Where is Iris now?

Last Thursday (on our sneaky extra free day) I decided to take matters into my own hands and proposed a 'lazy people mountain day trip'. Very soon, we had established the Lazy People Group, consisting out of 4 people.

We decided to go to Mount Rigi near the Vierwaldstättersee and take the cogwheel train up to the top, instead of walking up (we are the Lazy People Group, after all). The weather was great and the views were breathtaking, so I will share my most pretty pictures with you now!

Taking the cogwheel train up
After going to Arth-Goldau by train from Zürich, we took the cogwheel train up. This ride lasted for about 45 minutes and was very scenic. You should definitely go on this train once (even if you’d normally rather walk up the mountain), because you’ll see great views from spots you can’t always reach yourself.


N. and F. are in the right spirit! We were very lucky when we took the train, as we were in the old, cosy train!


Train looks cute, doesn’t it?

Views at the highest train station Rigi Kulm
This is the view you are greeted with immediately after stepping out of the train:



( More views from the train station )

Views from the hotel/restaurant
F., who was in charge of maximising the laziness of the day, soon found an elevator which took us one level up, to the hotel/restaurant with, again, very pretty views!

Me!

( More views from the hotel/restaurant )

Views from the top
After laughing a bit at our laziness with the elevator, we took the gentle path upwards (total distance ~300 m) to the absolute top of the mountain. This path was marked with a statue of an old man with a cane. Laziness maximised again! The other path, by the way, (which was shorter, but much steeper), was indicated by a statue of a fine, young, backpacking guy. Of course.



( More views at the very top! )

On our way back from the top to the restaurant, we were not really paying attention and hence missed the path for both the lazy or elderly people and for backpacking guys. Hence, we chose our own path and just walked down over grass and snow. This was the first indication that our group name might be changed eventually to the Somewhat Lazy People Group.

Hike from Rigi Kulm to Rigi Staffel
After a lunch at the restaurant (I had a bratwurst with fries), which was expensive but okay, and a visit to the souvenir shop, we decided to walk down to the next cogwheel train station, as that was not too far (we started to really become a Somewhat Lazy People Group).

We hiked from all the way up there!

( More views during the hike from Rigi Kulm to Rigi Staffel )

Hike from Rigi Staffel to Rigi Klösterli
We were (surprisingly) still in good shape when we reached the cogwheel station and we decided that we actually wanted to hike a little more; not in the least because when you hike, you see a different view every twist and turn, which is amazing! Unfortunately, the next stretch of the trail/path next to the cogwheel tracks that we had been following so far, was still snowed under, so we couldn’t take that. Fortunately, J. found a path which was even suitable for prams from Rigi Staffel to Rigi Klösterli. This was a nice 40 minute walk on a very well-maintained path (although I’m not sure if it would really be that suitable for prams, but Swiss people are special, so maybe they would be able to use it for prams after all..).



( Views during the hike from Rigi Staffel to Rigi Kloesterli )

Hike from Kräbel to Arth-Goldau
When we reached Rigi Klösterli (which was again a cogwheel train station), we decided to take the train down a few stops, because the total hiking time back to the main station in Arth Goldau was over 2 hours, and even though we were quite active so far, we are still the Somewhat Lazy People Group :p.
So, we ended up taking the train from Rigi Klösterli to Kräbel from which we walked all the way to the main station of Arth-Goldau.



( More views from Kraebel to Arth-Goldau )

It was a lovely, lovely walk. While waiting for our train back to Zürich, we had some ice cream and when we arrived in Zürich, we had some drinks in the park. It was a lovely, great, amazing, somewhat lazy day and I can’t wait to go to the mountains again!

When did this actually happen? Sunday, February 21, 2016

Up, up, up we go to the last castle!


I really think this looks like a very sinister, Dracula castle..


It's that mountain again: now from our highest viewpoint!


