I am going back to last Tuesday because of an event that happened that day. Shirley and I were walking through Mürren when we heard a very loud boom. It sounded like an avalanche and Shirley actually grabbed onto my arm. We didn’t know what happened. We talked with some people yesterday and discovered that a Swill army pilot flying a PC-7 had crashed into the Schreckhorn mountain in pretty close to where we were.   No wonder the sound was so loud. A guy we were talking with told us that this is not too uncommon. Tragic.

We were lucky this morning to have no rain so we headed to the dock to take the boat to Vitznau so we could go up to Mount Rigi   We stopped for hot chocolate and a croissant before heading to the dock I took a couple of photos before the boat arrived.

We took tourist photos on the boat with the Swiss Flag.

I took several photos from the boat. At first Pilatus was in full view but the clouds soon started to cover it.

We arrived in Vitznau…

… and saw them getting a steam engine ready.

Then we boarded the train to Rigi Kulm which is at 1748 meters. I loved our train car because I was able to stand up by the window. I think it was the one for luggage. I took several photos from the train.

I could see the train going down passing us.

We could see the clouds moving in more and more.

We could see the lakes below us.

Then we arrived at the top and walked higher for a better view of the lakes.

I always like taking photos of the churches at the top of the mountains.

Then we headed down to Rigi Klosterli which is at 1316 meters.

These flowers were in the pots at the Restaurant at Klosterli

We had delicious Rosti with fresh tomatoies for lunch.

We met a man named Christain Selle who wanted to take photos of us. He is planning to post them on his website. I think he is a guide.

So I asked Shirley to take a photo of Christian and me.

We asked the waiter and the owner of the restaurant to give us some advice about the next trail we wanted to take. We were planning on walking down to Hintrebergen. They seemed a bit concerned so we showed them the photos of us walking up to Kinhutte. They were pretty amazed and gave us directions about how to find the trail.

On the way down we came pretty close to a cow and Shirley communed with the cow for a few minutes.

She actually got close enough for the cow to smell her hand but I missed that photo.

I have been seeing these purple flowers that are pretty well spent and took a photo.

We could see the rain moving in over the lake…

… and took more photos of the lake.

Shirley took a photo of me.

After walking for a while and going up hill a bit, we found the right trail. One of the trails seemed like a cow trail.

Finally we saw a hand done sign to Hinterergen. We think a farmer put it there so people would stay off his property.

Finally we reached the gondola at Hinterbergen at 1130 meters.

It was really steep.

We took boat form Vitznau back to Luzern. There were a group of mostly young people on the boat and they were drinking a lot. We think they had ridden the boat all the way around and were just returning to Luzern. We noticed a small group of them putting scarves on their head and Shirley realized that they were tapping on the window and basically harassing a Muslim woman. We both spoke up and told them that they were not being funny and it was cruel. They pretty much stopped. How sad to see this.

We stopped on the way home to see the Lion sculpture. This year marks the 225 year anniversary of the when the storming of the Tuileries in Paris on August 1792 was thought to have taken place. At this event the guards of the French King Louis XVI (approximately 200 Swill Guards) lost their lives. These guards, who had been mercenary soldiers for 2 centuries, tried to defend the King’s Palace against a crowd of several thousand furious citizens. 29 years later the Lion Monument was built in Luzern to commemorate this event. It is amazing that this sculpture was created 1831. The 200 year anniversary of the lion Monument will be celebrated in 2021.  What a sad event.

We went out for Indian food at a restaurant next to our hostel.

Hoping for good weather in the morning so we can go to Pilatus before leaving for Zurich.