To Heaven And Back

Switzerland is a dream holiday spot of most of the Indians.One reason which evidently comes to my mind of this choice is Bollywood romantic movies being shot here.Ever since I landed in Germany, my wife was pestering me to plan a visit to Switzerland and ultimately I surrendered to her wishes and visited Switzerland in the month of December,2006.We booked our train tickets on Deutsche Bahn counter,quite unlike me, to get the maximum flexibility in terms of timings and of course pricing.In my opinion, a detailed travel plan is must before going to a holiday.I made an Excel sheet detailing my travel itinerary.I planned three days and two nights stay,too short I know and my wife still complains about it, covering three major locations namely Zurich,Luzern and Jungfraujoch.I made my hotel bookings in advance for two nights stay in Luzern.

Switzerland has been blessed by mother nature with bounty of goodies.The snow capped mountains,lakes,vast green landscape,fascinating dense forests,nice and tourist friendly people,it has it all.

Day One

We reached Zurich at around eight in the morning.As per our itinerary, we had to reach Luzern and start exploring beauty of Switzerland from thereon.We planned to originate all travels from here and spent next two nights in this beautiful city.The train travel from Zurich to Luzern takes fifty minutes flat and let me tell you it is very refreshing in early hours of day to soak in the beauty which you see through window pane of train.It is divine.The public transport system in Switzerland is very punctual,reliable and efficient, so making a handy and detailed itinerary helps in chalking out a meticulous travel plan.My advice is buy a 'Swiss pass' or 'Swiss Saver pass' which is valid for minimum four days through out Switzerland in trams,trains and buses.It also gives rebates on fares of gondola/cable car,cogwheel trains trips and ship/ferry/boat rides across whole of Switzerland.
We checked in the hotel at nine which was not far off from railway station.We had heavy breakfast to have a perfect start for whole day long excursion to Mt. Titlis and Mt. Pilatus Kulm.
Mt. Titlis is situated near Engelberg which is one hour journey by train from Luzern.This glacier paradise at 10,000 feet offers a snow and ice experience on the highest viewpoint in Central Switzerland.It lies in Bernese Alps range. The round trip travel from Engelberg to Mount Titlis in Rotoair,360 degree revolving gondola is one experience to have.There are always chances of getting this trip on top of Mt. Titlis closed because of adverse weather situations, in winters mostly.So one should better call up authorities in Engelberg from Luzern in order to get timely weather information so that you can maximally utilize your time in alternate excursion plans.

Unfortunately we could not make it to the top of Mt Titlis because of bad weather conditions and this dampened our enthusiasm a little bit but then we thought of if we could make it to Mt. Pilatus and without wasting too much of time we left for Luzern.

The next destination was Mt. Pilatus Kulm.We took the aerial route to reach on top of Pilatus from Kriens.(Tavel Tip:You take Low-floor bus, Direction: Obernau, Dorf to reach Kriens, Linde-Pilatus and then walk till Kriens where you can take gondola(cable car) to the Pilatus Kulm ).It was an awesome ride as sun was setting down on Luzern which made whole city seemed to turn into a field of gold.Those images in mind are very difficult to paint with words.We reached at the top in forty minutes.It was too windy at the top and snow capped mountains all around, took all our weariness of the whole day.My wife dared the chilly wind to make a snowman in order to leave some signs of her audacious creativity.We spent around an hour at the top.Frankly speaking, it is practically impossible to visit and enjoy both the mountains in a day.

In the evening we explored Luzern city.The main attractions of the city are Chapel Bridge and WaterTower.Chapel bridge was constructed in first half of the 14th century as a part of the city's fortifications and named after St. Peter's Chapel.WaterTower which is octagonal in shape, a landmark of Luzern and most frequently photographed monument - over 34 meters high (111.5 ft.) - was built in 14th century as part of the city wall.It was used as an archive, treasury, prison and torture chamber. After the whole day of sightseeing and excursion we were dead tired and retired to bed for the next day of exploration.

