Whenever I saw some big mountains, wonderful landscape in Tamil and Bollywood movies, I used to wonder whether is this place existing on earth or in some other planet…but people next to me says…oh thats Switzerland…Yes it was always my dream to explore this beautiful place on earth….then I thought before I complete 25 years on this planet, why don’t I push my self to explore this wonderful place on earth…Thanks to Andreas, the American, my MBA classmate who was doing his internship in Switzerland provided me the accommodation and motivated me to visit Switzerland. I made so many trips with my parents, with my friends, but this trip which I made alone is one of the best trips of my lifetime.
Jungfraujoch:
The top most point of Europe situated at an altitude of 13,638 feet above the sea level. To be honest, I was standstill for few minutes at this place. There are various moments in life which one cherishes and for me Jungfrauhoch was definitely one of the lovely, sweet, memorable moments I had in my life. Ofcourse, I had many disappointments, I sacrificed many things, I lost many things to reach this point but this Jungfrauhoch provided me a great healing to all those words mentioned above….ya…at the end of the day…life is a compromise….Ok..no more sentis and emotions..lets get back to Switzerland…;). The train from Interlaken to Jungfrauhoch is a masterpiece of human brain. The train passes via huge mountains, valleys and finally to the glacier. Actually the train pierces in to the mountains and reaches the top…Jungfrauhoch is bit expensive, but if one doesn’t make it to Jungfraujoch after coming to Switzerland, then they are missing something.
Movie Jungfraujoch
Gornegrat:
Of all the mountains I saw in Swiss, Gornegrat is a rocky mountain. No ice, no trees, no greenery…just rocks…rocks rocks everywhere…but Gornegrat is really a huge tall mountain…Andreas accompanied me to this mountain and he termed it as Afghanistan type of mountains…and he didn’t like that mountain somehow….oh he is an American na..thats why he didn’t like Afghanistan type of mountains…heheheeeee….We traveled in his car to reach this place…it was a nice experience of traveling in a car with scenic mountains and valleys all around and one more great experience…in order to cross a huge mountain in Goppenstein, they pierced the mountains and built a tunnel and interestingly only trains can travel inside this tunnel….so what….we had to travel by car in the train…heheheee….
yes…the car gets into the train and the train pierces in to the mountains and gets back to the road…that was a new lovely experience I had….I liked Gornegrat, this mountain gives panoramic view of the neighboring mountains like matterhorn which appeared to be funny for both of us for some reasons hehehe and it was damn quiet out there on the top….ate spaghetti on the top of mountain at an altitude of 3136m…the train ride from Zermatt to Gornegrat is also a great experience…we decided to trek between one station and ultimately ended between long stations…heheheee…that was also a nice experience of trekking and had a chance to practice American accent with Andreas…heheheeeee ;)
Movie Gornegrat
Pilatus:
Pilatus is a funny little mountain of all the mountains in swiss just 2132m above the sea level, this reminded me of our little Kodaikanal, Ooty type of mountains….the ride to Pilatus is an interesting one….a cable car runs from Luzern to Pilatus….Pilatus didn’t fascinate me much….but top view from Pilatus was good…could see the city of Luzern, the beautiful lakes…there are two ways to reach Pilatus…one way is cable car…nother one is the Train….this train reminded me of the mountain train in Palani hills in Tamil Nadu….quite similar to that….I loved traveling on that train…traveling in any mountain train is always a great experience…Movie Pilatus
Titlis:
I would put Titlis next to Jungfraujoch…in my opinion, Jungfraujoch and Titlis are the two places which one should never miss in Switzerland. The ride to Titlis is simply amazing than Jungfraujoch…because its not reached by train…its reached by cable cars…oh god…how did they construct that…I have no clue whatsoever…I could see German mechanical Science in all of the cable cars, mountain trains etc…you know cable car was revolving while going into the top….Hats off to the German mechanical brains…its just few brains which is making millions of people happy….Thanks to Science and innovation….well research always works…. I am not for research even though I am doing my thesis in a research institute…heheheeeMovie Titlis
Interlacken:
Nature at it best….with two mountains converging and a lake across the mountain…oh god…one of the pleasant sceneries and sites I saw in my life….The ship ride from Thun to Interlacken is a must ride. Oh god, I have no words to explain. I am not exaggerating anything probably if you see the pictures then you will agree to my sentences…I even thought of writing the article about Swiss during my ship ride….but I was only halfway through….there is a express train running from Interlacken to Thun called Goldenpassline…my goodness…one of the best train journey I had in my life….its just a feast to the eyes….Nature at its best…Movie Interlacken
Niederhorn:
Niderhorn gives the panoramic view of the Thunerlake. I don’t want to repeat by saying the cable cars, the mountain trains which takes to the top…its implicit by now….all those rides are simply incredible…I loved Niederhorn for some reasons….I prefer greenery for ice…with two mountains converging, the lake piercing the mountains….and u get to see that from the top of the mountain….I loved it…I simply loved it. Once again Nature at its best….!Movie Niederhorn
Zurich:
After seeing big mountains, glaciers, landscapes, lakes….big cities didn’t fascinate me much…any typical swiss city has a lake surrounded by mountains….there will be boat rides across that lake…and there will be architectural buildings across that lake…hehehheeeeeee.. Zurich is really huge….the airport looked really huge and gigantic…Just sat on the tram and had a city tour….Zurich nothing much! ;)Movie Zurich
Luzern:
Nothing much difference between Luzern and Zurich…almost the same….lake, mountains, boat rides, architectural buildings..hehehheeeeee…I just had a feeling Luzern reflects swiss culture…with the buildings being very historic and it’s the commercial capital of Switzerland…had a chance to see some watch showrooms which were breathtaking….
