Travelog for: Knopf

Today is the big day that we make our move to Switzerland. We are prepared, have the car all packed up and got some guidebooks. Our destination is central Switzerland. 

In Baden-Würtemberg we left the Autobahn to buy fresh strawberries and asparagus so we can cook dinner for our hosts for the first few days.

It’s actually a holiday, Fronleichnam, here in Germany, so the shops are closed but in this rural area the farmers sell their produce directly.

Look at the shed with lot’s of tools and spare parts and meet the goads.

We are in central Switzerland right now, in the Kanton Schwyz.
Here’s the view from the window of our bedroom.

We can see the Pilatus mountain straight ahead

And the Stanser Horn to the left with the Bürgenstock in front of it and the Rigi all the way to the left.


Here the view of the Rigi from the garden. We’ll go all the way up there tomorrow.

It’s a beautiful sunny day and we took the car to the Seilbahn station that goes up onto the Rigi from Weggis.

You can see our car down there and of course the station and Lake Lucerne or Vierwaldstättersee as they call it in German.

Only about 1/3 of the way up (and this one doesn’t go all the way to the top) and look at how high we are already. Mt Pilatus is in the clouds.

After getting off the Seilbahn (aerial lift) we climbed up some way and over to the north. Here you can see Küssnacht (and the house we are staying in if you look closely) and part of Lake Lucerne.
A bit to the east is the Zuger See.





Somewhat higher still is a railway station where one can take an old little steam train up to the top. I however am tougher than that and took the hiking path. It was exhausting! I need to get into better shape and get into better shape and get used to this altitude. The summit is at about 1'797,5 m.


Finally on the top of the mountain! I need a rest now.


This radio mast was also visible from the garden, so you know how high we are now.
Here’s the view to the north with Lake Zug and the Ägerisee beyond it.




Here’s the view towards the east towards Lake Lauerzer and the town Schwyz in the distance.

South, over Lake Lucerne with the snow covered Titlis.





On the way back down, a bit below the summit is this hotel/restaurant and the Swiss flag is nicely recognisable in the wind.


The trains from different directions, including the little steam train come up to here.

There it is on the way up again. Doesn’t it all look like a big model train landscape? Only second and third class wagons are available right now.


Many years ago the tourists were carried up here in sedan chairs. The locals were unhappy about the railroad lines because of the loss of income.



When I got there it was still in the little station. There are the bags of coal to make it run. 


I talked to the Schaffner (conductor, here with the original bag and a tailored uniform after the original one from 1901) and he told me that this is the last train with a steam engine where the boiler is upright. It used to be in the traffic museum in Lucerne but this summer it operates here as a special event.

The clouds cleared up some more and I had a good view of Küssnacht and the lake again.



This is were the paragliders start. 

This appears to be a training session:

Some already made it up there.


There are also farms and cows up here. The milk tastes of all the herbs that grow in the pastures.


Nearly on the level of the railway again, we found a little chapel at this spring.


The last 3rd of the way down

In the evening we walked through the town:
The church and the former prison in Küssnacht am Rigi.


The harbour of Küssnacht at Lake Lucerne:



The church and the town hall:

Today we could move into our new home. So here's the view of the Stanserhorn from the shopping center in Stans.

We had a few colder days and nights and the snowfall got down to 1700m. You can see some of the rests of the snow fields on Mt Pilatus:

I learnt interesting trivia  I wanted to share...

Soon there will be another tournament of 'Schwingen' close to here. It's a Swiss sport and a big thing around here. People come from all over and tribunes are erected for many people for only one weekend. It's a bit like wrestling, but the contestants have to grab each other's special trousers and swing the opponent with the back onto the ground without grabbing him elsewhere. When one wins, happy dances or triumphant fists or things like that lead to disqualification and the winner has to clean up the loser. It's very civilized and polite.

We got an early start this Sunday and drove to Bouchs to enjoy a morning at the lake side. It’s quite idyllic early in the morning.





There’s a camping ground and different sports facilities here, like soccer fields, tennis and beach volleyball courts and a bathing center for the lake, a small harbour, places to put canus or other boats into the water or to go swimming and a nice path for pedestrians.



We meet many people who walk their dogs. Dogs are supposed to be kept on a leash but few people actually do that. I have to admit that it is fun to watch them splashing around and playing in the water, though.


Today there’s a children’s soccer tournament taking place. We can always her one parent or another yelling for their kids to go for it, watch their field position or “hop, hop”. I’m glad I’m not playing soccer.



In the harbour, where the shouts aren’t that loud anymore we come upon a family of ducks. The hen has a lot to do. She’s constantly looking around for all of her 5 chicks and calling for them probably to stay together or at least keep moving in the same direction but there’s always a straggler. One of the nearly jumps out of the water to catch some insects that are sitting on a pole a bit above the water’s edge. When it sees us so close by it quickly swims off to its nearest sibling lit panicked “peep, peeehhhhppp”s. Cute. There are also other water birds that I don’t know the name of.

The place becomes quite busy closer to midday. There are also tour boats out on the lake with folk music for the tourists and small motor planes are carrying sailing planes up into the air so we decide to have a peaceful lunch at home.

Today we went to Lucerne. We started out at the Verkehrshaus (traffic house),

a museum about all kinds of moving stuff with lots of rides for kids (or big kids), an IMAX that’s currently showing Ice Age 3, a planetarium etc. This year it’s 50 years old and it’s the most visited museum in Switzerland.


We walked along the water to the old center of Lucerne.




There were young swans at the waterfront. Their mommy got real mean whenever someone tried to get too close.


Some of the houses along here seem a bit Belle Epoche.




We finally got downtown and to famous chapel-bridge (Kapellbrücke). It burnt down some time ago and now there’s a discussion about weather or not to replace the burnt original paintings with replicas that are by now also quite old.
It has a nice view:
concert hall(KKL for short)/ history museum; main station, old Post office.

Old town


And Jesuit church from the outside and here from the inside:


We went back over another bridge and through the old town with some nice facades:





I particularly liked the optical institute with the stargazer:


Or the restaurant Fritschi, he’s the guy in the middle of the top row and the local carnival hero:



After all that, I deserved some lunch on a boat. This was my view over Lake Lucerne:



Then we had to hurry back home to watch Roger Federer play the final at Wimbeldon. I think pretty much everybody did the same, because it was very quiet out on the streets.

I was invited to an Apéro and while there I saw this beautiful rainbow. We only got hit by a few drops, don’t worry, and it was definitely worth this view:


It was a perfect bow but not that intense on the one side.  It got more color when the clouds moved together and nearly vanished on the other side.

Then there were even two rainbows above each other:

Today I took the train to Luzern:


They are currently having the ‘BlueBallsFestival’ where many bands play and there food at the lakeside etc. My mentor thought the name funny for some reason but we had fun.

There were lots of tourists around from all over the world, so we didn’t feel so stupid taking pictures of me.


It was hot (30°C) and humid so went went to the promenade along the lake in hopes of some wind (and some ice cream).  We sat down ad watched the ducks and the shipe for a while before doing the required reading.


I longed to be in the ‘Badi’ like those people over there. It’s planks in the lake, so it would probably be easier to just jump in at a different point. Other people were doing that, too, or were lying on the grass getting a tan.

We went for a walk and I saw a medi-helicopter land at the hospital today.

Here it’s flying away again.


I also went crane-watching, like the young boys who are passing by.



Later we watched the sunlight play with the moving clouds around Mt Pilatus. Isn’t it pretty? One of my favourite things about living in the mountains is watching the cloud movements.