To spare the readers of the blog, I have decided to condense the 10 part series into 4 :-), so here is the rest of Switzerland :-)
Jetlagged, I awoke at 4 AM on July 11th. Unable to sleep, I showered, grabbed my camera and walked out of the hotel at 5:30 AM to explore the still sleeping city of Luzern.
Jetlagged, I awoke at 4 AM on July 11th. Unable to sleep, I showered, grabbed my camera and walked out of the hotel at 5:30 AM to explore the still sleeping city of Luzern.
- Dawn view of the fountain and the square from our hotel room
The town was absolutely quiet, unlike the US, not even the Starbucks opened until 8 AM. I walked along the river promenade, across the most famous landmark of Luzern, the wooden Kapellbruecke (Kapell-chapel, bruecke-bridge; the chapel bridge), back to the Luzern railway station. Wishing Guten Tag to the folks unloading fresh fruits and vegetables to the restaurants, I asked the few morning walkers I encountered along the way to take a few pictures of me.
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| In front of Kapellbrucke |
I returned to the hotel in an hour, by which time Adi and Srinivas were up and ready. After grabbing a breakfast of Muesli and croissants with hot chocolate, both our families headed out back to Luzern central station to catch a bus to Kriens for our "Golden Round Trip" to the top of Mt.Pilatus.
Almost all mountains in Switzerland have some form of transportation to the top that includes a combination of trains and gondolas. The Swiss transport system was wonderful, our "SwissPass" covering transportation via train, bus, boat, funicular and gondolas, making it easy to mix and match our travels.
Mt.Pilatus is home to the world's steepest cogwheel train(48% gradient). The round trip from Luzern involves traveling from Luzern to Alpnachstad via boat, getting on the cog wheel train to Pilatus-Kulm(peak), coming down from Pilatus to Kriens via cable car and taking the bus back to Luzern.
On the cable car route, there is a stop at Frankmuntegg for an adventure park. We decided to beat the crowds by taking the trip in reverse. Accordingly, we got off the bus at Kriens and made our way to the cable car station. Singing "Akele Akele" I got on the gondola.
We made our way to the top, listening to the cowbells as the cows grazed in the open fields. Every house had a garden, even if it was a window box full of flowers.
The best part of Pilatus was the 1350 meter toboggan run, a thrilling ride down a steel tube with numerous twists and turns, a personal roller coaster. The best part, the speed control is in your hands!!!!!! For the first run, Aditya and Srinivas went together on a single toboggan, at a calm pace of 15 km/hr. For the second run, Aditya went alone, clocking a speed of 28 km/hr. For the final run, he was nipping at my heels, with a fast 40km/hr run........the two of us being the only folks in our party who made the run multiple times :-)
After the toboggan, we continued to the top on the gondola, but pretty soon, the whole mountain top was covered with clouds, robbing us of the promised spectacular views.
We spent some time on the summit, soaking in the fresh mountain air, before heading down in the cog-wheel train.
We then concluded our round trip by taking the boat back from Alpnachstad to Luzern, enjoying in the spectacular scenery along Lake Luzern.
After a quick evening nap, we went souvenir hunting in the local supermarkets Manor and Coop, buying packs of Swiss chocolate, cow bells and pencil boxes. We also sampled other local foods like semolina pudding, excellent Mango Lassi( a big surprise, finding lassi..) and Quark, a form of strained and thick yogurt, which Aditya fell in love with, eating it every day while we were in Switzerland.
Of course, a trip to Switzerland would not be complete without a fondue, so we stopped for dinner at House of Fondue for a traditional meal of Cheese and Chocolate fondues.
Unfortunately, the chocolate fondue contained pieces of Hazelnut, which made Aditya throw-up all the food he ate. At 10:30 in the night, I went in search of annam, having spotted an Indian restaurant in a back alley during my early morning wanderings. I was able to finally procure some plain rice, which tasted excellent when mixed with some plain quark. Aditya ended the day with Perugu Annam and Arati Pandu, and we turned in for the night, dreaming of the adventure we planned for the next day.....
Our 3rd day in Switzerland proved to be the most exciting day of the whole trip, as it involved paragliding in the alps. The day started with a train ride in a panorama car ala DDLJ to Interlaken, gateway to Alps, one of the most beautiful towns in Switzerland, and the location for many a song in DDLJ, including
Of course, there was no Shah Rukh Khan, only Srinivas and Aditya, but hey...I will take them any day :-)
After a picturesque ride through valleys, mountains and towns, we arrived at our destination, Interlaken OST(east) from which we took a van to the top of a nearby mountain for our paragliding take-off.
Interlaken is a town between two lakes, as its name clearly implies and its location at the foothill of alps makes it an ideal and safe location for paragliding, even for kids. Aditya was supremely excited, chattering non-stop to the top of the mountain, before getting strapped in with his instructor (we all did tandem paragliding with an instructor as we are not certified paragliders, like anna was). The instructors offered us a choice between a smooth ride and a thrill ride (obviously Adi and I chose the later).....
It was definitely one of the most exciting moments of my life, the closest to pure flying you can get, wind in your face, feet high above the tree line, adrenaline coursing through your body.
After paragliding, with time on our hand, we decided to make a trip up to the Alpine village Murren, a no-car town, since the only access up there involves a gondola and a train :-) It's the base to Schitlhorn and Piz Gloria
http://www.schilthorn.ch/, location for many a 007 movies, including "Her Majesty's Secret Service".
However, a ride to Murren and back to Interlaken involved many transitions via bus, train and gondola: Interlaken->Train->Gondola->Train->Murren->Gondola->Gondola->Bus->Train->Interlaken. We had a reservation on the train back to Luzern that evening and we were convinced we were going to miss that train and have to take a later one, since there is no way any journey that involves this many connections can be smooth.....
But in a big kudos to the whole Swiss transportation system, the connections were perfectly executed, each Cable Car/Train meeting the other in perfect connection, with just enough time to make the connection without feeling rushed.....
Murren was a wonderful little town, with great views of the Swiss alps and the glaciers and the traditional swiss chalets.
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| Red Currants |
After our day at Interlaken, we got back to the hotel, packed up our stuff and left the next morning to Paris via Basel, taking the TGV train, reaching Paris on July 13th afternoon.