Mount Rigi (3/27/1982)

Thursday, March 25, 1982

Met Jan & Kirby after work to first go to Ipsach to retrieve Taco shells from the S family’s freezer, then to go to Helen’s apartment by 19:00. Roslyn, the Kindergarten teacher was there as well, and Helen accepted our gifts (Roslyn a candle, me a plant, Jan & Kirby a bottle of Spanish wine with an American corkscrew). We sat on the floor for a fondue meal. I was hungry, so ate the fondue that had a lot of wine in it, and I was thirsty so also had a glass of musty Spanish wine. Dessert was peach halves and Basler Läckerli (“gingerbread”).

Friday, March 26, 1982

My next door neighbor, Jong-Soon, came to invite me to go to church with her to hear a sermon. I wasn’t interested, even when (and especially when!) she said it was a place to meet people! Ach! Jong-Soon has accidently walked into my room several times, but last Wednesday she knocked first. She is a nurse in the operating room and has worked three years in Germany, but spent the last four at her home in South Korea (while her parents tried to find her a husband!). (She says she has declined 10 prospects found by her parents.) Her parents are still hunting and apparently Jong-Soon seems to be doing some husband-hunting here on her own!

Saturday, March 27, 1982

Train day pass

Caught the 8:20 train to Olten, arriving at 9:10, then changing to the 9:28 train to Luzern and points south. In Olten at platform 12 there is a sign indicating “0” for the zero kilometer point in the Swiss railway network.

An Asian guy got on the train asking two passengers in choppy high-German if this train went to Flüelen (let me tell you, that is a hard word to say!). Since they were Americans, he tried again in English, but they had no idea. The Asian asked the conductor in the vestibule who brought him into our car, sat him down, and told him to stay there until we reached Flüelen. But the guy asked his seatmates if this train went to Flüelen. Since he was hard to understand, the guy across the aisle from him asked if he spoke English. No, German was better. He was Vietnamese. When his new-found friends got off the train, the Asian asked his newly boarded seatmates if this train went to Flüelen! When another conductor came through, he asked him as well.

I have noticed poles with bits of wood nailed on at right angles planted in an empty plot of ground. Lately I have noticed other poles with the bit of wood nailed at an angle and realized these poles were placed to mark the corners/outlines of a building, some with a pitched roof. They must do a three-dimensional plotting to see if a new house will block someone’s sight lines?

I got off the train at 10:50 in Arth-Goldau and went to the narrow gauge Rigibahn station. I got a ticket for 16 CHF/$8 for Vitznau which would allow me to go to Weggis. We left at 11:00, pushing a ski rack car ahead of us. I was in a standing room only car full of people wearing ski jackets and had goggles on their heads. A few carried large flat parallelogram nylon packages. They spoke a variety of languages, but according to the patches on their hats, they all belonged to a hang-gliding club. The train made its way through a 2 m/6.5’ deep gorge of snow. The whistle blew as if we were going to cross a road, but we crossed ski trails where skiers waited for the train to pass. The evergreen forests and snow made a lovely scene. Closer to the top were fewer trees but more hotels. We reached Rigi-Kulm at 12:00. As soon as everyone got their skis and hang gliders off the rack car, the train left.

Retrieving items from the ski rack car

I ducked under a hang glider on someone’s shoulder and began my hike to the tippy top of Rigi. I slipped a little on the slushy path. The snow banks started at 1 m/3.3’ high, but reached 2-3 m/6.5-9.8’ at the hotel.

High snow banks

Beyond that the snow was blowing and there were no more snow walls. At the very top the wind threatened to blow you away, but fortunately there were railings to hold while you admired the surveyor’s marker at 1,800 m/5,905’ above sea level and the radio tower.

Survey marker and view SE

View NE of Zugersee/Lake Zug

Also to be admired was the wonderful panorama of the Alps to the south.

View SW of Pilatus

View SSW to Jungfrau

There were displays of mountain outlines so you could identify what you saw. The Jungfrau trio was not obvious, so I had to find them first in the display! To the north there was only a gray pall covering what should have been the pleasant rolling hills merging into the Jura mountains and the Black Forest in Germany. The Rigi is called an island mountain as all around it are lakes. The hang gliders were all at the top either admiring the view or checking the winds. Supposedly this is the place to watch sunrises.

