Above the fog

No sea? I beg to differ!

We might not have an ocean, but we do have a sea of fog to look down on and it is beautiful. I’m writing this first part on Lake Lucerne. It is 11 AM and I had the best morning.

There are a couple of things you need to know first. In the fall it gets very foggy where I live. Very very foggy. Sometimes we don’t see the sun for weeks. While I don’t mind the fog that much and even enjoy it at times, there are moments when finding the sun is what I need. The way to do that in Switzerland is usually to go up high. In our weather forecast they always tell us how high up a mountain we have to go to see the sun and look down on the fog.

After successfully escaping the catholic shoppers’ invasion yesterday and at the same time escaping the fog by heading south of the Alps, I decided that up a mountain was the thing to do today.

Those who know me also know that my go-to mountain is Mt. Rigi. There are several reasons for that. It’s the one that’s most easily accessibly from where I live; tickets are included in my rail pass; they have hot chocolate and rum punch (the non-alcoholic kind); and I know my way around. Having several options up/down the mountain also helps, of course.

The fog was incredibly thick this morning. It also felt like it was hanging really low. My hair was still wet from the shower when I left home but it didn’t really have a chance of drying in the fog. One bus and one train ride later I was in Arth-Goldau. And from there I always take the first train up.

You could barely see the trains it was so foggy. On the first train they transport goods as well as people and everybody who works up on the mountain and doesn’t stay overnight is also on that train. It’s always a fun ride.

It was unusually crowded today. And by crowded I mean that I didn’t have a compartment of six seats to myself. At least not initially. A lot of people got off the train at the second stop. You can take a cable car further up on a different side of the mountain from there. I’m not a fan of cable cars – I totally stayed on the train in my now private compartment.

The fog got even denser, so I knew we were getting close to reaching the sun. I was right. This was right when we got out of the fog.

When we got to the top I took about 100 pictures in all directions. I can’t possibly share them all here, but I have created a little collage of pictures for you.

Mt. Rigi, Switzerland

I then walked down the mountain to one stop below the summit where I got the BEST seat on the train down. I felt like a little kid sitting way up front. I shot a lot of video – A LOT of video. And you know what the best bit was? It was us waiting for the switch to – well – switch. That thing was so fancy and much bigger/longer than I thought. It was seamless. You could not see where it would move or had moved.

Can you see how that entire part moves. Much bigger than I’d anticipated. I think it’s really state of the art, and it would have to be since they run trains all winter. I saw some older (regular looking) switches further down, but this was next-level cool. I also have it on video. Those videos need editing though. And I’m chatting with the driver in some of them and that doesn’t need to be out there. It just doesn’t.

It was a bit sad to go back down into the fog but I don’t like the mountain when it gets too busy and I had stuff to do at home. Let me just go hang the laundry quickly – be right back.

Okay, where was I? Ah yes, getting back down into the fog. That was just like when you’re flying and you dive down into the clouds before landing, but with visible tracks – the cog kind. I took a picture of the front of the train, I was sitting way up front on the left. So very cool.

From Vitznau I took the boat to Lucerne. We got a fancy one today. It’s the one that turns around in Lucerne and transforms into a lunch cruise. This was where I started writing. I’m finishing it at home as you will have figured out given my laundry comment.

I’m seriously still buzzing from this morning. It was such an amazing little adventure. I go up there a lot and it’s never the same and it’s always beautiful. I’m sure you’re dying to see some more pictures. I posted a series of them on IG, but I also made a video for you guys. It’s on my YT channel.

I hope you’re having an equally spectacular day.