Movie Luzern
These are the places which I explored and to be honest I just covered 60% of Switzerland.. still places like St.Moritz, Torino and Geneva are worth visiting….but after three to four days of traveling to big mountains, glaciers, lakes…you end up saying every part of Switzerland is same…..heheheeeeeeeeee…I should mention about the Swiss transportation system…I thought German rail transportation is the best connected system but Swiss rail system definitely surpasses its neighbor. Amazing connectivity between the trains, mountain trains, ships…
In my opinion, those who spent some time in Germany, for them exploring Swiss is a cake walk….the transportation system is just the replica. I shelled out money like anything…they use Swiss franks and not Euros but they accept Euros in some places. My wallet got a lot of beating...never mind ...I didn’t even think of whats the exchange rate and what are those denominations…well…when you have something pleasant before your eyes…currency notes are just paper notes….if I don’t spend in Switzerland, I wont spend in any part of the world…well earning is all for happiness….ok no more fundas….heheheeeee…
Could you believe I took 1000 pics, I couldn’t even have a gap of 5 minutes between the shots…I was damn crazy clicking with my camera….if you are interested to see the pics…just get back to me….More importantly out of all the things….Weather stayed absolutely classic….in any European Voyage, if the weather stays good…half of the trip is successful…I heard from Switzerlanders that this week is the end of Summer and Autumn and after this is all about rain and cold….Thanks a lot to weather god infact I bribed her I guess for five days ;)
I always find Switzerland as a unique place on earth…they didn’t involve themselves in the second world war, now they are not part of the European Union, they use their own currency…and why not they have one of the best landscapes on the earth…so they have every reason to be unique….In my opinion, Switzerland is one of the richest countries I have seen….it looked so grand in all the places and more importantly its damn expensive country in the world I guess.
In my opinion, those who spent some time in Germany, for them exploring Swiss is a cake walk….the transportation system is just the replica. I shelled out money like anything…they use Swiss franks and not Euros but they accept Euros in some places. My wallet got a lot of beating...never mind ...I didn’t even think of whats the exchange rate and what are those denominations…well…when you have something pleasant before your eyes…currency notes are just paper notes….if I don’t spend in Switzerland, I wont spend in any part of the world…well earning is all for happiness….ok no more fundas….heheheeeee…
Could you believe I took 1000 pics, I couldn’t even have a gap of 5 minutes between the shots…I was damn crazy clicking with my camera….if you are interested to see the pics…just get back to me….More importantly out of all the things….Weather stayed absolutely classic….in any European Voyage, if the weather stays good…half of the trip is successful…I heard from Switzerlanders that this week is the end of Summer and Autumn and after this is all about rain and cold….Thanks a lot to weather god infact I bribed her I guess for five days ;)
I always find Switzerland as a unique place on earth…they didn’t involve themselves in the second world war, now they are not part of the European Union, they use their own currency…and why not they have one of the best landscapes on the earth…so they have every reason to be unique….In my opinion, Switzerland is one of the richest countries I have seen….it looked so grand in all the places and more importantly its damn expensive country in the world I guess.
Switzerlanders speak dialect of German. I never thought one day I would visit Switzerland and I will communicate with Switzerlanders in their native language…its really fun talking in that dialect….it remembers me of Srilankan Tamil heheheeeeee…..language is not a big problem because all Switzerlanders speak decent English than the Germans…..heheheheee and ofcourse its an international tourist spot and they have to…
After all these great experiences, came a big shock while returning to Berlin…when I was doing my check-in, the receptionist said, your name is not in the flight…boom…my heart just stopped for a moment…the reason is simple…she typed satish instead of sathish….missing the “h”…which most people do…hmm…that was a nice experience….If you have made up to this line of my article, thanks a lot for your time…and if you want to visit Switzerland…just get back to me, I will guide you to explore Switzerland at the maximum….I really thank god who gave me this opportunity to explore some wonderful places on the planet with my hard earned money during my student’s life.
After all these great experiences, came a big shock while returning to Berlin…when I was doing my check-in, the receptionist said, your name is not in the flight…boom…my heart just stopped for a moment…the reason is simple…she typed satish instead of sathish….missing the “h”…which most people do…hmm…that was a nice experience….If you have made up to this line of my article, thanks a lot for your time…and if you want to visit Switzerland…just get back to me, I will guide you to explore Switzerland at the maximum….I really thank god who gave me this opportunity to explore some wonderful places on the planet with my hard earned money during my student’s life.
Hats off to Switzerland!
Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S
Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S
Brussels, capital city of Belgium….in my opinion, the city looked quite rich…with some sky scrappers….old picturesque artistic buildings…I use this three words for every city in Europe ;)…well….Europe has a culture na….hope the people living in America agree to this…;) hehehe…Royal palace, EuropaWorld are some of the important spots…and the city looked amazing in the night…Then we went to a great historic place, Battle of Waterloo…this place is definitely worth visiting…they created a huge conical artificial mountain with Lion on the top….and the Battle field is now a paddy field…heheheeeeee
This place was in outskirts…and there was no proper transportation to reach this place…we tried for some lifts….with the cars coming on the highways….where the people ended up looking at us as if we were from another planet…heheheeee…ultimately we ended up in a taxi….heheheeee..while returning back I had to take nachtzug(night train)…this was the first time I traveled in night train in Europe with sleepers …is Europe so big to be traveled in a night train…hehehee ;) All in all, a very nice trip and Belgium will reside in my memory in the years to come…