My swiss tour-after 5 months!

Hi friends ,
We had been to swiss in may.Quite an unforgetable experience.Since then i have been wanting to share the experience with you all but never found the time.Last week a few of our friends had come home for dinner and were asking about the tour.As i re-lived moments from our trip,i decided to make time and write about it to share it with you all.so here goes!!!

The majestic Alps
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I had heard a lot about the Alps and its majestic beauty.I had seen many movies in which the Alps has been a backdrop while my favorite hero and heroines danced to peppy numbers.I had read books and seen pictures of the alps describing its geographical aspects but when my hubby woke me up that cold morning around 4am in our holiday apartment,i could sense he was terribly excited about something!"common quick!let me show you something!!" what could he possibly have to show me at this unearthly hour!!!its not even my birthday to give me any surprise!!not that he had ever surprised me on my birthdays....anyways i reluctantly shoved away my cozy comforter and wobbled after him to the window....a blast of icy cold breeze caught my face and then the masterpiece unfolded before my eyes...Swiss Alps..Grand...Majestic...shining under the cool silver rays of the moonlight....a tiny veil of clouds on one side....i had never seen something so perfect!divine is the word I'd like to use here...my eyes couldn't get enough of it...i looked at my hubby...he was also in Awe like me.Just the previous day when we had arrived at Zürich,we weren't very impressed...and kept saying to each other, may be grass is greener on the other side and that there is nothing great about swiss, SFO was any day better.Even during our train journey to Interlaken we were mildly disappointed,my hubby more so cause we had a little tough time with the enormous luggage accompanying us!courtesy our 8 month old!!all the suitcases were loaded with Gerber bottles for our tiny boss and hubby had a tough time dealing with all that..but we made it to interlaken somehow,thanks to the friendly staff at the airport&train station.So finally when we caught a glimpse of the snow capped mountains drenched in moonlight,the excitement of the wonderful sights&experiences ahead of us started to build up!but within the next couple of hours it was dampened by the sudden downpour and we had to change plans and cancel our trip to joungfrou.Instead we decided to explore bollenberg,An open air museum,preserving the traditional swiss village as found 100 years ago.there was a light drizzle through out the day but we didn't want to waste our precious days inside the room.Bollenberg is a place for historians,or people interested in cultures,traditions and the likes ,not for us.We wanted to feast our eyes on natural sceneries,which we did the next day at joungfrau.My 8 month old bundled up in a snowsuit like a baby doll,we stood at 11,782 feet,top of Europe.Many tourists were surprised at my courage in traveling and sightseeing with an 8 month old,but he knew his job well...eat,sleep and look around for a while.I was never at a tight spot with him and never once regretted in having traveled with him.He was a happy child,except when he was a little tired or hungry,he used to fuss a little but that never used to last more than 5 mins.Bless him. joughfrau was the place where we first saw vast expanses of snow.We felt the powdery flakes glisten&melt between our fingers.We clicked photos in various angles and kept smiling at each other.We were happy that we were finally there,a dream that had culminated in both our hearts a few months back was finally taking shape.The ice palace was magnificent with all the ice sculptures.The next day too it rained,so we decided to visit the trummelbach falls which was close by.We had to go up in a wooden lift and pass through dark tunnels to see the water gushing.after trummelbach we decided to take a cable car from grindlewald to first&back since grindlewald was on our way and we didn't want to waste the rest of the day.the rain had stopped by then and we had a pleasant cable car ride.Now due to the bad weather we hadn't yet seen schilthorn and the next day we had booked tickets to Engelberg,our next halt,at around noon.We didn't want to miss out on any place since we dint know if we'd ever come back so we woke up at around 3 the next morning,packed up&checked out of the holiday apartment and put our luggage in the lockers at the station.We caught the first train to schilthorn.infant the train was to murren,then we had to ride by cable car.We were at the top by 8 am,one among the very first to arrive.It was just so lovely.Ice glistening in the golden rays of the rising sun.every other person we met mentioned that the famous james bond movie 'at her majesty's secret service' was shot here.We enjoyed the serene beauty peacefully as there weren't any tourists except 2-3 early risers like us.We came back to interlaken by 11 am and caught the Golden pass panoramic train to engelberg.Had seats booked in the first class to enjoy the glass roof.Many beautiful lakes and mountains passed by and we relaxed chatting with an old age couple from Thailand who had come to swiss on some business.Our next halt was Engleberg.We checked into our holiday apartment and rested.The next day we went to Mt Titlis which has right at our doorstep.It was a weekend and hence a lot of crowd,we didn't enjoy it as much as schilthorn but was good.Moreover,we were getting a little tired of snow mountains!So the next day we decided to go to Mt bruni.This was not a well known tourist spot,it was a smaller mountain and hence no snow.since the day was warm&sunny,it was a welcome change from the cold and ice.We hiked up the mountain.My hubby kept saying,we're almost there!for about an hour until we finally reached the top.There was a small stream there and mud,sand&pebbles placed in a small pathway.We were supposed to walk over the pathway.the mud,sand pebbles etc...were there to naturally massage the feet.I was not in a mood to do that,still upset with my hubby for having fooled me into hiking all the way up!We went down by winch car and took the day off.The next day was our last day.As i said earlier,didn't want to see any more mountains so we decided to take a boat cruise to brunnen and back.this was total relaxation day.I told my hubby i wouldn't move an inch,still upset with the previous day hike.So we sailed in the turquoise blue waters,basking in the golden sun.We had pasta and hot chocolate on the boat itself.The cruise was from 11:00am to 3:00 pm .We spent the rest of the evening packing up as we had to leave the next day.Next morning we checked out of the apartment and left for zurich airport.Our flight was at 10:35 in the night so we went to Rhine falls which is at the border os swiss and germany and a zurich city tour before we flew out.I don't know if we would go back to swiss but would love to if i got a chance!because i can never forget that early morning when i first caught a glimpse of this magnificent mountain range.