The castle was really pretty as well, especially in the light of a setting Sun. However, it was a bit unfortunate that we couldn't get in the castle (grounds) like with the other two, because this castle was closed until somewhere in March :(


Behind the castle, there were nice rocks :)


I really love the light and composition in this picture. This might be due to the fact that I love the colour blue and really like it combined with nature (grass..). Also, there is again a very nice castle wall. You can never have enough pictures of castle walls!


Same old mountain again in the beautiful sunset light with a nicely accentuated church.


On our way back to the train, we saw our first castle Castelgrande for the last time, beautifully illuminated. I thoroughly recommend a visit to Bellinzona: it has very nice scenery and culture (the castles), and as it is the Italian part of Switzerland, they have great (Italian) food as well. I had the best tagliatelle bolognese ever for dinner. It is however more expensive than regular Italy (it is Switzerland after all), and they speak little to no English or German (in this sense they are more like the real Italians.. :p )

When did this actually happen? Sunday, February 21, 2016

Because N. had this very cool (and cheap) railway ticket, we decided to go somewhere in Switzerland where neither of us had ever been that was far, far away (to get the most out of the train ticket). We chose Bellinzona, which is mainly known for its 3 castles; each of which are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. As we both like castles a lot, this seemed perfect. Also, from my point of view: I had never been in the Italian part of Switzerland yet, so this seemed like a really good idea.

It was a really great day and I made lots and lots of pictures. Therefore, this one day will appear here in 3 parts.. coincidentally coinciding with the 3 castles that we visited (see what I did there? :D ).

We started with a 2.5h train ride through beautiful scenery from Zürich to Bellinzona. Then we went to the first castle: Castelgrande. This is the largest castle (maybe that is reflected in the name, eh?) and most prominent one. It is also the one which is most suitable for visitors: there is a museum explaining the history of the three castles and an elevator (we took the stairs. Oh my. But I did it). There is also a very nice, long stretch of the city wall on which you can walk, which is pretty awesome.

Here then, are the most pretty pictures of Castelgrande:


Of course the castle is strategically situated on a hill.


Mountains! The castle is surrounded by mountains! And there is snow on the mountains! I made soooo many pictures of this mountain: it is so pretty!


More mountains! :)


And the same mountain again from a slightly different angle...


N. posing against a castle wall.


The big wall that protected the city!


From the end of the city wall a picture of the whole castle again. It was really, really pretty. :)

When did this actually happen? Sunday, January 24, 2016

The first time skiing was a very painful and slightly scary experience. I think this was mainly due to the fact that my optimistic friends took me to ski down a blue piste. Please keep in mind that I had never ever been on skis before. So, long story short, I fell down a lot and it was caught on camera.

My main motivation, I should add, to get down the slope, was to get to the lift, because walking up the slope in ski boots (which hurt like hell) was something I considered even less likely than skiing down.


Me, as I spent most of my morning: lying in the snow with two very long and cumbersome skis attached to my feet.


Sometimes I had brief intervals (of say 10 seconds: I am not lying) of actually skiing. Whenever that happened, I was feeling quite proud and happy, because skiing down is quite a nice sensation (when you don’t fall).


Me at the bottom of my first blue piste. Look at the very strained and terrified smile I try to give my friends. Very telling.


Finally some respite: lunch! After lunch I decided I had quite enough of skiing for one day, so I took off the painful boots and drank hot chocolate in the restaurant. An afternoon well spent I would say!

( Celebrating my first time skiing with friends )


Group picture at the end of the day! Notice the guy at the far right: he didn’t belong to our group. We have no idea who he is. But he refused to move for our picture!?

One of the most epic days ever was when me and B. (a (Dutch) friend of mine, who is an exchange student at ETH for the next semester) went to Mt. Pilatus. After a train journey of about an hour to Luzern and a 15 minute bus drive, we boarded the panorama gondolas at Kriens to Fräkmüntegg and changed there to the aerial cableway up to the mountain to Pilatus Kulm. This was the first stage of the Golden Round Trip of Mount Pilatus from Luzern. The Golden Round Trip includes the bus, gondola and cableway up to Mount Pilatus and a ride with the steepest cogwheel railway in the world (more on that later) down Pilatus, followed by a lovely boat cruise on the Vierwaldstättersee. I can’t even begin to describe the awesomeness of this trip. I will however, try to show it to you via pictures.

