Wilkommen !
What to write about Switzerland that Yash Raj Chopra has not already shown in his films. He is single-handedly responsible for hordes of Indians landing in search of their love story /song. We were no different, with aspirations of seeing the land of “Asli europe to yehi hai senorita” we took the plunge and landed in Zurich one fine April afternoon.
Switzerland is expensive - even other Europeans when they hear of Switzerland say its beautiful but expensive. And there are online excel
sheets and websites dedicated to just the analysis and discussion on choosing the Swiss pass vs half
rail pass – so we knew that planning our travel would be essential. After much research and conversations with
friends ( specifically Smruti who was as excited as we were to plan out the trip), we decided to skip the usual destinations of Rhine
falls & Mt. Titlis and headed straight to Luzern. We got a free bus pass
in Luzern and were using that to travel to a viewpoint that i searched on the web. It was a long walk on a private road and although the views were good, i think maybe we were too tired the first day. Our hotel was close to the attraction of lion monument which was so damn ordinary that we thought maybe the whole place is too hyped up. Don't get me wrong, lake Luzern was pleasant no doubt, very big and clear waters, with views of Mt. Pilatus & Mt. Rigi but like I said our expectations were sky high. On yet another personal note, when we were travelling on the bus there was a display of next stops and routes at the front. Preshit kept thinking for a long time inside and then finally asked why the next stop -Welkommen - is not coming! :D I told him its Welcome baba! ...
The glimpse of Blue
Our first actual tourist experience began the next day. We woke up at what we thought was early and grabbed the breakfast before catching the 10 AM Golden Pass line. It being Switzerland, even in the shoulder season we couldn’t
grab the window seats (Let alone best seats which were on the right side of the train); and
were feeling disheartened. We were also very late for the Jungfrau experience so were gloomy in the beginning of the journey. Now, Swiss was after Norway & Iceland, so of
course we knew that it may not live up to its hype which is what we felt till
the time we were in Luzern. But all that changed when we saw glimpse of Lake
Brienz and its beautiful clear blue green waters from the train. I jumped when i saw it and got up to take pictures, I honestly have not seen such shade of blue mixed with such a shade of green and the result in the backdrop of mountains. It was so beautiful & i was excited as a baby seeing colours for the first time.
We changed trains in Interlaken Ost, where I have to mention almost all Indians left the station - as we planned to stay in Grindelwald. It is another small village under the shadow of mountains and we were lucky enough to get a balcony with a beautiful ‘alps’ view. The hotel was right on the station, meaning the front yard was actually the station! so it was perfect. We dropped our luggage and caught the train to Kliene Schniedegg from where we went to the next disappointment of our trip - Jungfrau.
I think Jungfrau is advertised incorrectly. Honestly, its called Top of Europe- it isn't the highest peak or mountain in the Alps- only the highest station it seems. Also most of the way the climb is inside the tunnel and so its only for maybe 30 min or 45 minutes that everything is in white. Also! never go in afternoon...which is the stupid time that we went and there were clouds every damn where and we didn't see a single thing. We didn't have any euros at that time so couldn't even hire the snow boards. So yeah I only saw Scrat stuck in the man made cave inside that put a smile on my face.
Anyhow, onward and forward we went to the third disappointment. Alpine villages of Lauterbrunnen, Murren. Didn't have food in the overpriced Indian restaurant at Jungfrau so had potato fritters on our way back to Kliene Schniedegg- to then take a different side train to alpine villages. Lauterbrunnen is supposedly very pretty in summer, i have seen some great pics but when we went it was chilly and the snow had just melted so mountains were black rather than green. It was still very quaint but if you can compare with the summer pics i have given our early spring pics below and feel our disappointment.
Chandini.... tu meri Chandini....
After our disappointing Jungfrau experience, we woke up really early the next day - 6:30 am? and an idea to pick the title track of Chandini as OUR song came into my mind while I was on the pot. In breakfast we had an amazing yogurt-soaked-blueberry-oats -that we are still trying to reproduce- and started walking towards the First Mountain AG station which was 5 min away.
And so our fortunes turned when we were one of the first people on First Mountain. I copied some steps from the actual song and went a bit crazy on seeing the wonderfully white almost virgin snow displayed so close and touchable. We shot the many versions of our Love song in near-peace here, some guy tried to come in as well but it seemed like everyone knew YR Chopra and his films and politely smiled as they passed us & later shook their heads - Indians. The snow was smooth, but like the ice that forms on your freezer.
