Tuesday, April 20, 1999

Hiking Switzerland


Its Easter weekend and we are on a road trip to Switzerland and Lake Lucerne. We have reservations at  hotel  Abbana Weggis” we found on the web that overlooks the Lake Just northeast of Lucerne Switzerland. The whole trip from Holland where we were living  to Lucerne is about 7 hours  and the drive through Switzerland is beautiful .  The hotel is very old and been around for over a hundred years but turns out to be quite nice. 

From Hiking Switzerland
Our room has a balcony overlooking Lake Lucerne and as it’s still a little cool a heavy fog lays over the lake obscuring the mountains on the other side until later in day after the sun burns off the fog. 
From Hiking Switzerland
We have several days here and the plan is to take the ferry which is the local means of travel around the lake to Lucerne one day and do the tourist thing then spend a day exploring the Tram and the hiking around the “Rigi Mountain” just behind the little village of “Weggis that we are staying in.
We walked down to the boat launch where we bought return tickets and waited for the ferry to arrive and take us around the lake.  
From Hiking Switzerland

We walked all around the city of Lucerne did some shopping which included buying some new sweatshirts  because it was cold. Of course with this being Switzerland and home of famous watches I bought a Swiss watch at a discount price. We also climbed to the high point in Lucerne and old castle to view the river which was flooding. Seems like we are always trying to climb to the top of something.

From Hiking Switzerland
 Today’s adventure will be riding the Tram to the top of the mountain than hiking down. It’s a short walk to the tram stop and it’s not crowded as we buy are tickets and wait for the ride to the top. The fog is heavy during this time of year early in the day so we are not going to see much on our ride to the top. At the top the fog is heavy and it’s a short train ride to the lodge where we have lunch and walk around viewing the things at the top of the mountain.
From Hiking Switzerland

Leaving the top we walk back following the train tracks in the fog towards the trail that leads to the base of the mountain and our hotel. 
As we hike down the mountain we alternate between open fields on the side of the mountain with cows to dense forests with creeks and trails. As it turns to later in the day the fog starts to lift and we are given beautiful views of the lake from the trail on the way down.