The place is apt for nature lovers and you cannot stop admiring each and every second in the country and the different cities. The green color(grass) , the brown color(mountains), the white color(snow capped on mountains) and the BLUE SKY!!Its awesome.
May 15th 2009..
We headed off from Brussels Nord in the Euro Lines bus to Basel in Swiss. The bus was supposed to start off at 11:00 PM, but he took off only at 12 , we had a very light sleep , but it was enough for the next day . The journey was kind of ok and we reached the border of Swiss only by 9 on 16th. Switzerland has come into the Schengen states only from Dec 2008 and hence all the people entering Swiss are checked for their Visa validities. We were stopped at a place in the border and all our passports were checked and we were asked few questions. We thought the formality was done when suddenly they asked us to come out of the bus with our bags in their Dutch language. We did as we were told and lined up our bags ans stood behind it. With no surprises the bus was full of Indians , a new thing to me.
Suddenly there appeared a sniffer dog and they asked us to take our food items out from the bags . It was so marvellous on how the animal sniffed all the bags for any sort of items that should not be carried into the country. It just took 5 min for the beast to do its duty and it ran back. It was a totally new experience for us.
The bus dropped us at Basel station at 10 :30 , which was 3 hours late then the actually scheduled time. Our first day trip was to Mount Titlis , one of the peaks of Alps which is a perfect tourist spot.
16th May :
We can reach Mount Titlis from Basel through trains. In fact full of Switzerland can be covered very easily with trains and the train journey is dam good , could admire the full of Swiss from the trains and it was a superb experience. From Basel we had to go to Engelberg via Lucern and then take 3 cable cars to reach the peak.
Swiss train service is made easy by a pass called Swiss pass and there are various categories in it , we got ourselved a Swiss youth Pass since both of us our within 26,each pass is 195 Frans. Oops ya.. Swiss currency is Francs and not Euro's since very recently it has come under the Schengen states. Euros can be converted into Francs very easily , there is a money converter in every station and the conversion rate varies from 1.44 CHF to 1.45 CHF per euro. Hence our ticket was 255 Euro's.
We caught the train that took us to Lucern and from there we had to exchange to into another
train to take us to Engelberg. The journey was too good , we had chapathis and croissants to fill our stomach. The jouney is nearly 3 hours and the route from Lucern to Engerberg is extremely good and they train goes in a slanting manner to reach the peak. The train to Engelberg from Lucern should be boarded carefully since the compartments split at a particular station and hence we should be cautious enough to board the correct compartment.
The journey to the bottom of the peak was full of trees and more like a forest around with small falls and bridges , pleasing for the eyes.Once we reached Engelberg , we got our tickets to the top of the peak . The ticket costs 34 euro's per person .
We need to walk for about 5 min from the station to the place where we need to board the cable cars. The place was serene and so pleasant and we could see the peak at a far distance. We got the cable car and there were just many cars rotating and the safety is done so well , that there is no one to attend the cable car section.
The most amazing fact was that , before we could enter the cable car , there is small Indian stall where they were selling Samosa,Pav Bhaji,vadas and what not! My mouth started to water and for him too!!
We took the car and it started to glide up and the view was amazing , it did not seem to slant and that was very good for me since I nauseate easily when I climb peaks.
There are three different station that we need to change the cable car , they are Trubsee ,Stand and Titlis . We needed to change from the cable car to the big Gondola kind vehicle which can take around 80 people. The weather was perfect that day and I was able to manage the chillness of the peak with my jerkin. Once we got into the next vehicle , the ride was for around 45 min and the view was breath taking and it was at an amazing height. We reached the Stand and we needed to take another vehicle , the specialty of this was that it rotates slightly and yet moves up. I suppose that's why its called Titlis ROTAIR.
At the Stand and Trubsee , people were present to attend for since the altitude increases. Once we reached the top I felt so good that I was on the ALPS! As soon as we got down and entered the peak , I came to know that we were about 10,000 feet on the top. Then we started to walk and entered an Glacier Cave , which was fully in Ice and there were just few carvings in ice and a small way to reach the outside. I was just waiting to put my step into the snow and ice.
And YES... we went out to the Titlis peak and then it was so much fun. There were many people , mostly Indians who were playing in the snow and I was abundantly happy seeing them . The view was fantastic , fully snow capped mountains and there were only two colors - white and blue. It was awesome to be on the TOP.
We took plentiful photos and we were playing to two children throwing ice and snow on each other . Then there was sliding board kind thing in the snow and I skid on that and was shouting on my peak voice.You cannot see snow in bear eyes, hence sun glasses is a must. White light is dam pure and since suns rays hit directly on snow reflection is more and its very difficult to see with naked eyes.
We then walked a little further and there was ride called Ice Flyer Chair lift. Its an open air kind chair and it fly's across the peaks and all you can see is white snow , but its not dangerous. I made my heart and mind set for that we set off to fly across the peaks , only the two of us . We sat on the long chair immediately and it started off so slowly yet so fast. Thew view was soemthing unimaginable and it wa the fist time in life I have opened my eyes during a ride in that height. IMPROVEMENT!! Then we landed to the other side of the peak and Viola , it was perfect Snow playground there. There were many people playing in the show boards jsut sliding off the peak and it was amazing. We also went into the same one , first we went alone. It was so nice to slide off on the Alps and I enjoyed every second of it. Next we took the boards that takes both of us together and slid off the peak. It was so much fun . We went once more on it and took a perfect video of it.