While on our way down we saw the long line to the station that extended on the road- thank god- the one thing we did right! High on the experience, we went to Schillthorn Top. ON the way there is a station called - Brig i think. There we took a break and saw the view of 3 iconic peaks - Monch, Eiger & Jungfrau. Some of the best pics and views of the trip, the view was at eye level and therefore unique perspective and viewing pleasure. The top was quite filmy no doubt- because of the whole Bond movie location... even the toilets were better than Jungfrau and themed as bond villains and girls. By the time we reached the top it was already afternoon, the sun shone on the ice and it looked so very smooth. Like a jar of paint was flowing from the top.
Zermatt & Toblerone Mountain
Smruti had told us, rather warned us not to miss on Zermatt. It was on southern side and away from the usual attractions of Interlaken. We had wanted to do some trekking to lakes such as Bachalpsee in First Mountain & Lake Blausee in Interlaken, but most of the tracks were closed & some lakes still covered in snow and so we decided to invest in going all the way south to Zermatt. This village, under the shadow of the famous Matterhorn mountain. The train journey required frequent changes and took 3 hours, we reached this place bustling with ski tourists & got into Gornergratt bahn, this time sitting in the right side. Preshit and I were looking the pics and thought that pretty soon all the images will start to look the same - all are snow mountains - alps after all. There were many options for Glacier 3000 and Matterhorn glacier paradise or something. All of which would have probably taken us to the matterhorn mountain but Smruti had told us the view of the mountain is best from Gorgergrat mountain. We saw our first glimpse of this unique and sharp mountain from the panoramic windows and true it did look majestic, unique yet oddly familiar.
It was only when we reached the last station and saw stacks of toblerone chocolates that we realized that we have seen this mountain on every Toblerone! Miser that i am i borrowed the wrapper from a guy and posed with it. Honestly thinking that the trip is paisa wasool. We could see a path behind the hotel at the top and so we followed it, not expecting anything apart from the eye level Matterhorn view. But instead we saw what is arguable a better view of Europe than the Florence one - Series of mountains & glaciers -glistening white, some beautiful blue small lakes formed in the lower region. Gornergratt glaciers in particular- looked like vanilla ice cream that has been taken out of the freezer, melted a bit & become smooth at top & then frozen again. Is this why Switzerland is famous for chocolates? Seems to me that inspiration for all - oreos, ice creams , blackforest pastry all must have come from this country. I kept asking Preshit if he has captured the view, but can one capture it truly?...we took videos hoping that some of the beauty does get transformed digitally.
Switzerland mountain air
First mountain, Schillthorn Top, Matterhorn – All are so beautiful in the most cliched sense possible. Its easy to understand why rich people have been coming here for the views from all over Europe. Here also, the Rifflesee track had not completely melted and so we skipped the detour and instead went onward to Montreux and Lake Geneva. What a horrible decision! We knew this place was a mistake even before we stepped outside the station and when the landscape changed to vineyards & lowlands. It was pretty no doubt, and some good sculptures along the promenade and the Chillion Castle. But we can get the feel of a beautiful sea-side French town with sculptures & castles almost anywhere, but the Mountain air or the Alpine experience is unique to Switzerland and we may not experience again unless we come back in the same season. We went back almost immediately to Grindelwald to enjoy the sunset against the backdrop of our mountain. In the train, we saw this cute little kid in ski gear along with his parents who was crying. He didn't want to go back and at one point ran outside the train. Parents freaked and ran to get him back. Poor baby. Poor us - we don't want to leave either.
The ever expanding list of travel regrets & future bucket list
On our last day, we didn't take any chances. We could have covered Bern - the city Einstein loved, but
Very happy that we went in April when we could see the Snow capped peaks. I have seen some summer pics there the mountains were bare or covered with green grass and very DDLJ, but coming from Delhi/Mumbai snow peaks are a rarity for both of us. However in order to be able to trek to the Riffelsee and see the reflection of the Matterhorn mountain, see the maddeningly blue Lake Blausee, the quaint Bachalpsee - we will have to go once again in Summer or autumn months when the snow is not there. So yes, it goes into our never ending Wishlist. When I mention this to Preshit he is quick to remind me that we need to go in winter season for skiing as well!
