May 23rd started slowly. I was out of bed by 07:00 and drew the drapes to reveal another drab day. But, I could at least see the steamers moored not far from the hotel. I took a couple of safety shots just in case rain would close things down. The pavement was dry, but pedestrians were dressed up in European winter clothing.
Note: I think the birds we saw outside at the Jungfraujoch were “chuffs”.
I had breakfast at 08:00 and gave my departure flight timings to the Tour Manager so that I could get a ride to Zurich airport on May 24th.
At 09:15 it started to rain so it was a good thing I took my safety shots.
We walked to the ‘Steamer Dock’ to the MV Europa at 09:30 hrs. We departed on schedule at 10:00 and did a bit of a milk run down Lake Luzern. At 12 Celsius, and a wind across the deck of 27 kph, it was a bit chilly. Fortunately the rain had stopped.
We arrived at Vitznau at 11:10 and the rain had stopped. We boarded the cog railway at 11:15 and went up the mountain quite quickly. By 11:45 we had arrived at the top. My GPS was reading 5,800 feet. The mountain is known as Rigi, the Queen of the Mountains. In German, Rigi die Koenigin der Berge.
The top was covered in snow and I got some great photos. Unbelievably the Pilatus mountain was clear – this is a rare occurrence. Local legend had it that a monster lived on Pilatus and anybody foolish enough to climb the mountain would be taken right to hell.
At 13:00 hrs we took the train down one stop to the Rigi-Staffel Bahnhof Restaurant where we enjoyed lunch at 5,250 feet. Our meal was Landbrot and Green Salad, Pasta with Apple Sauce and a small tub of ice cream.
At 14:00 we had full sunshine and the photo shooting was great.
At 15:05 we took a train down a separate track to the town of Goldau.
By 15:45 we left the train at Goldau and boarded our coach for the trip back to Luzern.
Bottom Line: The Nikon D5200 had a great day and morale improved.
By the time we left the train, the cloud cover was 100% and it was obvious it would rain.
Back at the hotel, I stowed my valuables and walked to the very modern Hauptbahnhof. I walked a little bit in town but I had to deploy my umbrella as it started to rain heavily.
I managed to buy two chocolate bars for three francs, so I have only ten cents left in coins.
We had our Farewell Dinner at 19:00 hrs.

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