SwissMinns

Rigi: Rigi is know as the Queen of the Mountains.  It is a peak that is surrounded by the lakes of Lucerne, Zug and Lauerz. We went there not knowing how to scale this mountain, there are gondolas and trains in several locations.  We drove on a single lane winding road to a spot on the north side of the peak, and found a hiking trail.  2-1/2 hour hike, quite steep trail to the peak.  Here's where we started.  Looks easy?  That radio tower is where we're going: This was not far from the car: Cows! I'm telling you, it was steep! Pictures from the very top: That's our car down there: Lake Zug:

Burgenstock. Burgenstock began with a luxury hotel in late 1700's, teetering on top of a mountain ridge above Lake Lucerne.   It has been since restored to an ultra-modern, luxry hotel. What makes it an attraction for tourists is a very old elevator, built along a sheer mountain cliff, taking passengers to the top of the mountain.  It was completed in 1905, and is structurally unchanged since then, with some motor and passenger car upgrades.    It is a bit of a hike to get to the entry of elevator, and about 10CHF to ride up to the top.  We bought one-way tickets, and hiked back down.   . The hiking trails down from the peak back to the hotel had a nice view of Lake Lucerne

Biking around Lake Thun, June 2nd 2018. The perimeter roads around Lake Thun are about 50km.  Our ride was a bit longer, thanks to navigational issues.   We found a route on the internet, to avoid busy roads.  We may have wandered off that route, as we ended up climbing, going through the woods a bit more than we bargained for. Here's our map: these are the little towns we tried to find on our way.  I think we found most of them.   The starting point was an elevated little town, Sigriswil.  The ride started with a foot bridge we walked our bikes across.  The view from the bridge was great. Then we got a little off the beaten trail.  We were looking for Oberhofen, and found it, but went through the woods to get there.  Susan rode through all conditions, but she drew the line on riding down stair steps.  We had some good views of the lake from that bike (hiking) trail. Our first (and only) big town...

Our visit to the Palace at Versailles, May 26, 2018. We drove to Paris, stayed near CDG Airport and took the subway/train to Versailles.  The site has the Palace and an enormous garden with fountains.  In the background of the Latona's Fountain photo, you can see the Grand Canal, and the gardens extend to the far end of the canal. Latona's Fountain Below is the front entrance to the Palace     The War Room, near the Hall of Mirrors The Chapel was closed, but I had this picture from last year: The Hall of Mirrors The Ballroom,  in original condition, not restored: Apollo Fountain Colonnade Grove Enceladus, punished for his pride. One of hundreds of walkways in the Gardens This was near Neptune Fountain

Madrid, Spain We traveled to Madrid for a Tuesday meeting I had at our Rivas factory near Madrid.  We left Basel on Friday afternoon and were in Madrid Friday evening. Our Saturday was pretty rainy, so we did some indoor touring, including the Royal Palace of Madrid (we went back there on Sunday to see what the outside looks like in fair weather). The picture below is the front of the palace, with a courtyard facing the Almudena Cathedral: The picture below is from the back of the palace, a garden and fountains that was private, now open as a park: The entry of the palace : I took this picture earlier (last summer), then I didn't realize you are not allowed to take pictures: On our walk on Sunday, near the Temple de Debod, we got another good view of Palace and Cathedral:     Below is the Temple de Debod, which was a gift from Egypt, an existing temple, taken apart and shipped from Egypt to Madrid:  Spain defeated the Turks in i...