To reach the top again there was an Escalator kind-Magic Carpet and we came up and took the Ice Flyer back to the entrance and bid bye to Klein(peak) Titlis . We took the 3 same cable cars back down the peak and got Samosas and pav bhaji .
We had a train leaving in 5 min to Lucern and with WHITE memories of Titlis and an urge to go again , we some how caught the train by running.
Lucern :
We reached Lucern at 6 and started to roam of the place . We first visited the Lucern Lion Monument. Its a Lion carved on the a single natural rock and is present inside the English garden . This was carved by a Swiss soldier in memory of all his colleagues during the war against French. The speciality of this monument is that , the Lion seems sad and dull. Can we imagine THE LION like this , hence this monument is so dam famous , we took couple of photos here. The monument can be reached by taking the tram that goes to Lowenplatz in Lucern.
Then we came back to the Lucern station and walked to the Famous Chapel Bridge. This is a spectacular bridge on the Lucern Lake . The structure is across the bridge with a hut shapped top on the other end. We can walk over the bridge and reach the other side. The view from the lake is dam good.
From there we walked to a placed caled the Water Spikes or Needle Dam. The Dam was built differently , where water purs out like needle shapes. But constrction work is goign out here for a long time and hence the dam was destroyed.
We walked back fast to catch the 7 '0 clock train to Bern , he went to take off our bags which we had dumped in the station before heading to Engelberg . We caught the train and headed to Bern, capital of Swiss. A peron in the train asked us a wierd question " Is there some long holiday in India , since there are lot of Indians?" , we just smiled and got down.
We got burgers and fries as dinner from Mac D and headed to our hotel , we had to take the tram and get down at Guisenplatz for Hotel Ibis(Accor group) . Since we had Swiss pass, we need not get tickets for trams also. On the way to the hotel , we saw the famous Zytloggote clock in Bern and our hotel was just opposite The Bern Expo, we checked in and our room was good and after a tiring yet enjoyable day we dozed off.
May 17th:
I hate getting up early in the morning , but when i think of the good times the day is going to give us , I wake up with a bang. We woke up at 5 in the morning , got ready and left the hotel at 6:23 tram , we reached the Bern station at 6:45 , our plan for the day was to Jungfrau(pronounced as Yu-ng-frau) . It is one of the highest peak in Alps and is called TOP OF EUROPE! The peak was dam far but the journey to the peak was very exciting.
We had to first reach Interlaken and from there take a train to Lauterbrunnen(Wengen) or Grindelwald , the distance to the peak from both these places is the same .Hence we opted to go to Lauterbrunnen .The journey was around one hour and once we reached Wengen , we took another train to a place called Klein Scheidegg. This place is actually on the Alps mountain and we can reach Jungfrau from this place by using the Jungfrau Railways and hence reach the Jungfraujoch station. The ticket to this trip alone is not included in the Swiss pass and hence we got it in Bern station , the total cost was 110 euro's.
The way to Klein was the most beautiful views of my life. We could see the Alps all over covered with snow and ice and blue sky holding them. I was just dumb struck and could not believe my eyes. After we reached Klein, we took some snaps there , and I was in no mood to continue further , since the view of Alps was breath taking , but then we started off again to Jungfraujoch station , the journey is one hour and you can clearly see the train entering into the ALPS for sometime. The view is awesome and you feel a cold fresh air touching your face. After the train enters into the ALPS , it becomes dark completely , since we are going inside the mountain. The train goes in a slanting direction and hence it puts you in a little sleep . After 25 min, the train stops at a station from where the view of Jungfrau is clear , but its not an open space. Then train continues and we get to see two more stations in the way. At last the train halts at our needed destination , THE JUNGFRAU!!- The snow capped wonder. Inside the Junfrau there are a lot of attractions where we can spend an awesome 3 hours. First we headed to the Space observatory centre wind , rather the snow blew at our face and I could not stand still , The view was awesome there and is generally too good , but at that time it was covered only with snow and it was pure white in the surroundings.
Then we headed to the open space - which is called the Glacier park , it is a long stretch in the mountain and it takes about 45 min to cover the stretch . We cannot get a clear view of the sky nor the mountain in the distance. Hence we started walking along the path and in the way we saw Dogs in the sledges, there were actually 2 dogs, it was similar to the Santa Claus uses , but we did not ride in it and just took a couple of snaps, i never expected to see sledges wiht dogs in my life!! .
Then the actual fun started and we started playing with each other and pushing each other on the snow and taking snaps when we fell, those times were awesome. I fell down at least 7 times and took enough time to regain my breath and continue to walk. We took superb snaps on the way and then walked back into the mountain away from the clouds!
