[🏔️ yodel ⛰️] Day 4: Lucerne and Mount Titlis
When people say that mountain weather is unpredictable, they aren't joking around. With no real mountains or valleys in Singapore, it was hard to understand how temperamental weather could actually be. Like, one moment sunny and the next moment surrounded by fog and clouds-type of volatile. It's got something to do with geographical phenomenons and physics (clearly I don't know what I'm talking about) — and it is amazing. I'm half annoyed, because many of our plans over the past two days have been cancelled, but half in awe because how is the earth this weird and wonderful?
Hallo from our last official day in Lucerne! Despite warning of sleet and snow, we stuck to our plans and headed up Mount Titlis. I personally wanted to make up for the fact that we didn't manage to ride the Fräkmüntegg rodelbahn despite it being sunny when we were there. "It was raining in the morning and so the rodelbahn is wet," the information desk told us. "And when things get wet, it is very dangerous. The rodelbahn will go very fast." Yes, but it's been sunny for the better half of the day, doesn't water evaporate or something? So there went our dream of racing down Switzerland's longest toboggan.
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The trip to Titlis started with a leisurely train ride, where we sat in the kids compartment of the train. Since it neither a weekend nor the summer holidays, there was absolutely no children on board. The compartment was filled with adults, including two hypebeast-y musician-type people, surrounded by this:
This is Globi. I've been told that he is the mascot of a department store, and rose to fame in the German-speaking parts of Switzerland. The Italian and French parts can't be bothered with this frivolous parrot. He's got a cartoon series, a bunch of movies, and a ton of books. We were surrounded by Globi and his checkered pants. Well, not his pants exactly, but the pattern of his pants.
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We arrived in Engelberg, which felt like a place where rich pensioners had their summer homes. There's a Kempinski Hotel there for fuck's sake. (It proclaims RAW LUXURY on its main signboard. I was so offended I didn't take a photo.) The town is very well maintained and there are so many hotels, chalets and holiday homes it's kind of crazy. But honestly, I'm not surprised. Engelberg and Titlis is famous for summer and winter sports, and if my experiences in Japanese ski towns (where I just watched and did nothing sporty) are anything to go by, then this town is Rich.
This town also offers horse carriage tours. Which is a hundred percent a bougie, rich person's way to spend time and money. It's definitely popular because we met with the horse carriage tours two times and they were always filled with different people.
We spent some time in Engelberg because we wanted to visit a monastic cheese factory. A cheese factory in a monastery. A cloister where cheese was made. The place where monks used to make cheese but now handsome young Swiss folks make it instead.
The factory itself is closed, because of reasons, but their cheese shop and cafe is still open until 2023. It seems like the monastery will still remain open, because apparently it's very well-known and worth preserving, unlike the cheese factory?
We decided to try a platter of their housemade cheeses. (The salad is there just for fibre.) I've rediscovered my love for Gruyere. The one made by the cheese factory was so lovely and funky, I wish I could have brought a block home. But alas, we still have a week and a half of travelling with no reliable access to fridges, and so no cheese.
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After our little snack, we walked all the way to the Titlis talstation (a.k.a valley station). The walk there was very picturesque, despite rain pelting down on us.
It was a lovely introduction to the views we'd see on our way up to the summit. Take a look at this spectacular view of Lake Trub:
It's filled with glacier water. Think about it. Millions of years ago, this was just a crater and somehow, melted glacier water trickled down to form this magnificent lake. I wish we had more time and better weather to do a slow walk around it, but getting this view was good enough.
As we ascended, the views only became even more alien and surreal. Where Mount Pilatus is covered with alpine moss and grasses, the top of Mount Titlis is a barren landscape. Hardly any moss wants to grow and live there. 
This surely must have been the landscapes that inspired Victorian sci-fi and fantasy writers.
And even though the mountain's own weather forecast said that it'd be snowing and sleeting... there was nothing but rain and fog.
And the site of a famous Indian/Hindi movie? Not sure. If anyone knows, please do tell.
Once again, due to unpredictable weather, we couldn't do the Ice Flyer or the Titlis Cliff Walk. Both were supposed to promise exhilarating views and vantage points, but because of the heavy fog and rain, we decided to skip them. Honestly it was so cold and windy I had to ditch my trusty Daiso gloves and buy another pair of gloves. All bundled up, we ventured out onto the mountain top and started a very brief walk on snow.
Or rather, SD enjoyed his first experience walking on snow and I tried not to die from slipping and falling.
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To end off, here's a quick review of the things we ate today!
Cheese platter with local Engelberg cheese: 8/10
Loved the selection. It was a enjoyable introduction to different types of hard and soft Swiss cheeses.Mulled wine: 5/10
Warm sangria. Not my kind of thing, because I have a cat's tongue and I don't particularly like alcohol. It was a very suitable drink for the chilly weather though!
BiFi Roll: 4/10
It's a dense white bread/pastry around a saucisson. As much as I love saucisson (I even had a song for it), this didn't do anything for me. It's pure junk food in the worst sense possible.
Almond Macchiato: 7/10
Sweet satisfying. No dairy so that's great too. But eh, it's nothing special.
Late lunch: 4/10
I know this is how many travellers survive an expensive trip to Switzerland but this does not taste great. And this is coming from someone who loves Capri Sun and pasta salad. It's perfectly acceptable supermarket food and I will continue to eat it because it's so cheap.
Stunggis: 9/10
This is a kind of lamb stew that's a Lucerne specialty. I love it. It reminds me of Hainanese oxtail stew. It was hearty and the lamb was soooooooooo tender and not gamey at all. I could have bowls and bowls of this stuff and not get tired of it.
Wildschwein a.k.a Wild Boar: 10/10
This was served with Spätzle, pear and juniper berries, Brussels sprouts, chestnuts, and an onion? compote. Everything was so well-balanced. I don't remember ever having wild boar like this, so this was a pleasant surprise. SD says Spätzle reminds him of caitaokway (carrot cake). I think it reminds me of waffles.
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Thanks for reading my ramblings about Day 4. I hope it's been, at the very least, an interesting ride for you so far. I admit that it's been a struggle to write every night, especially after a long day of activity. If I'm not physically tired, then I'm mentally exhausted from staying alert. The quality of the newsletters have been rather spotty so far, if I can be harsh on myself, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it.
Tomorrow we'll be heading off to Interlaken, so it's going to be an easygoing day of chilling around and travelling. Fingers crossed I'll get to revisit a David Hockney exhibition, and maybe tomorrow's issue will be more art-centric?
Toodle loo!