Caution:
Prepare for lots and lots and lots of pictures.
Possibly too many.
Nope, scratch that: you can’t have too many pictures of these beautiful Alpine views!

Going up the mountain

One of the cablecars going up to Pilatus Kulm.

Once arrived at Pilatus Kulm, there were several hikes to beautiful viewpoints, even though there was also already a panorama deck at the Pilatus Kulm station. It was lovely weather: a very clear sky and sunny and not cold at all! We decided to do two walks: one 40 minute walk to the top of Mount Pilatus (2132 m above sea level) and one 10 minute walk to a 360° panorama viewpoint.

Hike to Tomlishorn: the top of Mount Pilatus at 2132 m above sea level

Of course we wanted to go to the highest point of Mount Pilatus. This was supposed to be a 40 minute walk with medium difficulty and an altitude difference of 60 m. However, they clearly didn’t calculate any time for taking pictures into the approximate walking time. As we stopped every 2 m to take a picture of the beautiful views it took us a bit longer than 40 minutes. But is was so much fun!
( More beautiful pictures of the hike )

At the top! - Tomlishorn

And then we made it to the top! Oh yeah! In the above picture you can see the starting point of our walk: Pilatus Kulm, where the cablecar stops: it is wedged between the two peaks. The right peak is the Esel, where we went for our second hike. Also note the lonely, white church at the left on the mountain. I just keep wondering who had the outrageous idea of building a church there. I mainly have 2 questions about this:
1. Why there? Are there so many people living there that there needs to be a church there? It seems to be pretty desolated, so why a build a church?
2. Who brought up all the materials? It must have been horrendous.

( More beautiful pictures at the top - Tomlishorn )

Hike back to Pilatus Kulm
While walking back to Pilatus Kulm, I just couldn’t resist taking a couple of more pictures. I like these pictures in particular, because they have nice artistic feel about them..


Look at the beautiful asymmetry!


A walkthrough bit with a fantastic view (again!).

Hike to Esel: 360° panorama view
As we hadn’t had a clear view of the Vierwaldstättersee yet, we decided that we really needed to do the hike/walk to one of the other viewpoints: a zig-zag path to the top. They said it would take 10 minutes. I was convinced it would take me way longer than that. B. was convinced it would take him only a couple of minutes. B. was right and managed to get to the top in no time. I was incorrect, but very pleased nonetheless as I made it to the top in 6 minutes. The difference in altitude was 50 m.



At the top! - Esel

Beautiful view of the Vierwaldstättersee!

( More beautiful pictures at the top - Esel )

Hike back to Pilatus Kulm
Just one picture on the way back, because it was such an ideal spot for making a picture of someone with the lake in the background. However, after this picture, we decided we actually shouldn’t stop every 2 seconds any more, because that would lead to us missing the train.


Needless to say, I did stop one more time (very shortly!) at Pilatus Kulm to buy souvenirs in the shop. As you do.

The steepest cogwheel railway in the world
With a gradient of 48°, this cogwheel railway is the steepest in the whole world. It was a pretty cool ride. Basically, the driver was braking all the time to prevent us from plummeting to our deaths.


Looks pretty steep, huh?


The train in front of us. Do you see how steep it is? Yeah? Did I make my point?

Boat cruise on the Vierwaldstättersee
After all this excitement, we were quite tired already, but luckily we saved the boat cruise for the end. Therefore, we now had the opportunity to relax and take in the breathtaking views from the Vierwaldstättersee from a different perspective. As the battery of my camera was dying at this point, there are not as many pictures any more.





Luzern
We concluded the day by walking a bit through the city centre of Luzern. We didn’t have time (or the energy, really) to visit any of the landmarks (except for the old city bridge), so I will have to return to Luzern at some point. I don’t mind at all, because it is such a beautiful city: very picturesque. In fact I’d like to go back now!