Mister S. Klaus and a visit to Mount Pilatus, Switzerland

Another month is speeding by... how can February be half over? Things have been busy around here--doctors' appointments, trips to the dentist, etc.--not fun things, but necessary things. Hopefully, the second half of the month will be a bit slower... Our area of Pennsylvania has avoided all of the crazy storms sweeping across the country for some reason. We got no snow at all during the past week when places like the Washington, DC area (where two of my sons live) got almost 6 inches! How did all of you fare? I keep hoping these cold temperatures will soon be a thing of the past, but they keep hanging around. I hate to even venture outside!

The cold has made for lots of stitching time, although I have only one finish to share with you today. The other pieces I've been working on are for gifts so I'll have to wait a while to show them to you. I'm trying my best to get a jump on Christmas gift stitching this year by making a gift or two each month--we'll see how that goes once the nicer weather appears. 

I've fallen in love with Teresa Kogut Santas and this book in particular, "Hello Santa," which I received for Christmas from my middle son. I'm sure many of you have it, too! Isn't it special? There are seven delightful designs in the book--all on large color multi-page charts (so nice for old eyes like mine). 

One of the best collections of Santas I've ever seen are in this wonderful Teresa Kogut booklet.

Do you see Mister S. Claus peeking out from behind the booklet? Well, he's all finished now and I enjoyed each and every stitch! Would you believe this is the very first Teresa Kogut chart I've ever stitched? I'd definitely put her designs on my "comfort stitching" list. I love the old fashioned look of this one. It portrays Santa with his little snowman buddy pulling him as if he were a vintage pull-toy. When I showed it to my grandson, Mister B thought it was a skateboard :) Too cute! "S. Claus" is stitched on 40 ct. vintage country mocha Newcastle with most of the suggested threads. I made a few minor changes such as changing the color of the cheeks (I used DMC 3778), the snowman's eyes, mouth, and buttons (I used DMC 311), the snowman's arms (I used DMC 612), and the white on the candy canes is DMC white instead of 3866. 

The dapper Mister "S. Klaus" 

 

That little snowman is such a cutie, isn't he? I just love his expression as he gazes up at Santa.

Now, the hard part is deciding which design from "Hello Santa" to start next! They are all so charming, but I think it's between the very chubby gold Santa on the right in the photo below or the "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" winter scene on the left. Both have a lot of stitches and will take me a while! So... help me decide--which one should I stitch next?

Help me decide... which one should I stitch next?

What have you been stitching during this short month? I think this is the first year in a long, long time that I didn't stitch a single piece for Valentine's Day. In fact, I was too lazy to even get my Valentine's finishes out of their storage drawer at all... Hopefully, I'll be better for St. Patrick's Day next month.

So, today we resume our European trip--are you all packed and ready to go? When we left off back in November, we had just visited The Black Forest area of Germany. (I took a little break from these travel posts because they take so long to put together and I just knew I'd have no time over the holidays). So, here we are--back on the Rhine River sailing to Switzerland... Once the riverboat docked in Basel, Switzerland, the cruise part of our trip was over. From that point until our final flight home, we would travel by bus and train. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to spend any time at all in Basel. Instead we were bussed immediately to Lucerne for the destination on this trip that I had most looked forward to...

Mount Pilatus overlooking Lucerne, Switzerland

You long-time readers know how much I love the mountains and I couldn't wait to get to the top of Mount Pilatus to see that gorgeous view down to the blue waters of Lake Lucerne. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans for our visit that morning. Our tour guide announced that because of the frigid temperatures and snow (in mid-September!), we would not be able to take the famous cogwheel train ride up the mountain as it was closed.  Built in 1889, it is the steepest cogwheel train in the world with a gradient that reaches 48% in places. Sadly, it was not to be. Fortunately, we were still able to take the gondola up to the viewing platform. 

You can see the gondolas (on the top right) that we took up the mountainside to a height of almost 7000 feet.

 

The map showing the conditions of Mount Pilatus on the morning of September 14, 2024. As the red x's indicated--a lot of things were shut down or closed due to the inclement weather.

Our guide Tamás (originally from Hungary) ushers us to the gondola entrance. He was an amazing leader--one of the best tour guides I've come across.

A close-up of one of the gondolas. The Panorama Gondolas include 132 cars which hold four people each--a perfect size for me, my husband, my sister, and my brother-in-law.

As we waited in line to board our gondola, this charming mural of the cogwheel train captured my eye.

As the gondola ascended the mountain, we got a birds-eye view of the pretty landscape and architecture nearby.

At times, the foggy conditions, made the visibility almost non-existent. I thought this carpet of silvery ferns was so pretty as we traveled over them.

One of my favorite photos of our entire trip! I just love the red gondola set against the backdrop of snowy Mount Pilatus.

As we climbed higher and higher, the trees grew taller and thinner and the air temperature dropped noticeably.

Just peeking through the thick cloud cover, you can spot a glimpse of Lake Lucerne down in the valley.

In less than 30 minutes, we had safely reached the top. And when we stepped outside, it looked (and felt!) like we had just entered the movie "Frozen"--ice and snow and crystals and frost were everywhere! 

Quite the winter wonderland, isn't it?

 

The view from the crystal covered window of the inside viewing deck.

The cloud cover came and went, but every now and then we were able to get a glimpse of the lovely Lake Lucerne. Imagine how beautiful it would be with a clear view in warmer weather.

Smiling on the outside, freezing on the inside :) We didn't last very long out in that weather!

We didn't spend much time outside, as you can imagine! The temperature was only 28° F (-2.22C) and the winds were wild. Although the guides told us to dress warmly for this particular excursion, no one was prepared for this unusually frigid weather. Normally it is in the mid-40s on the mountaintop in September (and back home in Pennsylvania it was in the low 80s!) so no one was dressed appropriately. I had a shirt and two lightweight jackets under my raincoat, but no gloves. The icy air just took my breath away...  Before we descended, we had some free time for viewing some of the indoor exhibits and eating a quick lunch. Talk about sticker shock! Our guide warned us how expensive things are in Switzerland, but I don't think any of us were ready for the shock of paying €23.00 for a simple hot dog (granted, it was a long hotdog, but it was still a hotdog!).  

Beginning our descent from Mount Pilatus

 

The view of the lake began to get much clearer as we descended.

Imagine living in one of these homes and having the gondolas passing overhead day after day!

As the afternoon passed, the weather definitely brightened.

Almost there!

So close now, that we could actually listen to the sheep baaing and hear their sweet tinkling bells from the gondola.

So, how did you do way up there in the air? Is anyone afraid of heights? I am, but I'm okay in an enclosed space like those gondolas. Up on a ladder or on an open platform, though, forget about it... Did you enjoy this first segment of the Switzerland travelogue? I have two more stops in Switzerland to share with you before we move on to Italy, but I'll save those for another post. 

Thank you so very much for stopping in to visit me today! I always love reading your comments and hearing about what you're stitching or doing... I do hope this last half of February is good to you all and I plan to be back before the month is over. Take care now, my friends! Bye for now...