Arth-Goldau/Mount Rigi/Luzern
Sorry, I know I’m really behind on blogging. There is definitely content, but it comes at a much slower pace now, and some of it is starting to repeat past posts. Like this one, we’ve already been to Luzern (a few times!), but it’s still a really cute little city, and we did some new stuff around Luzern so I think it’s worthy of inclusion. We had some friends in town, a father and daughter here on spring break from North Carolina and a Norwegian work friend of Cass’s who lives in California was here for work, so we made plans to take them up on Rigi on a Sunday.
I was about to leave the next day for a trip to New York, so I had to get a COVID test on that Sunday. Everyone went with me for my test at the center near Bahnhohf Enge. They stood outside while I got my brain scraped, and inadvertently got to watch some of the runners from the Zürich Marathon going by. We were supposed to take the train from Enge, but Cass decided at the last moment for us to all rent bikes and ride to the Hauptbahnhhof to catch a faster train from there. Things we learned: the ZuriVelo/PubliBike app only allows 4 rentals on one account at once, AND that it was a good thing we rode bikes as most of the roads/trams were closed due to the Marathon that day. When we got off our bikes to WALK them through Paradeplatz (the scene of us being ticketed for riding bikes through Paradeplatz last summer), we happened upon these musicians playing for the passing runners.
We took the train from Zürich to Arth-Goldau. From there, we got on a funicular train which took us up to the top of Mount Rigi. The map shows the funicular train route, although I had to tell Google I was walking to get it to show the correct path. At the top, Rigi looks out over the Vierwaldstättersee (the lake in the left corner). Luzern is on the other side of that lake, so you can see it from Rigi. It also looks out over other lakes in the other direction, but Luzern is on the side where everything is green right now.
It was VERY cold up on Rigi. I was not prepared - I had worn my hiking boots (check) and brought my gloves and hat (check), but my choice of coat was incorrect. Too light. Cass’s Norwegian friend, however, was totally prepared. Our original plan was to hike down to Vitznau where you catch a boat that takes you over to Luzern, but we quickly had to rethink that plan. Luckily, there was a funicular train that takes you down to Vitznau, so we were saved from our lack of preparation.
The funicular trains traverse some steep terrain.
The boat ride across Vierwaldstättersee (4 forested settlements/villages lake aka Lake Luzern) was really nice. It was sunny out, which made up for the weather on Rigi.
Luzern is lovely. We had lunch/dinner at Restaurant Fritschi (again), which is the restaurant that loves Fasnacht (Carnival). Although this time we were able to sit outside in the waning sunlight of the day. We walked through the Altstadt and over the 2 wooden pedestrian bridges that are hundreds of years old. Then we were back to the train station to catch the train to Zürich.
