Day 3 ended with the two of us in the train from paris to zurich. There was an Indian family occupying the other 3 berths in the set of 6 where we were located. The train was mediocre - similar to a sleeper in india but without fans or air-conditioning (or so it seemed). The head-room in the top berths we had to occupy was less than at least my recollection of head room in indian trains. A little after we got underway, the tc came, collected our passports to take care of immigration, and after much cribbing from our co passengers, offered to turn on a cooling system. Till the end, I was not clear if it was an ac or merely a system to force outside air into the coach - at any event, the coach gradually cooled down and we went to sleep.
On day 4 morning, we reached zurich at exactly 625 and boarded the 705 train to luzern. (Radhika says: one can set the watch as per the train timings) On reaching luzern, we called the hotel, which informed us that the next shuttle was at 1045 but they could send one to a small village called Stansstaad about 10 km from Luzern. We therefore boarded the train for stanstaad, and then the shuttle van to the hotel, reaching there at 9 am. (Rad says: poor raj had to lug most of the luggage himself.. While I was carrying the light weight stuff)
The defining characteristic of Luzern is a large lake, the Vierwaldstattersee. The hotel is on a hill about 600 mtrs above the lake, across the lake from Luzern town. There is a sheer drop from the hotel to the lake, with a funicular railway (I think similar to that in Bhira) going down. The view was magnificient, both of the lake and small villages surrounding it, as well as of the green alps on the other side of the hotel. (Rad says: it was an amazing view we really loved the place and were once thankful to thomas cook for booking us at this place) On reaching we found that the hotel was not able to give us an early check in. We therefore freshened up at the club house,(rad says: the club house had a heated pool overlooking the alps and I regreted for not having learnt swimming) and decided to go to Mt Titlis that day itself and to spend the next day relaxing in the beautiful hotel.
Unfortunately, by the time we got ready, the 10am shuttle had left. We therefore called for a taxi to Stanstaad, which we reached at 1115 and took the 1200 train to Engelberg, the base station for Mt Titlis. The train journey was scheduled to take 45 minutes. But two stations later, they made an announcement that due to techical problems, the train wld stop and we need to proceed further by bus. We stepped out of the train, to hear the resounding sound of several agitated gujju voices, and found that a tour group was also around. We were a little concerned, but should have counted on swiss efficiency. A bus was waiting outside, which took us for a distance of 2 stations, fron where a fresh train was waiting. Despite the interruption, we reached Engelberg no more than 5 minutes late. At engelberg, we exchanged our vouchers for tickets to Mount Titlis, and then at Radhika's strong urging, stopped to have lunch, which included veg samosas. This proved to be a good decision,(rad says: as always) by the time we got onto the cable car, our gujju friends were long gone, and we were the only 2 people around.(Rad says: I felt raj had arranged for a private tour)
The cable car route to Mt Titlis has 3 stages, the first a normal cable car to a place called Trubsee, which takes us up from 1000 mtrs above msl to 1800 mtrs - then a large cable car that can hold 81 that takes us up another 600 mtrs to a place called Stand, and finally the revolving cable car that takes us to Mt Titlis, over 3000 mtrs above msl. The route was incredibly scenic, starting with green trees and fields with cowbells ringing, and then over snow capped vistas. Titlis is a glacier, with several tourist facilities. These include a 200 mtr ice tunnel drilled into the galcier about 150 ft below its top. It was not very cold except in the ice tunnel - everywhere else wth the sun beating down, we needed only one sweater. There is also an ice lift which takes you over the glacier to a winter sport park - both Radhika and I did some tubing in the snow. The other defining characteristic was the sea of gujjius - there was a tour group of Raj Travels from Ahmedabad, apart from the Thomas Cook group that had been in our train, and perhaps a few others. There was a see of brown faces and Indian voices, a few Chinese, and virtually no Europeans. Despite this, Titlis was great fun. (Rad says: in fact the operators out there mentioned that mt. Titlis is primarily visited by indians and. We presume that the place is probably thriving becoz of them... He actually said "aau jho" as we got out.. )
We took the last cable car down at 445and then the 615 train back to Luzern. At Luzern, there was a live telecast at the station of the Switzerland. - France match and a huge crowd of patriotic swiss were cheering every move. We then went to a nearby restaurant where a Sri Lankan tamil chef served us a very tasty meal of tortillas and sandwiches which Radhika actually liked (rad says: finally. Bread is the only way to survive here.)
We then took the 930 shuttle back to the hotel.
Day 5 was relaxed. Our hotel room was huge 25 ft x 20 ft + a 25 ft x 10 ft bath and a 8 ft x 30 ft balcony overlooking the lake. We certainly were delighted with it. When we stepped out, we were amazed to see about 10 ferraris, mostly in scarlet. We were amazed - it turned out that a Ferrari owners club from the UK was on a tour and were staying at our hotel, albeit in the 5 star wing.(Rad says: raj was extremely thrilled looking at so many ferraris.. In fact we took a couple of snaps in front of the cars.. But I must say they looked fantastic) In the afternoon, we took the funicular rail down to Kehrsiten, on the lake bank and then a ferry to Luzern. After spending 20 mins at Luzern, we took the 612 ferry back to Kehrsiten, which reached on schedule at 652 in time for us to take the 655 funicular rail back to the hotel. Clearly in Switzerland 3 minutes is more than enough to make a connection. We then had dinner at the Italian restaurant in our hotel overlooking the Alps, and then went to sleep after watching Germany beat Poland.
We checked out from Burgenstock this morning, and now are on our way to Interlaken. The route so far has been very scenic, large parts of which I have missed typing this mail - but I guess after a while, so much beauty begins to seem normal.
Ciao then. More once we are on our way to Venice
Luv
Raj and Radhika
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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
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