25th Anniversary - Lucerne and Mt. Rigi

I woke up at 7:30 am on Wednesday morning. Feeling better. 

We had a quick power bar breakfast as we hurried to pack up and catch the steamboat to Vitznau. We got on the boat with one minute to spare. Whew. So many last minute transfers on this trip.

The ride was beautiful. There wasn’t much of Switzerland that wasn’t beautiful. What I will say is that when you get off the boat at Vitznau and you plan to ride the cog rail up to Mt. Rigi, do it as soon as you get off the boat. Otherwise you’ll be waiting for an hour for the next rail. There isn’t much to see in Vitznau. 

Chris and I finally made it to the top of the mountain and decided to move away from all of the tourists. 

We took another cog train over to Rigi Krabel where we planned to walk back along a flat path to the Rigi Kulm (Kulm means rounded mountain) cog rail.

After getting off the cog rail train, we took a gondola up from Krabel where we stopped for a snack at a little cafe just off the path. A cheese plate and a cheese tart.

Our walk back to Rigi took us about an hour and a half. We passed a lot of cows, heard a lot of cowbells, and saw very few people. Those that we did see taught us a new Swiss German greeting, “Gruezi” for hello. 

We even passed by a snack hut with cheeses, honey, meats, and treats. You picked what you wanted and left the money on the honor system.

After a lovely day of hiking/walking through the mountains, we took a cable car back down the mountain to Weggis (Veh-kis). 

The cable car was packed so I was glad to be able to have a window view instead of being stuck in the middle with my claustrophobia. 

We gladly sank into our seats on the steamboat as it sailed back to Lucerne. Once getting back to Lucerne, we had about 30 minutes to get off the boat, rush back to the hotel and pick up our luggage, and then rush right back to the station to line 3 to catch a train to Zurich. 

This was our last train ride of the trip. Fortunately, track 3 was the first track we came to. We didn’t have to run to the furthest corner or the station like other times. It was the evening rush so the train was full. It was about 6 pm when we arrived in Zurich. We took the bus to the Hotel Zurich, not too far from the airport.

We decided to not go into the Zurich old town for the rest of the evening. It was late, it would be dark soon, and it was going to rain. Instead, we found a creperie about 4.5 miles by bus. We made it just as the downpour started! 

The crepes were delicious, the owner so nice. 

Back to the Hilton Zurich (about 5 miles from the airport). With full stomachs, we found an English-speaking channel and watched tv and tried to stay awake for awhile.

25th Anniversary - Paragliding and Lucerne

Paragliding day. 

Honestly I wasn’t too nervous. However, I hadn’t allowed myself to think about it much since Chris had made the reservations for us a month or so ago. 

We enjoyed breakfast in the Queen Victoria dining room and then met up with Marcel and Werner (Verner) our Paraglide tandem guides at 10 am.

We watched as they got the parachutes set up and then it was Chris’ turn to go first with Werner. The tandem pack attached a backpack to our backs with a seat and below that seat, padding for the landing.

I got set to go with Marcel shortly after. I was just trying not to be nervous about running toward the edge of a mountain and jumping off. The flight with Marcel was awesome. 

I'm flying.

If you look closely, you can see the head of a dragon on the side of the mountain.

Chris, Werner, and Marcel

We got to see some ibexes on our way down, a man hiking on a precarious path, and the dragon image in the side of the mountain. I even got to fly the glider. 

We came to a nice landing in a field just next to the bottom of the gondola we rode up yesterday. The hotel sent our luggage down on the gondola so it was waiting at the bottom for us to retrieve it. We picked up our luggage and said goodby to Marcel and Werner.

It was early in the day but we were able to drop off our luggage at our next hotel, Cascada. All of the rooms were named after waterfalls in the area. We set off to explore Lucerne starting with the Chapel bridge with a tower that has been used for defense over the years as well as a prison and a torture chamber. 

We wandered around old town Lucerne and found a great spot for lunch at XXL Kebab and Vegan. We found a bench and sat to enjoy a tasty lunch.

In our wandering we found ourselves at the Musegg fortification with their towers and bastions. 

The fortification was free to tour, so we climbed a tower or two and enjoyed the view. The weather forecast had predicted rainfall for the day. As we climbed down from our third tower, the rain began to pour. We found a cute little children’s farm area where we able to sit out the rain for about 45 minutes. It had pigs, chickens, and goats. The pigs were not too fond of the thunder and squealed loudly. 

Chris quipped, “There’s two pigs. I wonder if they have a blanket.” 

When the rain finally stopped, we climbed the final tower—Mannliturn—which had a parapet at the top that you could climb for a view.

Some cool cows.

We checked out a few churches and then found the Lion of Lucerne, carved by Peter Thorvaldsen, the same man who carved the Christus.

Some more great views.

It was later in the afternoon and we were feeling pretty tired. 

My stomach wasn’t feeling too great. We walked along Lake Lucerne and then found a bench to sit and watch people. I could sense something was going on with my stomach and needed to get back to the hotel. I’m not a big thrower upper. Chris could probably count on his hand the number of times I have thrown up in our 25 years. But I knew it was going to happen. I was trying to figure out what I might have eaten during the day. It was either the falafel wrap at lunch or the quick sip of water I had from a tap in the square. 

Chris went out to find me some ginger ale. He got some dinner at the Burger King down the street and brought me Sprite. That’s all that was available. I put my name on the temple prayer roll while he was gone and then he gave me a blessing when he returned.

I finally threw up after a couple of hours of pain and then fell asleep. I didn’t have a lot of time to be sick as we were checking out in the morning and had plans to visit Mt. Rigi the next day. I woke up just after midnight and felt so much better. I plugged all of my devices in to charge and went back to sleep. 

So grateful for a miracle.

Misha and Kristen to Utah

While Chris and I were enjoying Italy and Switzerland, Misha and Kristen got to fly to Utah to visit Amy over the Labor Day weekend.

It was the first time that Kristen and Misha had driven to the airport on their own, parked in Pikes Peak parking lot, caught the shuttle bus to the terminal, and checked in for their flight. They were flying Frontier so they couldn't take more than a backpack with incurring extra fees. They are pros at traveling!

Amy and Misha spent time checking out the University of Utah and Utah State with Kristen on Friday. 

On Saturday, they also surprised Julie for her baby shower. Julie knew that Amy would be coming. She didn't know that Kristen and Misha would be in Utah as well. The girls had fun playing with Julie's girls.

Amy and Misha got a few ear piercings.

They hung out together on Sunday, went to church, and just enjoyed each other.