I woke up feeling positive and ready to take on the mountains. It was the first time I was going to be travelling up a mountain in my life and I had no idea what to expect. As it was SO warm in Luzern I didn't pack the winter gear, rather I brought my waterproof jacket, a thermal top to pop on once up at the peak and my trust Dr Martens.
The journey to the Engelberg was by train and made me realise the day before, mt journey down from Basel, had just been a taster of the Swiss countryside. When writing about the scenery I often feel I'm not doing it justice by calling it, 'beautiful' and 'incredible' and 'amazing' all the time... I feel that the only way to really get the picture is by of course going there yourself. Even my snapshots will never give you a real insight.
Once at Engelberg I purchased my tickets to the peak from the train station as I figured everyone would be buying theirs at the main entrance. It was a smart idea as I was right. There was a very long queue. After hopping from one cable car to another, using all the various networks of transport it takes to climb a mountain (without any real effort haha) I was at the top. One this I must point out again is the views. There is nothing like being thousands of feet above ground, travelling through the Swiss Alps. The final leg of transport is a super shiny 'rotar' thingy. Basically a cool spherical ski lift that rotates 360 degrees to give you a full view of some of the highest snow covered points of the mountain edge. This was one of the highlights of the entire journey. I would have paid just to ride this! The Titlis complex was packed, seemingly with only Desi people as I only actually saw one other Westerner. Of course this made no difference to me (apart from their frivolous singing haha) as I find people from Asia tend to be super friendly and only added to my amazing and humorous experience.
I spent my time walking about the snow, visiting igloos, charging my camera battery (as the thing did not last and I only had one with me), sledging, on the Titlis Ice Flyer- which I would highly recommend as it takes you to another amazing and less dense part of the mountain peak where the free sledging and snow sports takes place- and walking across the Titlis Cliff Walk.
All of which was sooooooo incredible and you can watch on my vlog below! ;D
Diary Entry about Mt. Titlis;
Today I have decided to visit beautiful Mt. Titlis and I am currently on the train. Oh wow, the train does 'request stops' haha! It's 10:30am and the scenery alone is enough to make your hairs stand on end! Incredible.
I thought those train views were amazing... oh my gosh! I'm currently sat on the fourth floor of the Mt. Titlis complex, charging my camera battery as it died! :D Rookie error. The 'rotar' thing that takes you up the mountain is an experience I can't put into words. It is incredible, being surrounded by all that snow and then your ears pop but it's not actually too cold! It is crazy busy here and I'm hoping that all this waiting around will allow it to clear out a bit. The South Asians are here in full force haha!
I'm feeling really proud of myself for coming on this trip, purely because I am alone and it takes a little nudge to really get going for stuff like this. My First Solo Trip. In all honesty, I couldn't of picked a better place. I do miss the company of having Vinny here with me but it is an amazing experience all the same.
After around 4 hours on the peak of Mt. Titlis (with no gloves haha!) I began my decent back to Engelberg where I would be catching the next train to Luzern. I hadn't decided where I would head next but it was beginning to get late. The next diary entry was written the day after and explains what exactly I got up to as by the time I got home, I was knackered and in need of sleep...
Diary entry about my experience after I left Mt. Titlis;
So I'm going to talk about the remainder of my day after I left Mt. Titlis... as it was a weird one. So I got back to Luzern and tried my best to make it up Mt. Pilatus, but I realised it was simply too late. I then remembered Mt. Rigi was still an option and at least it would be quiet right? I hopped aboard a boat from Luzern Pier and asked for advice about reaching the peak of Rigi from one of the boatmen. At first he said as it was late I would probably have to get a taxi home, back to Luzern if I were to go up Mt. Rigi now, so I decided to stay on the boat anyway for a round trip on Lake Luzern. Just as were were approaching Vitzanau (the stop to catch the cogwheel train up Mt. Rigi), the lovely boatman guy came and found me, explaining that there was a way home if I id decide to go up, but not by boat, by bus then train. This of course made no difference for me and so I thanked him, hopped off the boat and onto the cogwheel train. After about 30 minutes on the train, I was at the top of Mt. Rigi! I didn't get to do any hiking or wandering though as I had literally 10 minutes on the peak; Rigi Kulm. I was gutted but happy I had the chance to go up. If I had loads of money I would have loved to visit the spa up there... but hey ho, next time maybe. There was zero wind yet one side was covered in snow- the Alps of course and then the other was a view of Lake Luzern and it's neighbour. Truly spectacular in every way!
