Switzerland - Lucerne and Appenzell

I have now arrived in Mainz, Germany and will spend today wandering around including visiting the Gutenberg Museum as this is where the printing press was invented. This evening I will travel half hour by train to Frankfurt Airport for the flight to Hong Kong and after one night there fly onto Auckland and Dunedin arriving home on Saturday night. Not the best part of a trip to Europe.

I developed a cold on my last night in Paris so, while I managed to keep going for the hiking near Interlaken described in my last message, I decided to take it easy in Lucerne. I spent Thursday cruising on the lake. The journey up to the head of the lake and back took 5 and a half hours and I stopped off for an hour to have lunch at the water’s edge and wander around the small village of Fluelen. The ferry back was a paddle steamer.

I think the upper parts of the lake are more scenic).

On Friday I returned part of the way (just 40 minutes) on the ferry then took the rack railway up Mount Rigi (1798 metres or 1364 metres above the lake). Two photos show part of the many views from the top.

Not sure which of these characters represents me climbing to the very top of gipfel.

You can catch the train back to the top of the cable car but I walked down a very easy road  even though it went down 440 metres.  The view descending to the lake at Weggis.

From there it was back on the ferry but I got off at the Transport museum where I had lunch then spent a lot of time in the railway section.  There was a very good demonstration of building the St Gotthard tunnel, travelling in the dark on a small rail car and learning of the life of the, mainly Italian, workers.  I quickly took in the road, air and boat sections but bypassed the planetarium. All transport, even into the future, is covered. I walked back along the lake to my hotel and then after a rest toured some of the city walls and bridges.

Saturday was spent crossing Switzerland by train to the eastern area of Appenzell. I stayed at Wasserauen in 2008 and find it a lovely area. There are very few international tourists but lots of locals visit to walk.  Staying 3 nights provides a card for local transport and one trip up and down on each of the cable cars plus visits to museums.

When I arrived at the hotel in Wasserauen, where I had stayed before, it was a bright sunny day, the garden restaurant was full and as I ate my lunch there were literally dozens of paragliders landing in the field next door. There is a paragliding school there.  I went up the Ebenalp cable car next to the hotel with some of the paragliders but took the hard way down. I had wanted to do this on my previous trip but being early May, it was snowing lightly and was ill equipped. The view from the top shows the lake to which I hiked the next day.

The track down goes through a cave and past a cave chapel then a guest house on the cliff edge .

The guest house is 20 minutes down from the top and over an hour from the bottom so not suitable for my luggage. My hotel is more suitable for me and has probably the largest and nicest room on my travels.









Sunday was not so nice but remained fine. I travelled free by train then postbus around to Schwagalp on the other side of the mountain and went up the highest but not free cable car to Santis (2503 metres) but it was cloud covered. However there were some good views on the way up and down. I had originally considered hiking down from there to my hotel but, on rereading the notes that commented on the knee jarring number of steps and the fact that cables assisted the nerves, I decided against it. I saw the track heading down into the mist but returned the long way round.

In the afternoon I went up to Seealpsee

 previously viewed from above and could see Santis was free of cloud up on the top right of the photo. However there was a lot of snow up there and this climb of 300 metres from my hotel was enough for me. I went up the road but returned by the forest path which probably went a little higher passing many cows in their summer pastures.

Monday was wet and, being Monday, the museums were closed so was largely a wasted day in the towns of Appenzell and St Gallen.  As it was fine in the afternoon I did go up one of the other (free) cable cars to Hohen Kasten(1794 metres) but I was the only tourist up there and the view on the other side into Austria was mainly hidden. However I was there in fine weather in 2008.

Tuesday morning was also wet but thankfully fine as I walked to the railway station. I travelled right across Switzerland to Zurich where it was a clear day then onto Basel and into Germany and Mainz.

Switzerland - Interlaken

I was going to post one message at the end of my 9 days in Switzerland but I already have so many photos after just 3 days in the town of Interlaken. Switzerland is amazingly beautiful and horrendously expensive. I feel the need to rob a bank before going out to dinner.

Anyway I travelled on the very fast train from Paris to Basel last Sunday and perhaps will reconsider any thought of going 2nd class in France again. It was quite packed. On arriving in Basel and changing to Swiss trains, 2nd class is quite ok as the distances are small and there are always plenty of seats.

I caught up with the misty weather on arrival but the clouds lifted by evening and the weather has been glorious since.  However May has been wet and the snow cover on the mountains is still quite extensive so I had to change my hiking plans as many routes were still closed.

On Monday the hotel owner told me at breakfast that the mountain top was clear so I caught the mountain train to Lauterbrunnen (796 metres) and then the cable car to Grutschalp (1489 metres) so much more civilised than hiking in Italy.  I then walked rather than catch the tram to Murren (1645 metres)  which took about an hour and a half

and had coffee with the view.

Sadly when I reached the next cable car I was told that the mountain top was clouded over and as I would have had to pay 37 Swiss francs (Au$42), I decided against it and instead walked downhill to Gimmelwald (1420 metres)

where I had a steak sandwich again taking in the view.  As the path becomes very steep at that point I again took the cable car

 to the valley floor at Stechelberg and walked for about 20 minutes beside the river.  All the way there were large waterfalls tumbling down the sheer valley sides.

