In der Schweiz

Monday, December 01, 2008 

Last weekend I was in Switzerland. Took an early morning train to the German border town named Friedrichshafen. This is where Lake Constance is. It is a huge lake that borders Germany, Switzerland and Austria and more importantly the base of the Alps. I was there by 6 am, and after the immigration formalities I had to take a ferry to cross the lake into the Swiss side. I enjoyed the sunrise and foothill of Alps over breakfast from the ferry. While on the ferry, I could see the place where Rhine flows into this lake. But it was too misty to see anything in detail. After a short ride, I was in Switzerland.

I took another train and in no time I was in Zurich!... This place is just about similiar to the German cities I have seen, but for busier roads and fairer people. I would refer to their skin as pink rather than white!!

As usual, I took the city map and the day ticket from the railway station and I started loafing around. Even on a Saturday it looked a very busy city. People everywhere, shopping malls over flowing... One strange thing I noticed; at every 200m there was a UBS!!.. I was just trying to figure out which one of those had all my tax money deposited by our corrupt ministers!! :)

Anyway, after having a good look at the city I then wanted to have a birds-eye view of Zurich from a place called Uetliberg. They call it roof of Zurich. It is a famous trekking and cycling spot. I first took a train to Uetliberg and then I decided to trek up. It was worth the trek (though I trekked just for a kilometer). From the summit, I could see Alps and a complete panoramic view of the Zurich covered over a thin blanket of fog... It was an amazing View!!!!..

Come evening, I was again loafing around and as the evening faded into night, I sunk into deep sleep. Oh! I forgot to mention about my dinner .. Prawns and a bowl of rice cost me 36 Franks (daylight robbery!!!)

Next morning I was in a small town called Luzern. This is a small town where Alps look best. I even decided to hike one of them, the Pilatus. I actually wanted to take the cogwheel train to the top (it is the world's steepest rail), but due to snow, they had cancelled it. I took the cable car instead and those were quite steep ride too.. 45 degrees and a good view of Switzerland. Midway I had to change the cable car and the ride got even steeper.. there is a place where the cable car goes as if it hits the mountain but hangs on and start moving vertically.. all this was at 1500ft high.. My heart skipped a beat.. There is a board on top of the mountain that talks about the suspension ropes. These ropes are specially made so that their sag minimal. Top of the Alps was breath taking.. It was sunny, cold (-12 degrees), wind chill around!!!.. my fingers, ears and nose had gone numb.. There is a swatch merchandize store at the peak and I bought a Swatch as a souvenir.

Came back to Luzern in the cable car, took the train back to Zurich and from there to Ulm. Weekend well spent; truly Swiss!!!