On the Thursday all three of us were up bright and early. Philippe had worked the rest of the week and Rebekka and I had made visits together, renewing our New Zealand travelling companionship, but, quite rightly, most of the journeys we have made since then have included Phips as well and it was great to have him back.
Before eight o'clock we were zipping through the gorgeous Swiss countryside on a rail system that anyone would be proud of, and indeed jealous of. If only our rail system worked as well as the Swiss one, I would use it more.
A couple of hours later we were in Arth Goldau. Our first port of call was the Tierpark, or animal park. This park is home to lots of native animals with a few not-so-native ones thrown in. I don't like zoos but I do like places like this with their natural looking enclosures giving the creatures lots of space and a habitat they can feel at home in.
The first residents we saw, and you couldn't help it as they were virtually tame, were deer. They were happily mugging visitors for food.
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| Rebekka taking on the feeding duties |
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| Not part of the animal park but still a delight to see on this warm morning |
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| This mountain is called Rigi and there will be much more to come later. |
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| Rebi still taking her feeding duties very seriously. |
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| And Phips had a fanclub too |
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| I enjoyed watching the bears playing. They are such powerful and majestic animals. |
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| After the animal park we took the train to Rigi Kulm at the top of Rigi. There is a restaurant there and stunning views in every direction. |
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| The Birthday Bear surrounded by stunning Swissness. |
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| The tiny wild crocusses were everywhere |
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| Just to give the impression of how high we were |
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| This fence was beautiful. (Not a sentence I can ever remember using before!) |
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| Master of all he surveys. |
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| These next pictures were taken on the way down the mountain. We walked down to one of the lower train stations. It took about an hour and a half. Very often we were walking through deep snow, quite bizarre when you're wearing a t-shirt. |
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| But the views were gorgeous and well worth the discomfort of carrying a backpack and camera case and camera. I would do it again in a flash. |
