My husband and I visited friends in Zurich, Switzerland many times when we lived in Germany in the ‘70’s. We had also been around the country one time since, but I wanted a chance to travel to more areas in the country and also to visit again the Lauterbrunnen Valley, which holds special memories for me. So I signed up for the RS Switzerland trip.
I arrived in cloudy, cool Luzern from Lake Como the day before our trip began. I had to make the mental switch from speaking Italian to speaking German, and found that my brain didn’t really like doing this. Throughout my stay in German Switzerland, I heard myself answering yes/no questions with sì, and thanking folks with grazie rather than danke schön. To my chagrin, the obverse was true when our trip led us to Italian Switzerland, with danke schön and ja making their appearance. 😳 While I waited for our group trip to start, I walked around the city, taking photos and refamiliarizing myself with the city. I also took a cruise on Lake Luzern, choosing this rather than taking the funicular to the overcast mountain peaks nearby. I took the opportunity to enjoy some Rösti for dinner, which was a change from my prior three weeks of Italian food.
The next day I met up with our RS group and guide, Fabian Rueger. Our Luzern time was mostly cold and rainy. We enjoyed a walking tour with the entertaining and informative Claudia and tasted yummy gourmet Swiss chocolate at a Max Chocolates. No comparison with US chocolate. And it’s everywhere! Even in the discount supermarket chain Migros there was an entire wall of chocolate bars and also a gourmet chocolate counter, similar to butcher counters in other stores. Wow!
On our way to Engelberg, our next destination, we stopped by Rütli Meadows, the site of historic pacts uniting Swiss cantons in the past and reaffirming Swiss defense pacts in the WWII era. We were accompanied by two St. Bernard dogs (called bari in Switzerland). My late husband was in love with St. Bernard’s when we lived in Germany, but fortunately saw the wisdom of not having one in our 5th floor one-bedroom apartment, so this was especially nostalgic for me.
Also on the way to Engelberg we toured a mountain fortress dating from WWII days. In the 70’s when we visited Switzerland our Swiss friends, who had served in the Swiss army, had alluded to the presence of these hidden military bases, even pointing out a scenic “hut,” which was actually a camouflaged entrance to one. So it was again a nostalgic as well as an interesting tour.
In Engelberg Brother Kung took us on a tour of the local monastery. I learned that Engelberg (Angel Mountain) had a daughter monastery in Mount Angel, OR, not far from my home, known to me, but the connection was a surprise to me. The monastery was beautiful.
Next morning our group took the two-cable car trip up to the summit of Mt.Titlis, which is covered year-round with snow. We hiked through an ice cave and then across a suspension bridge between two peaks. It was a bit scary, made even worse when lots of folks were on it and it began to sway. But, what’s a vacation for but adventures? As one of my tour mates, Karen, said, “Swiss engineering,Swiss engineering is a good mantra or situations like these.” After we came down from the peak, Karen, Gwen and I took the funicular up to the mountain meadow located partway up, and walked back down. While we were waiting for the funicular, Gwen noticed a vending machine in the lobby. We were amused to see the variety of items in one machine — fondue, hairspray, hand lotion, several kinds of cheese, nuts, dried flowers and hand cream. Had to take a photo of that! We ate lunch at a mountain cafe with an outside terrace. The weather was stunning, as were the views. Made it easy to forget the Luzern rain. The walk down was difficult, as the descent was sharp, but going down much easier than walking up, as we saw several people doing. (Continued)