Having settled down at our accommodation at Lucerne, we did the all important laundry, walked at a nearby grassland to watch the sunset, cooked and ate dinner. I also learnt all the buttons and codes needed to operate inside the digital fortress that we were staying in. The cupboard dryer did not exactly cupboard dry the clothes and the husband did multiple dryer rounds. We finally spread them out on every surface in the room and in this ambience, we crashed on our beds and went into a sound sleep.
Come morning, we were up and ready for our mountain hike. A cruise on the beautiful Lake Lucerne took us to the foot of mount Rigi. An extremely scenic cogwheel train ride later, we had snaked right up the mountain. Here are the pictures.
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| Lake Lucerne |
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| Panorama of the lake as we cogwheeled up Mount Rigi :) |
Lost in these breathtaking views, we reached the top of Mount Rigi. But as luck would have it, it was a very foggy day and absolutely nothing was visible from the top. It was quite cold and we waited for sometime at a cafe while treating ourselves to some hot soup and snacks. Even after an hour, the fog showed no signs of clearing up and so we started to trek down to a lower height to get some views. And what a treat it was!
As we gradually walked down the neatly laid trek path, we were constantly accompanied by views of lake Lucerne surrounded by mountains and green slopes all the way. The rows of pine trees at some places, meadows at another, different angles and different heights created a fresh scenery at every turn and we were wonderstruck by each of them without exception. We stopped, started, took pictures and could just not have enough of it all!
Kid enjoyed in his own way, playing with fallen pine cones and jibber jabbering all the way :). He also collected a bunch of pine cones and put them in the back sack of his pram, laying down a rule that it absolutely had to remain there at all times. We were questioned about it in every single airport security check for the rest of the trip and it stayed at home for a month thereafter, until I stealthily did away with them one day :)
Here are some pictures we clicked during our trek down Mount Rigi.
We did the last part of the descent on a cable car. After alighting and walking through what felt like a painting of clean, green meadows peppered with chalets and houses, we reached the banks of Lake Lucerne.
After a nice meal of tasty spagetthi at a cafe, we spent some time by the lakeside on a wooden dock and the little one had his evening meal watching the ducks swim by. There was still some time left for our cruise ship to come and we used the time to stroll the streets and get a feel of the place.
The people were extremely polite and law abiding. The minute an approaching car spots us trying to cross a road, they would see the kid and pram and stop the car to let us pass! It seemed so unusual from back home where everyone wants to go first :)
After a pleasant walk, we were back at the banks of lake Lucerne and the cruise ship came bang on time. We got in and enjoyed a breezy, quiet and scenic trip back to the mainland.
After alighting, we went to the much famed flower bridge at Lucerne. It looked as beautiful in reality as it does in the pictures that abound on the internet. After walking through it and clicking pictures, we strolled the surrounding area. With pretty buildings lining the sides of the lake and to the accompaniment of street musicians singing and playing the harmonica, the sun slowly began to set, shining an ethereal light on the entire scene. And we just stood and took it all in.
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| Lucerne at Sunset |
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| The Chapel Bridge |