We then headed into the Ice Palace, which was fully made of Ice and there were splendid carvings made of ice and yes photos again. It was so slippery and we had fun there too. Then it was lunch time and when we were blinking about where to eat and suddenly the aroma of masala pulled us to an Indian restaurant on the peak . I could not imagine at such a height we had an Indian restaurant. Indians are so famous and the heighest number of tourists in Swiss.
The restaurant had only buffet , which was bledi costly - 27 CHF. It consisted of dhal,rice,breads,salads,gobi masala,rajma masala and excellent curd. We ate to our hearts content and left the place. We took some rest and walked up back to the station in the same building to reach Klein Schideigg. The train came 10 min later and we hopped on it and took a small nap since the lunch was heavy.
We got down at Klein Schedegg and wanted to take photos and took some awesome shots of pure nature and i had no mood to come back. My husband pulled me back and we sat on the train. The route we took was to Grindelwald and then to Interlaken . I must this route was splendid then the one we took while going. I was a little sad that we dint take some photos on the way,hence we just hopped off on the way to Grindelwald and took some superb photos , i was so happy, all the photos resembled DDLJ and the location was same as that. It was so dam Romantic. The main reason we wanted to go to Swiss was because of DDLJ.
The photos were awesome , then we just whiled away amidst the scenic bridges , then small yellow flowers with the Alps in out back ground. The place was so calm and serne and we dint want to come back. But we had to!! We got down at Thun on our way back to Interlaken and walked to find out the Thun Lake.
Thun Lake :
Thun was a calm place and we walked a long way to find the Thun Lake. There was no one on the road and I wondered why ? It started to become gloomy. We reached the Thun Lake . This Lake was so huge and you cannot think about the scenic beauty there , it wa so dam good. I couldn close my mouth after seeing it. There were very few people in the park, few having snacks, few playing juggles and some of them walking. We took some photos with the Alps and the Lake in the back ground using self timer and started to walk back. It started to rain when we walked back and we had an ice cream and waited in the station back to Bern.
We loitered in the Bern station for sometime , just buying few soveneir and gifts and as usual got out dinner at Mc D. and got bus no 9 , to go to Etap Hotel . May 18th - Geneva and Zurich: We packed all our bags on May th 18th and headed of to Geneva, we got croissants in the station at Bern and caught our train to Geneva, the journey was so nice, the train was full of people , because it was a monday and people started to go to office.
Geneva takes atleast 3 hours from Bern .
Geneva:
Geneva station ws actually dam small . We headed out and main intention was to see the UNO Office and the Jet e'deau Fountain. We got the bus to go to the UNO office and got down at the Un general building. But it was so crowded there and i was stunned to see a protestation in front of the building by Sri Lankans , for the Tamil liberations.We just took some snaps and since we were not allowed inside we started back. Later only I came to know that the LTTE cheif Prabhakaran was dead and that the protest in front of the building was shown in TV. I was taken aback. We then walked from the station to the Big fountain. It was a long way, we could see the Geneva lake and the park on the way . The fountain is present in the Lake . The fountain was not open at the time we reached there. Then we just roamed around the beautiful park and took some photos. Then the fountain shooted suddenly and went to a height we could not describe , it was so huge. I was excited and could not stop taking photos , i gave the camera to every one passing by and asked them to click photo of us. We then walked near the fountain and water started to sprinkle on us and then we walked back to the park.
On the way we saw the Flower clock garden , it was so nice and even though I have heard about ti , I have not seen such one. By then our back started to pain because of our bag packs and we started to go back to the station, On the way we got lunch at Mc D , and ate to our hearts content in the station.
Zurich:
We then took the train to see Zurich, the main thinkg why I wanted to see Zurich was because DDLj was mostly shot in Zurich, this was what my mum had told me. But every on told me there was nothing in Zurich and indeed there was nothing. The train journey was too long and we dozed off a little. We then got down at and it was 3, we wanted to finish out outing by 6 and walk to the bus. Zurich station was so big and we walked a long way and checked out for some more soveneirs and then got information from the tourist desk or the tourist places and walked out.
We tried to follow the tourists palces indicated but I found out it was dam boring and hence we quit the route and came to the side near the lake. The place was splendid and it was so crowded, mainly tourists. On the way we could see many churches and we did a little bit of shopping. I saw a star bucks Coffee hub after a long time and hence we charged into it. I had an excellent chocolate truffle with Vanilla milk shake. Slurrrrrrpppp.. it was too good. Then we headed outside and went to the Lake. the Lake side was so nice and it was an apt palce to spend an evening after a tirings days at work.There was small small benches put near the lake side and we could see many swans in the lake. We sat on the edges and had a good talk. Played with the Swan.. oh My GOD!! then started to head back to the station. Once in the station , we got some delicious dinner from Burger king.. my favourite was Chiile Cheese Nuggest , whihc I cannot forget in my life time. We then walked to the Euro lines bus stand and sat for sometime near the bus having our dinner and then boarded the bus. The bus started off correctly and in sometime we dozed off and when I opened my eyes I could see home sweet Home.. Brussels.. we walked back from Nord to our home and slept for another 3 hours before he could go to work.
Swiss.. is un-forgettable and I am always ready to go there no matter how many times. !!!
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