Paragliding off Mount Rigi
By the way, even though the trains arrive accurate to a couple of minutes, they can still be a minute or two late. Sometimes even more, they say.
On Sunday our plan was to take the train up the mountain, and fly off from there on paragliders. Funnily enough, you can find as many as six tandem pilots, although getting a license in Switzerland isn't easy, in Latvia it's much easier. Interestingly, you can fly with a Latvian license, but only until you move here to live.
To get to Mount Rigi, we made it to Arth-Goldau station, and transferred to the Rigi-Bahn, meaning an incredibly steep and slow railway winding its way up to the summit.
It was my first time riding a train on such a steep track. At times it was dragging along like a pedestrian, and you could physically feel how hard it was for the locomotive.
About forty minutes later we were on a typical Alpine peak, with very green grass, and cows wearing giant bells around their necks. Not everyone knows that the heavy bells serve the purpose, among other things, of weighing the cow down to the ground so she eats more.
We spent a long time waiting for a headwind, which is crucial for takeoff, especially in a tandem. Eventually, the first wave took off. They got lucky: they quickly found thermals, meaning columns of warm air rising from the ground. Thermals let you gain altitude, sometimes a huge amount. This time the girls went from their initial 1700 up another 200-300 meters, maybe even more
It's hard to judge by eye if there are no points of reference.
Through connections, they wanted to give us a longer ride than the usual 15-20 minutes you get here for 200 euros, but that really depends on the weather and luck. In the end, luck only smiled on the first wave. The rest of us made do with a little. However, even that little bit is stunning and takes your breath away. Even a guy like me, who's seen a lot, and is already a little tired of living, is touched by this beauty.
Looking at the hills and mountains while soaring like a 🐦 is even more impressive than standing on the summit.
All around are little towns, lakes with emerald water, sun-drenched ☀️ lush Alpine meadows. And you're hanging unhurriedly and completely unafraid over all this splendor. My pilot was a girl named Eva. I specifically asked for her, in support of feminism, but at first she refused, because her glider is small, and I weigh 93 kg.
Taking off in a light headwind is difficult, because the lift depends on the headwind and the wing area. You have to run as fast as you can to inflate it.
In the end, we were out of options, because we ran out of pilots, and I flew with Eva. I got a good running start, and flew right over the fir trees.
Eva let me steer the paraglider a little bit, for a couple of minutes. And she did some acrobatics, but my body doesn't handle that well. I'd love to do it myself, I'm not scared, but I start feeling nauseated.
In the end, about twenty minutes later we landed on a lawn near the Rigi-Bahn station, where we had started our journey.
It's a wonderful experience, I recommend everyone try flying in the mountains if the stars align. You wouldn't fly every month for two hundred bucks, but a couple of times a year you can treat yourself.
The town of Brunnen
After the flight we didn't have any particular plans, and so we hopped on the nearest train, and headed to the town of Brunnen, which is supposedly prettier than the rest. To be honest, Swiss towns don't usually differ much from one another. Garik has this theory that they take a little too good care of historical stuff here. A house built a thousand years ago looks pretty much the same as a house built yesterday. Actually, I agree. In Italy you can feel the breath of antiquity, because the paint has peeled off, and there isn't enough money and meticulousness to touch it up. In Switzerland they have an excess of money, so the houses are boringly glamorous.
In any case, we didn't stick around the town for long. We got on a little boat heading to Lucerne. It's important to explain here that transport is really expensive around here, and a simple one-hour, one-way trip to a waterfall will set you back 50 euros. Obviously, we wouldn't have been able to afford riding back and forth if it weren't for a stroke of luck. The Coop supermarket chain is running a promo right now. A Tageskarte, meaning a 24-hour ticket for any transport, is just 50 euros. Sure, "just" sounds like a mockery, but see above. Usually Tageskartes are only sold at the local council, you have to order them in advance, and there's a strict limit per person. But here – buy as many as you want. Mind you, from the Swiss Satiksme app a similar day pass costs a hundred bucks if you buy it for the near future. So this promo was sent to us by the transport gods, and we're milking it for all it's worth. I personally bought two more today. If I hadn't had a Tageskarte, I figure I'd have paid around 200 euros for today's trips alone.
Unpleasant experience in Lucerne
In the evening we made it to Lucerne, and went for a bit of a stroll. Garik told us about a vandal who set fire to the medieval paintings on the wooden bridge. Hard to say what his beef with the paintings was — for some reason they mostly depict skeletons doing everyday chores, like sowing fields.
Then fate dragged us to a McDonald's, unfortunately. As if it wasn't enough that this joint is a haven of rather vile exploitation, the gold standard of disgusting fast food, and a wretched, standardized establishment without a single ounce of imagination. On top of that, the salad I ordered, trying to somehow maintain a healthy lifestyle, was insanely cold. First bite, second bite — and then I actually bit into ice! A tomato in ice, "iceberg" lettuce living up to its name, and so on.
As a result, for the first time in my life I went to demand a refund. Remaking the salad wasn't an option for me anymore — I'm far too big of a fast food hater, and especially of its ultimate icon.
At the same time, we had a train to catch, and all this needed to be done at a waltz tempo. Yeah, right! First the cashier finished his stuff, then he called the manager. The guy was a head shorter than me, but fought for those 8 francs like a lion. "This salad is five degrees Celsius, that's how it's supposed to be. Look, the (vegan) patty is hot, the salad is cold. That's the dish!". I shot back at him: "A salad with ice?"
I was very, very angry, already just by the fact that I was left hungry, and by the very fact of visiting Mickey D's, and I had absolutely no patience to listen to this bullshit as well.
In the end, he kept the dough for the Coke Zero I drank, and gave me 7 francs back for the salad in coins, even though I'd paid by card. And even during the refund process, he kept arguing.
Later on, the friend I'm staying with told me that Mickey D's in Switzerland is the absolute bottom of the barrel, and there's hardly anything to be surprised about here. Still: in the US they would've given me my dough back with zero questions asked, and they certainly wouldn't have been so petty as to keep the money for the Coke. Quite the opposite, they probably would have thrown in a freebie too.
The other guys from our group, who left before us, ended up scarfing down an excellent kebab for less money.
Later on the train I read reviews of this McDonald's, at least it lifted my mood a little bit.
"Leftovers and Coke on the floor", "Reeks of feces", "They constantly mess up orders, the staff is rude","The manager treats the workers like slaves in front of customers" and things like that.
I will never set foot in a McDonald's again, except maybe to use the toilet. That's the only thing it's good for.
Lucerne
