Today we're going to be around Lucerne. We'll visit the Swiss countryside, which we'll enjoy more than we'd like, Lucerne itself, take a boat ride on the Vierwaldstättersee and finish the day with a visit to the Queen of the Mountains, Rigi.
Rigi Kulm - View of Lauersee and Seewen
In the morning we get up around 8:30. We have breakfast and leave the camp after half past nine. Before we take the tram, we stop at the Aare River, flowing next to the campsite, to document its strong current, which the locals use as a water slide even more than yesterday on the Rhine.
Bern - Main entrance to the Eichholz campsite
Bern - Aare River
Bern - Eichholz park
From the river, we're going uphill to the tram. It passes in front of us and since it is Sunday, the next one goes "up" in ten minutes. We shorten this time by walking to the next stop called Gurtenbahn, which is at the eponymous cable car leading to the top of Gurten. The Swiss pass is not valid there, but we were given a ticket at the campsite for all public transport in Bern, including the Gurtenbahn, valid for the entire duration of our stay. Unfortunately, our entire schedule was so packed that we didn't get to visit it even one day. The tram arrives on time and we drive about ten minutes to the main station. We have no departures identified, but I know there are trains to Lucerne every half hour. We now have the choice of taking either the Regional Express via Langau or the faster InterRegio via Zofingen. The latter, however, arrives in Lucerne at about the same time as the earlier Regional Express. We don't want to wait and I know the line through Langnau and it is nice as it goes through the Swiss countryside. But that was a mistake and from now on we will have bad luck sticking to our heels for a few hours. It starts with the choice of train. There's a closure on the line. I'm thinking, it'll be fine, we're in Switzerland. It was clear from the look on the conductor's face when she heard we were going all the way to Lucerne that this was not the right choice. We will reach Lingau, where we have to change to a replacement bus to Schüpfheim. There I expect a train to take us to Lucerne. However, this was not the case and we have to continue on the eSk, which arrives in 20 minutes and, unlike the Regional Express, stops at every stop. The next shock comes before Wolhusen, when yet another message appears on the display. This time we are all to change to a new unit in Wolhusen. Fortunately, we'll be able to get all the way to Lucerne. Compared to what we expected, we'll be three and a quarter hours late. In front of the station there is a public transport terminal and a port, where we find out the departure of the ship to Alpnachstadt. We are heading to Vitznau for the cog railway to Rigi. The last time I went here, this is the boat that went there. I was counting on it again today, and that next one was a mistake, but more on that later.
Lucerne - Schüpfheim
Lucerne - Public transport terminal in front of the train station
Lucerne - Port
We've got 40 minutes till departure so we're going to walk around Lucerne. We walk along the right bank of the river Reuss past the famous Kapellbrücke, which we are not going to yet, because downstream is the even lesser known Spreuerbrücke, which also has a hydroelectric power station. We continue through the local streets with closed shops (because it is Sunday) and when the time comes we rush to the port to board the boat.
Lucerne - Kapellbrücke
Lucerne - Spreuerbrücke
Lucerne - Vierwaldstättersee
Lake Lucerne, or Vierwaldstättersee, is named after the four cantons on which it extends. After about twenty minutes of cruising on this lake, it dawns on me that this boat does not go to Vitznau, so instead of Vitznau we have an hour cruise to Alpnach. The attraction of the cruise is the view of the two-thousand-foot Pilatus, which is the steepest cog railway in the world leading to it from Alpnach. Unfortunately, the Swiss pass is not valid on it, so you have to buy a ticket for it separately. Since I've been on the Pilatus before, we won't be going this year. To top off the bad luck, just before Alpnach I get stung by a wasp that Janet scared away. This victim, however, turned the railroad god back to our side and by then everything was going well.
Kehristen
Hergiswil and Rigi Kulm in the background
Cruise on the Vierwaldstättersee
The beauty of the Swiss system can be appreciated the moment you step off the boat and three minutes later, a train arrives at the neighbouring station, heading back to Lucerne. In Lucerne we then had 5 minutes to change trains to Arth-Goldau, where the second branch of the cog railway to Rigi runs. Which was our plan B when things didn't work out with Vitznau, where there is no train only a boat or bus. In Arth-Goldau we then have half an hour before our blue cog railway, which leaves every hour and goes up the mountain in about three quarters of an hour. Originally the Arth-Rigi-Bahn, opened in 1941, it was built to compete with the older Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn (red cars, opened in 1871). For this reason, the two cog railways run side by side at the top, each on its own track. As the competition with each other was not very beneficial, in 1992 the two railways were merged into the Rigi-Bahnen, including the Weggis - Rigi Kaltbad cable car (a Sviss pass is valid for everything).
IR from Lucerne in Arth-Goldau
Arth-Rigi Bahn station in Arth-Goldau
Arth-Goldau
Blue cog railway on Rigi
Since it is late afternoon we leave Arth-Goldau at three, but on the way to the top the toothpick is still pretty full. We're up before five and have an hour to explore the summit, so we can catch the penultimate toboggan down. From the top there are beautiful views of Arth-Goldau, Zugersee and Lauerzersee.
On the way to Rigi
End station Rigi Kulm
Arth and Zugersee from Rigi
Arth Goldau from Rigi
Vierwaldstättersee from Rigi
Zugersee from Rigi
Concurrence of both tracks on Rigi Staffel
After an hour of photography and one peak beer. We're getting back on the toothed wheels and heading back to Arth-Goldau. Unfortunately, we gave up on walking down for time reasons. From Arth-Goldau we get the IC to Lucerne in ten minutes and fortune smiles on us. The latest scream of Swiss technology, the RABe 501 Giruno fast train, arrived. Giruno means buzzard in Rhaeto-Romance, and it is a high-speed unit completely developed by Stadler that reaches a top speed of 250 km/h, connecting Zurich with Milan, via the Gotthard Tunnel. It was the only train we rode in Switzerland that also had Wifi and the screens showed the speed. I was quite surprised that we didn't go more than 120 to Lucerne and it was usually 80-100 km/h, although I would have guessed we were going faster. I guess speed in Switzerland doesn't carry as much weight as I've always thought and accuracy, reliability, continuity and tact play an important role. In other words. We still have a lot of work to do in the Czech Republic. We leave the modern Giruno in Lucerne and move on to the follow-up InterRegio in Bern. This time right through Zofingen. We arrive in Bern and at the campsite in the twilight around 9:30. We make a tasty dinner of Chinese soup and couscous with German spaghetti mix and Ostrava sausage. We finish the day with a can of Swiss beer and go to bed. Tomorrow we have another busy day ahead of us. We will head to the Jungfrau region, specifically Mürren.
Useful links:
Swiss Railways
Swiss Saver day pass
Rigi Bahn