Day Two
On day two we started for Interlaken around eight in the morning.We had a plan to visit Jungfraujoch(3454m, 11333ft) and back by the end of the day.Jungfrau is a German word which means a 'Young Lady'.'Joch' means 'Yoke' and contextually it means, it is a bond or union of Moench and Jungfrau mountains in Bernese Alps range,in Berner Oberland region of Switzerland.It was snowing all the way from Luzern to Interlaken and we were a bit skeptical whether we would be able to make it to Jungfraujoch which is popularly known as the 'Top Of The Europe'.

When we reached Interlaken, the weather got bad to worse.There was an announcement of cancellation of all trips to Jungfraujoch,originating from Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen.We were disappointed and cursed our bad luck for a while but when we were aboard a train from Interlaken to Grindelwald, another announcement brought the good news of route-opening from Grindelwald to Jungfraujoch.We had to take another train from Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg and then to Jungfraujoch.The total journey time is around two and half hours from Interlaken to Jungfraujoch with two changes.The whole journey itself is a once in a lifetime experience.

The Jungfraubahn is meter gauge rack railway electrified at 3-phase 1,125 volts, which runs 9 kilometers from Kleine Scheidegg to the highest railway station in Europe at Jungfraujoch. The railway runs almost entirely within a tunnel built into the Eiger and Moench mountains and contains two stations in the middle of the tunnel, where passengers can disembark to observe the neighboring mountains through windows built into the mountainside.The train tickets are very expensive and you can get good rebate if you are travelling with 'Swiss pass' or 'Swiss Saver pass'.

When reached at Jungfraujoch, there is a small city exists at the top with all facilities.There is a post office,unarguably,highest in Europe,a weather observatory(Sphinx Research Institute which has an indoor viewing platform),theme restaurants(specially Bollyowood restaurant is very popular during summer season).We could not do Husky Dog Sledge ride due to bad weather.It is highly recommended.There is an ice sculptures museum too where you can find good carvings in ice.I would suggest have a meal and, if conditions allow, take a walk on the snow.
At such a high altitude, one does not breathe easily , better you take it easy while walking,try not to walk too fast, and take a rest if you start to feel dizzy. Do take some real good quality warm clothes with you and footwear.

We finally reached Luzern at half past nine in the evening and the only thing we thought of just to go to bed and recharge our batteries for another day in paradise.

Day Three

The last day in Switzerland was spent in Zurich which is rated as the best city in the world to live in.We arrived here around ten in the morning and headed straight to Uetliberg, which is popularly known as 'Top of Zurich'.It is just 20 minutes away from the central railway station of Zurich.You get a very good aerial/panoramic view of the city and the Lake of Zurich.There is a hotel, "Uto Kulm" on this small mountain.We spent almost one and half hours here.

The next we went to Lake Zurich which offers long or short distance boat rides.If you are carrying 'Swiss pass' or 'Swiss Saver pass', it comes free of charge.Zurich Lake was most enjoyable and memorable experience with a joyride on Zurich lake. We spent most of our time here as it was bright and sunny day, reflection and color patterns of sunrays on lake Zurich.

We saw Frau Munster church from outside and had stroll along the Zurich lake passing through Bellevue and Stadt Theater in the evening.

Another attraction of Zurich is China Garden, which is a gift from Zurich's twin city, Kunming, opened in 1994.It is located at the end of the Zurich Horn.But China Garden was also closed as some locals informed us it is opened to the public from March to October.

There are more attractions too in this beautiful city where its inhabitants have a enormous respect and love for nature.They relish their exquisite relationship with mother nature and it could be found the way city has been maintained immaculately.
It also has a Zoo which is recognized as one of Europe’s finest zoos. But it was neither included in our travel plan nor we had the time to pay a visit.
As they say, all good things come to an end so as our holiday and we took CityNightLine back to Bonn with memories for life.

Useful Web Links:

Switzerland Rail Network
Official WebSite of Zurich
Official WebSite Luzern
Official WebSite Interlaken
Official WebSite Jungfraujoch
CityNightLine
Trip Advisor