As I only had 10 minutes I was quick, I took my pictures, breathed in the fresh mountain air and then legged it back to the train. I just made it back in time for the last cogwheel train going back down the mountain to Vitzanau. Only a few stops after a had board the train (Rigi Kulm) a handsome man was waiting to get on. He was quite clearly a traveller- hate to judge but he had the look haha- and as I was the only other person on the small train, he came and sat adjacent to me. Straight away we began to chat. Luckily he wasn't one of the pretentious bastards you can't wait to get rid of, but rather some company I was really enjoying. He was the spiritual type (I knew this as he wouldn't stop going on about nature and the elements and trees and living in a commune with six other families (cult? haha I'm kidding!). I wanted to point out that communes like such could very quickly become in-bread... but I thought better of it and continued to listen. I found out that he too was travelling to Luzern to stay at a friends place, so we agreed to make our way there together. Once off the train, we stopped to take in a little scenery and then made our way to the bus stop. At this point I was thinking how thankful I was to have bumped into this guy as I probably would have struggled to find the bus stop by myself! There was an Austrian guy that we got into conversation with while waiting, but once the bus turned up, he sat away from us and I thought to myself, 'probably couldn't handle the nature talk haha'. On the bus, conversation of the beautiful lake popped up and I said how I had wanted to swim in it at some point while I was visiting. He replied, 'shall we go?' I relied like, 'what, now?!' After a moments thought I said, 'Okaaaaaay!' That was that, after waiting for the right stop to swim at on the bus we got up and got off. Just before we did the guy got up to ask the driver when the next bus was due and what time the trains finished. Apparently there was just 2 buses left and the trains were running till late. Perfect. We were off... we walked down to a nice spot on the lake, perfect to swim in. Oh, did I mention this guy had grown up in Luzern? So he knew the surrounding area pretty well. We found a cool bench, then stripped down to our underwear then jumped straight in! Well he jumped straight in... I took a little more time haha. It was lovely... icy cold but the good kind- if you know what I mean :P. It was the kind of swim that made you feel completely brand new. I was surrounded by beauty everywhere I looked. Clean, natural and rejuvenating. The two of us bobbed about int the lake for around 15 minutes then jumped back out (that was done with haste haha). We dried off then sat on the bench bed shape thingy and continued to chat. 'What is your name? I didn't ask...' asked the guy. 'I'm Capres, and you?' He replied, 'I'm Ali!'
Chilling and chatting, time past and once mostly dry we came onto the conversation of music and instruments. Ali brought out his harmonica and began to play a tune. The tune reminded me of a ceremony I had once attended that I really did not enjoy and I began to have some bad feelings in my gut- the feeling was mild though and I figured it was nothing to worry about. The tune went on and on then Ali reached into his backpack whilst still playing, pulled out a shaker and then shook it along to the tune of the harmonica. This uneasy tune went on for about 10 minutes and as he finished it I noticed the bus approaching in the distance. I said we should really get going and grabbed my bits together. Looking towards Ali he appeared to be stalling for God knows what reason. I began walking towards the bus stop and shouted, 'quick, it's coming now!' Looking over to him still just standing on the bench, he replied, 'I think it's turning around and coming back again,' but we had been sat for ages now and it was dark. I I of course wanted to get home at this point so I then launched myself into a light sprint as I decided I was not going to miss that bus! Luckily, the kind driver saw me running and stopped for me on the road side. I hopped on and looking back there was no sign of Ali. Before I knew it the doors slammed shut in my face, snapping me out of my adrenaline filled confusion and into reality. The whole bus journey to the station- a whole 25 minutes later- I was sat worrying about the following things:
1. Was the bus really just going to turn around and pick him up as he had said... making me look like a scared fool?
2.Why, if the bus doesn't turn around was he trying to make us miss the bus? It was probably the last one!
3. Did I just escape a predator?
4. He knows the hostel I'm staying at... shit!!!
5. I hope he does get home OK.
Once I got to the station I was convinced another bus was going to pull up and he'd be on it, or worse... he would be standing there waiting for me, but neither of these things happened. I sat for 20 long minutes waiting for the train back to Luzern to arrive. Eventually it did, with no sign of Ali. I was ok and I didn't have to face him or figure out a way to ditch him incase he wanted to hang out again. Yay. There was also pretty much no trains after my one showing on the notice board... maybe two at most but I don't recall either of them heading into Luzern. Imagine if I hadn't got on the bus. I don't have nearly enough money to be catching cabs anywhere and I had no idea really where I was. Thank goodness I just got on that bus!
So yes, that's what got me a little shook up to say the least but all was well and good and a part of me is still convinced till today that that was the last bus to get home to Luzern. I bought myself a Hotdog for 4 CHF as it was all I could afford to eat haha, and munched it all the way back to the hostel. Once inside the room I was greeted by two sleeping beauties accompanying me in the dorm room. Another joined us slightly later that night and to bed I went.
Peace&Love,
Willow
0 comments:
Post a Comment