As the light of dawn shine through slightly translucent curtains, I awoke to find the purple hue of sunrise from the balcony of the window. 515am and a little chilly, I took some photos of the bridge, now quiet from the bustle of day. A different perspective.
Returned to nap for a little before waking up in preparations for the day ahead. I was prepared for what was to come, when the hotel staff came and knocked urgently on our door, saying it was an emergency. When I opened the door, I was greeted by the staff that advised the parking instructions the day before, telling me that the place that I parked the car was going to have some set up for some events and I had to move it immediately. She also apologized for the slip up. What a start for the day. When I arrived at the car park, there was a long trailer already parked in front of my car. Had to speak to the job supervisor to get them to do the shifting within that tight space, which was done rather quickly. I parked at the parking garage eventually and walked the 4 mins back to the room.
We had some of the dried fruit cake that we purchased from the gas station as breakfast, knowing that there would not be time for us to have brekkie.
Our main activity today was to visit Mount Rigi. There was a package route that encompassed the ferry, cogwheel train and a cable car round trip and so we chose that. There wasn’t much information around and the brochures were non English so we tried our luck at the port. Went over to the counter and purchased the round trip tickets. The ferry would carry us to Vitznau and we would then changed to the cogwheel train all the way up to Rigis top. Then the return was taking the same train, we would alight at Kaltbad station and transfer to the cable car which would bring us to Weggis and take the ferry back to Lucerne.
The ferry at 10am-ish had so many passengers loaded up but luckily we managed to get seats at the inside of ferry. There were hot drinks available and the staff was asking customers other than ourselves, frankly not impressed by this discriminating attitude.
The ride took about 1 hour and we alighted at the port of Vitznau and hurried to the cogwheel train already waiting. As there were many people, we only got onto the cabins where seats weren’t enclosed thus exposing to possible cold draft. The climb was steep but the train wasn’t really fast so we didn’t get irritating ear pressure issues.
The ride up was about another hour, the higher we climbed the more the marvelous was the view of the surroundings. There were insects (could be bees) flying around though.
It was bright and sunny at the top and the 360 views around coupled with the refreshing mountain air (except for places with smokers, and there were just many of them) was just great. The cold air sometimes gave us the chills but it was ok most of the time.
Walked around and up to the satellite station where we could see the mountains on the one side and the flat lands with the lakes on the other. After that we had our fill of the scenery, we went back to the train station for the ride to Kaltbad to have lunch at the hotel restaurant there. There was one restaurant at the top station (with a great view) but there were too many people so we decided to eat at Kaltbad instead.
To take the cable car, we had to take a ridiculously small lift down 3 floors to the single cable car which would bring tons of people to the bottom of the mountain. This ride was very uncomfortable as it was filled to the brim, just like our MRT train during rush hour. There were many kids that went up the mountain, probably as an excursion and there were making a hell of a ruckus.
Steep ride down took about 15 minutes. Then it was another 15minutes walk to the Weggis port to take the ferry back to Lucerne. Went back to the hotel to claim the luggage and brought it to the church before I went to claim the car from the Migros which cost a crazy expensive amount of 30CHF. Loaded the luggage and off we went to Zurich.
Getting out of the city, I had to negotiate the traffic and at one instance, I thought I was caught by a speed camera (because of the flash) (which I was, at 91km/hr, 6km more than the 80km/hr limit + 5km tolerance. Paid the fine through bank transfer) before entering the tunnel.
Entering Zurich city was a nightmare again. Traffic jam and roads not allowed for travel. I had to park the car at the side of the road in front Hotel Limmatblick to unload all the luggage, quickly check in and move the luggage up before going to top up petrol and return the car. I was pretty familiar this time and returned the car in no time. I think Sixt was about to close and when I told the staff about the paint scrap at the door and the speed camera but what I got in return was that if there was anything, they would email me. Took the train back to the city.
Brought baby K to walk the city one last time before meeting up with wife for some last minute shopping for chocolates at Teuscher. 5mins before closing time at 8pm, we got into the shop and had to leave by the side doors because the main door shut automatically at 8pm.
Walked to the street behind our hotel where there were rows of restaurants and we chose to eat at one called N-68. Ordered some Rosti and Clubsandwiches. Returned to the hotel to pack for the flight home the next day.
