Mt. Rigi

Our next day was one that would take us to the top of the world, Mt. Rigi.  I was inspired to go see this place after seeing pictures a friend of mine posted from his trip in August.  It was an opportunity to not only combine the boat trip to the base of the mountain with the heights of the mountain - I got to do both of my loves while traveling.  

We brought dad with us knowing he wasn’t going anywhere near the mountain cable car or train.  Lucky for us, he is often more inspired by the local flora and fauna of the countries we visit - not to mention architecture and the animals.  He brought the paper and a sudoku book and was thrilled to not have to ascend to the mountain top with us.  We arrived a bit early to the boat, and when it pulled up, the name of the Swiss town we were stopping in was on the side of the boat - I read it out loud, to which my dad responded, "That isn't Swiss German for 'Titanic' is it?"  We rode the boat one stop past where we were the day before-- again taking advantage of the fact that our eurail and swiss train passes covered the cost of the excursion.  We dropped dad off at a bench near the boat dock and told him we’d be back around 2 that afternoon, and off we went to the train to begin our trip up the mountain.  

Yup - this happened.  He played conveniently as people got off the train at the top of the mountain.  It was surreal.

What breathtaking sites we witnessed from the top.  We had a panoramic view for miles, and the weather was so nice - it was 68 degrees on top - and sunny.  It was really one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.   

The trip down was a bit hectic as we told dad we'd meet him around 2.  There are only so many trains that go up and down the mountain, and we didn't realize that in order to ride the gondola, you'd have to stop mid way - and end up in a different town at the bottom.  We just missed one gondola, so we were going to try to get the next train down.  Which left later than the next gondola.  However, if we took the gondola down, we'd have to get the boat back - either way we'd be late. So we weighed our options and ended up choosing the gondola, followed by a boat ride, landing us about 30 minutes after 2.  

The gondola was a bit scarier than I had anticipated, as it went pretty quickly, and there were only THREE concrete support towers up the ENTIRE mountain.  Funny enough, we got to the bottom, weaved our way through the town and after checking the boat times, took a public bus to the next town over where dad was waiting. 

We had a splendid four hour round trip up and down the mountain, and dad was thrilled because he saw a hummingbird moth and a dog running after a nun.  Equally enjoyable day had by all.