At the Trummelbach Falls I had to pay to enter and was taken by a lift inside the mountains to where the water tumbles down in a series of 10 falls inside caves carrying up to 20,000 litres of water per second.

As the sky had clouded over, it was quite cool and my feet were tired, I caught the bus back to Lauterbrunnen and after a hot chocolate, the train back to Interlaken.

Tuesday was another glorious day and I was assured the mountain tops were clear although there was a bank of cloud just above the town. So I returned to Lauterbrunnen but this time changed to another mountain train up to Wengen (1274 metres) and then the cable car to Mannlichen at 2227 metres. We burst through the clouds to be in bright sunshine with snow covered mountains in all directions.

I had to have another cup of coffee.

The cloud even cleared later and I could see back down into the valley.

I even tried to climb through the snow to the very top

 but stopped about 2/3rds of the way just above where paragliders were taking off.

I would have liked to walk to another mountain top but the route was closed so I went down the other side in a gondola

 to Holenstein (1529 metres)

 and spent over 2 hours walking down through farmlands with cows and bells

to the village of Grindelwald (1034 metres) where after a late lunch of apple strudel I caught the train back to Interlaken.

On Wednesday I had to travel to Lucerne but I broke my journey at Brienz and after leaving my luggage in a locker travelled by the steam rack railway.

 Even it has had to start later in the season and is only going half way but it provided a great view over Lake Brienz.

I have made a video of the 2 full days

Swiss Sojourn

I have just returned to Munich from 5 nights in Switzerland.
On Monday, German rail efficiency let me down and the train was running 12 minutes late so I missed my 9 minute connection at Ulm. However there was another train in 50 minutes, unlike Australia where it might be 1 day (or as in Queensland last year, 2 trains per week). I was advised to visit the cathedral in Ulm which has the highest steeple in the world but as I had my bag. I was content to look at this steeple from the station. I went onto Friedrickshafen on the shores of lake Constance or as the Germans call it Bodensee. I did make use of the lockers there and wandered around the town. Across the sea, the Swiss Alps could be seen but it was a very hazy day, in fact quite hot and an icecream was enjoyed. Having retrieved my bag, I crossed the Lake by ferry into Switzerland and caught another train to the city of St Gallen arriving as it began to rain
I stayed there two nights and used the full day to travel by train to the Rhine Falls. Fortunately the overnight rain cleared and the sun began to appear as I arrived at the Falls.These falls are not large by American standards at only 23 metres high but they do carry 600cu metres per sec and so are quite impressive to an Australian. I travelled in a small boat out to the rock you can see in the centre where they let you off to climb some stairs to the tops with water rushing past on all sides. Unfortunately a group of school children were on my boat so we were forced to wait on the ladder for room at the top. However it was an exciting experience. I walked down river before catching the train onto Schaffhausen and then onto Stein Am Rhein, a town with beautiful medieval housesI also went through the Benedictine Abbey of St George, founded in the 11th century but completely rebuilt in the 15th. The sun was now completely out and there was a good view of the Rhine from the windows.
I was offered a pensioner price here, the advantage of grey hair.
Wednesday morning I spent in St Gallen, paying my respects to both the Evangelische Kirche (which seemed to mention Zwingli a lot, a person I do not remember favourably from my Reformation history studies) and the Catholic Cathedral with beautiful ornate ceilings.
Then to the highlight of St Gallen the Abbey library. This library is the oldest library in Switzerland, and it is one of the earliest and most important monastic libraries in the world. Its collection of books shows the development of European culture and documents the cultural achievments of the Abbey of St. Gallen from the eighth century to the dissolution of the monastery in 1805. You wear felt slippers over your shoes to protect the floor and some of the oldest books are on display. Unfortunately photos are not allowed.

Leaving St Gallen, I travelled by the narrow gauge Appenzeller railway into the alpine valleys of Appenzell where I stayed at a hotel in a place called Wasserauen (867 metres). This was a real find, a beautiful room, comparatively cheap and as I stayed 3 nights I was given an Appenzeller card which allowed unlimited rides on the trains and buses and most importantly a free ride up and down on each of the area's cable cars. The hotel where I stayed is in the centre of the photo, the railway hotel on the left.
I travelled up each of the cars, the first on Thursday the Ebenalp (1640 metres) was right nearby but the weather was a bit cloudy and my plans to walk around at the top were thwarted by snow, there was sago snow falling while I was there. I did obtain some views when the clouds lifted temporarily. As the weather was changeable I decided to travel by a number of trains, one a rack railway, and buses to the country of Liechtenstein where I stayed all of 30 minutes. There is not much to see there and being May day the post office was closed so could not buy any of the stamps for which it is famous but another country I can claim to have visited.
Friday had much better weather and I went up the Kronberg (1663 metres) and Hoher Kasten(1795 metres) cable cars.(I am fairly sure that Liechtenstein is in the centre of this photo)
I also found time that day to hike up 300 metres to a lake called Seealpsee and then on Saturday half way up the steep hillside near the hotel to an alpine meadow on the way to the Ebenalp, probably another 300 metres so hopefully I am keeping fit.
Saturday afternoon I returned to Munich. The train passes through Austria for about 10 minutes. I travelled the same route in 1974 and there were border guards and the train doors were locked while passing through Austria. Now the police came through as we entered Austria and the European Union but did no more than look at the cover of my passport.