Splendid Switzerland

---

From Brussels, we drove towards Rhine waterfall in Switzerland making a quick stop over at the Cuckoo clocks factory in the Black Forest region of Germany.

It was a bright sunny day with a clear sky. The Rhine falls roared with glory from a distance. Like Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls, there were boat services here too at Rhine falls that would take the tourists close to the water fall. There were platforms on both sides of the falls where the tourists could stand and enjoy the beauty of the waterfalls in close proximity. The tour manager bought the tickets and our group had to wait for a while before we got into the boat. The boat sailed towards the waterfall and as it neared the waterfall, I could feel the vapour rising from the water, on my skin. Unlike at Niagara Falls, where the people on boat are given rain coats to cover themselves from getting wet, we weren’t given any here. The height of Rhine falls is not as high as the Niagara and the chances of getting soaked from the vapour is very less. The boat dropped us at one of the platforms and we walked up all the way to the top of the rock to get a 360 degree view of the waterfall. It was gorgeous! I could see the river rushing towards the cliff with all its might and creating a beautiful waterfall in the process. From where we stood, the boats sailing in the river appeared tiny.

We headed next to Lucerne. We went straight to Lake Lucerne for a boat ride. The ride was for an hour or so. Our boat sailed with the Alps in sight on the other end of the lake. There were houses on the edge of the lake on long stretches of green with small boats parked in the front. There were yachts in the lake sailing lazily.

After the boat ride on Lake Lucerne , we went to see the Lion Monument. The Lion Monument is a statue of an injured Lion in pain carved in a rock .This monument was built in memory of the war heroes. There is a small pond in front of the monument and has currency coins at the bottom of it as it is considered more of a wish pond.

That was day 1 in Switzerland. The bus drove towards the hotel and we got a room facing the snow-capped mountains! Next day, we woke up to the beautiful sight of the sun shining bright on the snow-capped mountains. After breakfast, we went down and strolled around the place for a while before our bus left for the day’s sight-seeing.

Today, we would visit Mount Jungfrau (pronounced as Yungfrau) via Interlaken. At Interlaken, the bus stopped at a view point from where we could see a gorgeous view of the lake with mountains on both sides. We arrived at Interlaken before noon and had to board a train from Interlaken Ost station to Kleine Scheidegg. Since we had a little time on hand before the train arrival, we strolled along the Höheweg road with 5 star hotels and casinos lining up along one side of the road. For Bollywood movie buffs, this is where few shots of the movie DDLJ were shot. We boarded the train to Kleine Scheidegg, Grindelwald from where we had to change trains to Jungfrau. The train ascended amongst the Alps to Kleine Scheidegg, Grindelwald station. The view was just breath-taking. The snow -capped mountains with green cover at their base and pine trees covering most part of the green cover was just like Switzerland I had seen in calendars when I was a kid ?.

At Kleine Scheidegg, Grindelwald station, we boarded Jungfraubahn ( Jungfrau train) to Jungfrau. Jungfrau is at an altitude of 11371 ft (3454 m) and is called ‘Top of Europe’. But there is a slight dispute between Jungfrau and Mont Blanc because the French/Italians claim Mont Blanc to be the tallest in Europe and Swiss consider Jungfrau to be the tallest in Europe! Anyways, as we started ascending the Alps again towards Jungfrau, the scenery and landscape was just mesmerising. We also passed through a mountain tunnel dug through the mountain.

We reached Jungfrau and I was mind blown! The gorgeous glaciers, mountain tops covered in white; basically, it was a white cover as far as I could see. After playing in the snow for sometime, we walked to the Ice Palace where sculptures made of ice were displayed. Coming out of the Ice Palace, we ate lunch at the restaurant there and walked down to the Snow Fun Park where we had our bit of fun sliding down the snow. It was then time to return to Interlaken. Having had a fun day at Jungfrau, it was a memory best made. Back at the hotel, we retired to bed after dinner.

Next day was the day at Mount Titlis. Mount Titlis is at an altitude of 10000 ft(3020 m). There was no train to be taken to reach the summit but it was going to be gondolas(cable cars) today. After alighting from the bus in the parking area, we walked towards the Titlis Rotair office where we had to buy tickets for the gondola rides. Titlis Rotair is the world’s first 360 degree rotating cable car. After the tickets were bought, we waited for our turns to get into the gondolas. 4 people could sit in one gondola. We all occupied the gondolas as they came through to the platform. The gondola stared ascending and we moved up and up towards the middle station. Below us on the ground, we could hear the bells around the cows’ necks that were lazily grazing, make sound. From the middle station, we took the Titlis Rotair cable car which could fit up to 10 -15 people at a time, to the Titlis summit point. It rotated 360 degrees giving a view of everything around as it ascended to the summit point. At the summit, they was Glacier park and Ice Flyers. We took the Ice Flyer, an open chair cable car that moved above the beautiful glaciers below, to the Glacier park. Getting down of the Ice Flyer, we walked towards the Glacier Park. We snowtubed for some time before we made our way back on the Ice Flyer to the summit point . Then taking the Titlis Rotair back to the middle station, took the 4 seat cable car back to the base.

After a fresh start to the day, we headed to Italy ( a separate blog).

After touring Italy, we headed to Geneva from Pisa. We took the A40 highway through Mont Blanc tunnel. After the tunnel had an ill-fated fire accident in 1999, the vehicles are now checked for their thermos… status before being let into the tunnel. We reached Geneva late in the evening and settled in our hotel rooms.

The next day, it was raining since morning. As we started from the hotel, I was a little disappointed with the weather. Anyways, the bus started and we passed by the United Nations office, UNICEF office among many others. The Broken Chair sculpture is a wonderfully depicted piece of art and dedicated to Handicap International. Later in the day, we visited Jet d'Eau fountain in Geneva and spent time in the park around the fountain before making headway to Paris.

Switzerland, though expensive, is a country that needs to be visited at least once in a lifetime.

---