Dear Vidhu Kumar
absolutely love the writeup. Its almost like being there. And the photos ohhhh so very excellent. Cannot wait to go there. Planning to share your post with family. Truly excellent narrative style. Didnt see it earlier. Glad i did not miss it.

Dear Vidhu Kumar,
Beautiful photoes.and write up also good.
tsseethalakshmi

hi vidhukumar,

To be very honest the title was misleading to me..i thought maybe she is thinking of a tour after five months...so did not read it when it was posted initially..sometimes the titles are misleading..yours is a perfect example.

wow,your narrative style is very beautiful..really saw through it ofcourse the photos added more spice to it....

thanks for sharing...

Dear vidhu,
very nice write up and u took us along ur trip and the photographs are simply amazing, i don't know whom to compliment the nature of the photographer..sunkan

Dear Vidhukumar,

When I left Europe, I promised myself that I will not get 'homesick' for Europe! But your post and pictures made me go soft in my heart!
I am so glad that you enjoyed Switzerland. As I remember it, it was a picture post card country, most of it.
Your account of your holiday was so very good. Felt like I was there with a tiny 8 month !! Good for you for braving a holiday with your little baby. Believe me, this is the easiest age of the baby to travel with. If they are fed and get their sleep, they are fine. It gets tougher when they are bigger!

L, Kamla

hi anandchitra,tsseethalakshmi,shanvy,sunkan&Kamala,
thanks for your responses...just saw them.anandchithra,pls go there if possible!its absolutely beautiful!!shanvy,am sorry my title misled you....didn't think much about the title!!sunken,all photographs were taken by my hubby,he luvs to play with his camera and kamala,yes am glad i made this trip inspite of having my 8 month old.actually,it was vandhana who gave me the confidence to go ahead!!

Hi,

that was a really nice write up. the pics are very good too. I have always wanted to go to Europe and hopefully we will make it someday.

Mythraeyi

hi...

happened to see ur post...even we are planning on 4 day trip to swiss on dec 14th.....just wanted to know abt cheap accomodations and train timings/frequency....and should we book train tickets online or we can go and buy train pass directly...plz let me know...thanks..

Hi
We are planning for a swiss trip next month from Bangalore. We already got the swiss visa last week.

Could you pls suggest me cheap accomodations to stay in Zurich,lucerne,interlaken and zermatt? Can I get a holiday home where we can cook indian food? If so pls send me those links.

-Chams