Ok… I am now on my 2nd train of the day, so I will share with you the adventure of November 1, 2023. This day was a holiday for the catholic cantons in Switzerland, so Todd had a Wednesday off and told me I could plan a day trip for the two of us. I wanted to be sure most of the transportation was covered by our SBB GA and fortunately I succeeded in that endeavor.

We went to Rigi. Rigi is a mountain which overlooks Luzern, as well as Zug, Brig, and other areas of Switzerland which I am not certain of, so I will only mention the ones I know about.😁

We started the morning on the IC5 toward Olten. We switched trains in Olten to head toward Luzern and although we did not switch trains in Luzern, we sat there for 10 minutes until we headed out in the opposite direction from which we came into the city. From Luzern, we went around the lake to Arth-Goldau (let me check that spelling right quick)… ok, that is correct! In Arth-Goldau we boaended a special cogwheel train to take us up the mountain. Normally, Todd is kind enough to let me sit at the window seat and this time was no different until I looked out the window and almost fainted. Needless to say, I asked him to take the window seat! The cliff beside the train on the righthand side was very steep and I did not see any kind of guardrail to prevent us from plummeting off the side of the mountain should something strange happen. Whew! My heart is racing just writing about it!🤣

Once we were at the top there was still a steep hike to get to the peak. It took me a few minutes, but eventually I made it and it was stunning. Together we took over 400 photos that day, but I promise I will only post a few of the 250 I took. Before hiking down to Rigi-Staffelhöhe, (yes, that is the correct spelling because I looked it up on the SBB app before typing it!) we ate lunch on a bench beside the trail and took in the magnificent views of the mountains and lakes from nearly 1800 meters above sea level.

We boarded another train in Staffelhöhe to continue our decent and stopped in Kaltbad. Here you can enjoy the Mineralbad if you have the time and money (which we did not that day) or you can hike out to the ridge on the Rigi-Känzeli Trail. This was what we did. This was an easy trail, short, looped, and the views were photo-worthy. Another magnificent walk.

After completing the loop, we went into a local store for some Rigi beer and sat outside to enjoy a little more daylight. Plus, we had a boat to catch to take us into Luzern on a sunset cruise.

We had a nice dinner, nice train ride home, and we went somewhere we had not adventured to before. I called it a success. Of course, not everything was perfect… but there was much more good than bad and that (to me) is worth celebrating and talking about.😁🧡

I Hope you like the fotos…