SWITZERLAND- A SETTING RIGHT OUT OF THE PHOTO FRAME

 

 

SWITZERLAND- A SETTING RIGHT OUT OF THE PHOTO FRAME

 

The first image I have when Switzerland is mentioned , being the eternal chocolate lover, is the famous Lindt Chocolate box. I can definitely eat up an entire box in a single shot. This beautiful country situated in the Western part of Europe, is a country one must put on their bucket list. I visited Switzerland during the Summer. I stayed at Lucerne which is situated a little further from the capital city Bern. 

The famous Lion Statue of Lucerne, carved of a dying lion, is engraved in a wall near a small pond. It is a monument that was built to pay respects to the Swiss guards who were killed during the French Revolution. When the residence of the French Monarch King Louis XVI was stormed by the revolutionaries, the Swiss Guards who were guarding the palace were massacred. The dying Lion Monument hence, has the French’s symbol on the spear that is piercing the Lion’s torso and the Swiss’s symbol on the shield lying by the Lion. It was built as a monument to pay homage to selfless guards’ fearlessness. 

There are many tourist destinations in Lucerne which are not just picturesque but also extremely lively and fun. The Lake Lucerne situated a few kilometers from the Lion Monument is one of the largest lakes of Switzerland. This lake has a lot of ducks and swans waddling around, playing with each other. The atmosphere is great for anybody who is trying to relax and just spend an evening watching the birds flapping around and letting go of all the pressures that have built up over the year. It is what is called a real vacation. 

There are multiple trains that can be taken from Lucerne to Bern. I took one such train to explore the Swiss capital. The trains left at the scheduled time, to the second. No wonder the Swiss watches are so famous . The parliament building should definitely be on the top of the list of anybody visiting Bern. Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to take the guided tour of the inside of the Parliament. 

The other most famous landmark of the capital city is where Albert Einstein came up with the Theory of Relativity. He basically sat in one of those apartments and wrote the Theory of Relativity :-O. His apartment has been turned into a museum now. 

The huge clock tower situated in Central Bern striking twelve noon is a major tourist attraction. I was ahead of time not wanting to miss the big chime. It is almost eight hundred years old, and is a major tourist attraction in Bern. It has also been declared by UNESCO as a World Cultural Site. There are two hands on this clock (naturally, one is second hand and one is minute hand, right?). But both of them were minute hands. One of them had a sun and the other a moon, to differentiate between a.m. and p.m. There was a doll of a man who stood on top of the tower and struck the bell twelve times. 

Back in Lucerne for the day, I had the evening free. Mt. Pilatis, a mountain overlooking Lucerne, has many peaks. I went up this beautiful mountain by a cable car. There had been a snowfall that morning, and the place was covered with fresh snow. The whole place was surreal. There weren’t many people around and my family and I had a wonderful experience of the place. When it was finally time to go back down, we took the cogwheel train. It literally ran on Snow! It kept getting steeper as we went lower. It was the ride of a life time. This is a location that one should never miss while visiting Switzerland. If bogged by time, I would really suggest picking Pilatis over a more hyped location. Of course, there will  be the question of, "Oh, did you visit *a famous tourist destination*." But this experience cannot be replaced by any place that only holds the hype, because it will be crowded.

I took a train from Lucerne to Dullenwil when I visited Mt. Titlis. A cable car took the tourists up to around 1800 meters.  Another cable car and a rotair ride later, I reached the top of the mountain. The rotair rotated a complete 360 degrees, giving us a complete view of the magnificent place even as we were climbing up. 

There is a small ice cave up here. The place has statues made of solid ice inside and the whole place was freezing, for obvious reasons. Nobody could stand in there for longer than twenty minutes. But the statues were exquisite. One final elevator ride later, we were at the actual snow-clad mountain.

Though not a skier, I also travelled by the skiers’ ice flyers .

I then walked along the suspension bridge. It provided a beautiful view to all those who dared to walk on it. There was also a life size cut out of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, as Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge was shot here. 

Schilthorn, a peak in the Alps, overlooks Lauterbrunen. Jungfrau is the tallest peak in the Alps and we can view this peak from Jungfraujoch. But I decided to visit the less crowded Schilthorn from where the view was just as breathtaking. Schilthorn is also where many of the James Bond movies were shot. Bond, James Bond, 007. 

After a magnificent view of Jungfrau, I went to the revolving hotel that providing a 360-degree view to the eaters. This was probably the fanciest diners I have ever been to. 

While taking about Switzerland, Geneva is a natural topic of discussion. I visited Geneva, the city where the headquarters of Europe’s UN is situated. 

The Geneva lake is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe. I took a boat ride here and could see the Geneva jet. It shot water up to 140 meters! It was an hour-long cruise which basically meant an hour of relaxation on water. 

There is a beautiful botanical garden in Geneva which is home to thousands of different plants. There were a lot of greenhouses and hence I also got to see a lot of plants that weren’t native. 

Coming back to the famous watches of Switzerland, there is a giant flower clock near the old town. It is a clock made of flowers. The clock has the seasonal flowers and so looks different during different months of the year. 

Moving on to another famous city in this country of eternal beauty, Zurich. A train took me to Uteilberg. There is a small hill here where people go to trek, ride a bicycle or simply enjoy a morning jog. It was a tough but satisfying and fun climb up. The temperature was low and made the climb far easier. Once up the hill there was a tower. Climbing again, the view from the top of the tower was worth it all. The temperature was lower still and I had a wonderful time up there. When it was finally time to climb down, it was definitely easier than it had been to climb up.

It was really hard to bid adieu to this beautiful European nation. It was a wonderful experience overall. The beauty of the country, the ice-creams and chocolates I gorged on during the vacation, the smell of fresh Swiss cheese during every meal and of course the weather, makes it a wonderful vacation spot.