I followed a path behind the hotel, past the Rigibahn station and towards Weggis. I was hoping to run into an aerial cable car to take me down into Weggis. It was slippery going down the path. At one point it went through a tunnel and the floor was all ice. One by one, a whole line of people slid down holding on to the handrail. A couple older women took a tumble, but got up with a laugh. I took my turn and made it on my feet. As we hiked down, a red rack railroad train passed us on the way up from Vitznau.

Vitznau Rigibahn at Rigi-Kulm

Lots of ski areas

Skier crossing

I ended up at Rigi Staffelhöhe where I looked at a map and determined I could get the aerial cable car at the next station at Rigi Kaltbad. The next train wasn’t for 10 minutes, so I decided to walk to Kaltbad. Sometimes the snow was so deep you had to walk on the train tracks. I wished I had my sunglasses! Benches were hidden behind snow banks, and most were occupied by people sunning themselves. I beat the train to Rigi Kaltbad and went to the aerial cable car station where they readily took my Vitznau ticket. I boarded the next car leaving at 13:30, and saw a lady remove metal cleats from her boots. Now I know why many older people hiked down that path without a care while I kept tense and took teensy weensy steps. We started off over a snowy level section and then whoop, we dropped off the edge, continuing down over evergreen forests. The occasional fallen tree interrupted the vertical pattern of tall upright trees. Ten minutes later we were in a parking lot in Weggis.

Rigibahn aerial cable car in Weggis

Followed Rigistrasse down to the lakefront of Vierwaldstättersee/Lake Lucerne. It was warm enough to remove my ski jacket. Weggis is a spa resort, but at this time of year the quai was bare of flowers. Caught the 14:13 boat to Luzern.

MS Rigi

We stopped at Hertenstein dock on the large promontory jutting into the lake from the foot of Rigi. Landed in Luzern at 14:50 and walked to the train station. In front of the station I noticed a Wanderweg/hiking trail sign pole with signs pointing in all directions. A closer look showed that they pointed to all the different Lucernes in the world, mostly in the U.S.

Boarded the 15:08 train to Bern. It was fertilizing time. Some farmers shoveled clumps of straw and manure onto their fields. Snow didn’t stop anyone, as some farmers had a long hose to spray brown stinky stuff over the field. Arrived in Bern about 16:30 and went to the McDonald’s to use the restroom. Went window shopping down the main drag, while keeping an eye out for the Restaurant Commerce at Gerechtigkeitsgasse 74 where I was to meet Jan & Kirby for dinner at 18:00. Went to the bear pits but they were empty. Saw a guy in lederhosen/leather shorts with a feather in his green cap and silver trim on his green jacket. He gladly obliged when a girl asked to take his picture. Before 18:00 I sat at a bench to watch the front of the restaurant, but must have missed when Jan & Kirby entered. I tried peeking into the restaurant, but did not see them. Finally Kirby came out to find me when the waiter mentioned someone was loitering outside! I didn’t realize they meant for me to meet them inside the restaurant. Fortunately they had already ordered the paella for four, which takes at least 25 minutes to prepare. Also at the dinner table was Sylvia, an old acquaintance whom they met through a doctor at the Kinderspital/Children's Hospital. She spoke English well and used some funny phrases like something is not “ha, ha funny.” The paella was served on a large platter where the waiter dished out our portions. The Spanish dish is rice in a slightly tomato-ey sauce, and overwhelmed with other goodies, like mussel shells full of rice as well as the little mussel, shrimp, squid, chicken, and sausage. The Spanish wine was too dry for me, so I just had water. Overstuffed on two helpings. The bill came to 125 CHF/$62.50. We were “kicked” out when the group arrived for their 20:00 reservation of our table.

Went to Mövenpick for ice cream, sharing a big bowl with six ice cream scoops (chocolate, vanilla walnut, pistachio, and caramel, and strawberry and raspberry sherbets). Plus there was meringue, little cookies, and a mass of whipped cream topped by raspberry sauce. Lucky for us chocolate abstainers! (Jan and I have given up chocolate for Lent.) There were only two seats left at the movie theater, so we walked Sylvia back to her car and went to Jan & Kirby’s car to drive home. Arrived at 22:30. I set my clock forward for Daylight Savings Time to 23:30 and went to bed!