Hiking in the alps

Hiking around the alps! It sounds glamourous – I don’t know about glamour, but it was certainly fun. Yesterday, we drove to Vitznau bright and early so that we could catch the tram going up Rigi, which is one of the mountains in the Jura mountain range. The tram was actually a cogwheel train, and it was able to climb up the mountain at an incredibly steep angle. It took about half an hour for the tram to get up the mountain, stopping at various stops and passing grazing cows and goats, Swiss chalets (really!) and fields and fields of flowers.

The station at the top of the mountain stopped a little ways short of the peak, and a small path led upwards towards a radio tower and the original survey marker of Switzerland. Small patches of snow were everywhere, and Uwe and Leandro stopped from time to time for a quick snowball fight. Leandro made an extra stop, halfway up a clear slope, in full view of the path – he either decided that he really had to go and didn’t mind giving a show, or that it was too much trouble to go back down the few metres to the washroom, but he undid his fly and – er – let fly. The large group of Japanese tourists behind us thought it was great, and stopped to watch. Nobody clapped when he finished, though. It really made our trip complete, to see that Leandro is still a little exhibitionist! And here we thought that Mannekin Pis could be found only in Brussels!

We climbed to the top, where there was a wonderful view of Lake Lucerne and Lake Zug, and the towns around the two lakes. It was interesting to note the colour differences in the two lakes – Lake Lucerne was noticeably greener. It was also interesting to see the original survey marker, which was made of stone – in modern times, a new one has been erected over top of it in the form of a lighted pyramid. A map showed where other survey markers had been placed on various other mountains for triangulation purposes.

By that time, it was lunchtime, so we made our way down the path a little way, so that we were out of the wind, and had our picnic lunch. It consisted of bread, cheese, some meat sticks, bubbly water, and cookies. I’d also brought a banana for Torsten, who ate most of it up! Really, there must be something in the Swiss air. It was lovely to sit there, on an bench with a wonderful view of the Alps and, in the nearer vicinity, tiny white crocuses.

After lunch, we split up – Uwe, Esther and Leandro headed off down the main path, hiking down the mountain, and we went to change Torsten and look at the little souvenir shop up at the top. Then we followed on the hike down the mountain, which was a steep but easy walk. The path followed the railway, so it would be possible to hop on the tram going back to Vitznau whenever we wanted (at a station, of course!). There were several people doing the hike, and also several bikers going up and down. The bikers that we met all said “Gruetzi” (greetings) – I was very impressed that they had the breath for politeness, as it was really very steep! After about half an hour of walking, Torsten fell asleep in the backpack, and unfortunately, his head really began to flop over to the side and bounce up and down in time to Ingo’s steps. Because the path was so steep, it wasn’t really possible to walk smoothly. We therefore stopped at the next tram station, where, by great good luck, a tram had just pulled in, and took the tram back down to Vitznau.

Down at Vitznau, around the tram station, there was a small market for Pentecost. Vendors sold various items in stalls, like wooden toys, traditional clothing, fruit wine, aromatic oils and baked goods. There was a trampoline activity, where people could put themselves in a harness, jump on trampolines, and flip around. Around 2 pm, three men gave a concert, playing Alphorns. Torsten woke up when we got down to the station, and then enjoyed running around the market. One woman obviously thought he was cute, as she angled for a while to take a good picture of him, and one of the vendors (of wooden toys) gave him a tiny wooden car. We had an ice cream and waited for Uwe, Esther and Leandro to come back down to Vitznau. In the meantime, it was lovely to sit and look at the lake, with all the ducks, boats and fishes.

They arrived on the 4 pm tram, and we looked around the market a little while longer. There was a small workshop in the market, where an old man demonstrated traditional methods of woodworking. There was a lathe that was powered by a springy wood spar, some rope, and a board that he stepped on to keep the wood spinning. There was also a small drill that consisted of a stick with a crosspiece, some rope, and a spoon-shaped bit, which operated on the same principle as a yoyo.

Originally, we had thought of going into Lucerne after Rigi, but we decided against it, as we would only have been able to spend an hour there before needing to go home again – and as the dinner plans consisted of fondue, we didn’t want to delay unduly! So we headed back to Uwe and Esther’s. Torsten and Leandro played outside a bit, but soon, dinner was ready, and we sat down to a wonderful cheese fondue, eating outside on the patio. After dinner was a dessert of meringues and ice cream with coffee; it was really nice sitting outside, as Leandro and Torsten could play while we lingered over dinner. They played with the soccer ball, and also with little ride-on cars, and then Torsten pointed out the moon. After that, we called it a night – in the last little while, Torsten has been choosing German books for his bedtime stories, which makes me very happy!

Our plan for today is to go see a stork preserve, and to go to a dinosaur museum, as Leandro is doing dinosaurs at school. We leave in 15 minutes – more later today!