Monday, July 20, 2009

Luzern Day 6


dawn
Originally uploaded by rajmarshall
Day 6 started early as we (more or less) rose to see the dawn. Spectacular particularly the sun on the Bernese Oberland and the slow increase in light..
A reading of Mark Twain's account of missing the dawn of Rigi is worth a read:
On our way up we met the crowd returning--men and women dressed in all sorts of queer costumes, and exhibiting all degrees of cold and wretchedness in their gaits and countenances. A dozen still remained on the ground when we reached there, huddled together about the scaffold with their backs to the bitter wind. They had their red guide-books open at the diagram of the view, and were painfully picking out the several mountains and trying to impress their names and positions on their memories. It was one of the saddest sights I ever saw.
But go and read the full account - I still remember this from the extract on a Geigy calendar of the 1960s!
We walked over to Rigi Scheidegg for lunch and then over to Rigi Kaltbad and the cablecar down to Weggis. The Hotel Central am See (a rather nice stylish website in spite of being all Flash) was a bit of a contrast to the more rural hotels of the last few days, beautifully situated on the lake - don't get too close to the terrace edge when the boats go past! Ate at the hotel - very well catered for - finding a good substitute off the package menu as Beth isn't keen on pork or fish. Another balcony overlooking the lake rather noisy but a return to civilization after the last week.

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