Discovering my Neighbourhood: June 2019

(This post published February 22, 2025)

Saturday June 8, 2019 -- Today we took the funicular up to our local mountain (Mount Zug) in order to walk to one of the several restaurants up here: Hintergeissboden Restaurant. It was another gloriously beautiful day with good visibility of the city of Zug below, the lake, and the two distinctive mountains which we see from here: Mount Rigi at the south end of Lake Zug, and Mt. Pilatus to the west (Luzern's main mountain).

What we hadn't realized is how popular Mount Zug was for paragliding, and the conditions must have been perfect for this day, as there were several dozen parachutes all over the skies here. So before heading to the restaurant, we went to watch the paragliders taking off, one after another.

The walk to the restaurant was quite a long one (two kilometers in each direction), so we took it very slow. Considering the pain that Mum had been having in her legs, this was quite the achievement!

(Side Note: As I am writing this several years later, I don't have any photos of our meal at the restaurant, so I cannot remember what we ate. What I do remember is that even though we sat indoors, the wall to the outside was large sliding glass doors, and therefore we still were plagued by the smell of the cigarette smoke from the outdoor patio! And the cows were so close to the restaurant, that the continual sound of their bells became an actual nuisance!)

A convenient funicular takes us up to the summit of Mount Zug.

First views of Lake Zug and Mount Pilatus at the far back.

When we got to the top, we saw the sky full of paragliders, so we decided to head over to the take-off place to watch them for a while. It's just a couple of minutes' walk from the funicular station.

On a grassy hill, the paragliders are taking off one after another....

Down below at the north end of Lake Zug is the city of Zug whee we live. Our apartment building is the one within the red circle.

One flyer has just barely taken off, and the next one is ready to lift the chute.

Enjoying watching the paragliders on a warm June afternoon on Mount Zug.

The large circle in the back, just beyond our neighbourhood, is the preparation for the National Wrestling Championships to take place at the end of August this year 2019. The event takes place every three years in a different part of Switzerland. It is one of Switzerland's national sports and draws crowds of over 50,000.

To walk to the take-off spot for the paragliders, then to the restaurant and back to the summit station of the funicular was over four kilometers!

Heading out now on the walk toward the restaurant.

View of Lake Zug as we pass the Montana International school.

There were restaurants closer to the funicular station, but we had chosen the walk to the Hintere Geissboden Gasthaus, which turned out to be quite a long walk! We got here at about 4 p.m.

"Geiss" means Goat, thus the little goat sculpture in front of the restaurant.

Usually we enjoy the sound of cow bells in the mountains, but that's OK if you are passing by. But if you are sitting at a restaurant patio or just inside the open-walled restaurant just a few meters from the pastures, the noise of the cowbells (which was surprisingly loud) kind of got on our nerves.