke, Luzern's famous old wooden bridge, much of which had to be restored after a fire in the 1990's.
The first part of our Rigi trip was by ferry.
It was so cold on the boat we were seriously regretting not wearing heavier clothing. If it was this cold on the lake, how much worse would it be on top of the mountain? Eventually we retreated from the lovely view for some hot drinks inside the cabin.
When the ferry landed, we transferred to the cog train. It's been said that if you've only been to Basel, you haven't been to Switzerland. But this is the Switzerland of Heidi.
No worries at the top, because it was not windy. Warm, sunny, and just the spot for a picnic lunch, even though there was still some snow.
This was our picnic view. Remember to click on the picture to see it all.
We went back a different route, this time via cable car, picking up the ferry at the little town of Weggis (pronounced "Vegas"). Say, what? Palm trees and snow-covered Alps? Strange, but true.
If it wasn't the Jungfraujoch, the Mt. Rigi trip is still enough glory for one day!
But the day wasn't over.
In one of those Small World events (cue music), Janet's piano teacher and friend from Eastman is now living in Luzern. So we teamed up with Sergio for dinner and a grand walk around the city. (I figure someone with his own promotional website won't mind being mentioned by name.) It was a welcome reunion for Sergio and Janet, who only once excluded the old folks by speaking in German, and I believe that was to say something like, "We could have a private conversation by speaking German."
We crossed another wooden bridge, the Spreuerbrücke, which features a set of plague paintings called Dance of Death.
We took a small, private cog railway up to the hotel that Michael Jackson tried to purchase for his personal use, but the Swiss would have none of it, or so the story goes.
Some views at the top
We had a bit of an adventure getting down—more of a long wait than an adventure, but the instructions weren't clear and the upward train had started spontaneously and without warning, so even though we wanted to re-read the instructions, no one was particularly anxious to get out of the car for fear of being left behind. But eventually we were at the bottom and on our way again. Here are a few more pictures of the random beauty we found in Luzern.
Then it was time to part, and to depart. We boarded the train and returned to Basel at a reasonable hour, because we were quite tired from two days of busy tourism.
