Weggis, Switzerland

Boat ride to Weggis

We began the morning with a quest to find a cheap breakfast/lunch in Lucerne. As we came to realize, this was impossible. We thought that McDonald’s would be cheap, but it in fact was not. Not only was the food terrible, but it was extremely pricy ($15 a person for a normal value meal). The service was bad and they charge you extra money for a ketchup packet, and of course no refills. While we were eating our food, a massive group of Asian tourists came in. They are taking over the town lately, I swear! Haha. The poor workers were trying so hard to communicate but there was no common language, I felt bad for them all but it was definitely entertaining!

View on the Hike

Next up, we walked to the boat dock. For $35 we bought a roundtrip boat ticket that would take us from Lucerne to the lakeside town of Weggis. The boat ride to the town was about 45 minutes, and it was incredibly scenic. Once we arrived to the little town, we knew we had made a good choice. Weggis was beautiful and far less touristy than Luzern. There was a 100% chance of rain predicted for the day, but it never did rain. Since luck was on our side, we decided to take a nice Alpine hike. Being that we are girls in the Curtin family, the walking tour we thought we were doing didn't quite work out for us. We somehow went the wrong way, but it worked out for the best. The hike we accidentally went on ended up being more stunning than we would have thought. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and of course as soon as we saw an isolated field in the mountains, my Mom ran into the grass spinning around singing “The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Music”. Yes, we were embarrassed, but at least nobody else was around!

Dying of allergies

During our hike in the hills of Weggis (pronounced Veg-Jees) we saw many quaint farms, Swiss chalets, and of course some great mountain and lake views. The only downside to all of this was that my allergy to pine started really kicking in. I was sniffling like crazy and could barely breathe by the end of the hike. Once we got back into the center of town, we had dessert for dinner at a little café on the lakeside. After that we took the boat back to Lucerne. On the ride back, we had a perfect view of Mount Pilatus, one of the tallest mountains in the Alps.

Back in Lucerne, we walked around the food stalls of the “Blue Balls Festival” again. The food was so darn pricy, I can’t get over it! Maryann and I decided to be American and order a hotdog and fries (only $15 but the ketchup was free!). We thought, you can’t really mess that one up, but somehow they did, haha. My Mom was like “umm.. do I get a bun?” and they said “yes, $2 extra.” I asked for a plate to carry it on, and they said “yes, for $2 extra”. Unbelievable.

Rachel in front of Mount Pilatus

Anyways, since my Mom came to Lucerne in her twenties, she wanted Rachel and I to relive her journey. We ended up roaming around this random old hotel while Mare tried to decide if it was the same one she stayed in. Next, we went grocery shopping in the train station. There I tried to find some medicine for my allergies, which were killing me. I didn’t know how to say what was wrong with me in German, so I just pointed at my face with a tissue- she understood. The pills she gave me where labeled “Rhinitin Retard”, and she referred to them as the “retard pills”. Try to control your laughter.

Lakeside town of Weggis