The Blushing Bride of our World - Switzerland

Hopelessly in love I was with her

Was never sure if i would ever get to meet her

The day finally dawned when she took me in her arms

Left me breathless and asking for more

When I left , I left a part of me with her

Will I ever go to retrieve it back from her?

Don't blame me, this place will make a poet out of you. Going to Switzerland for me was a dream come true. The first time I probably came to know about this place was when i watched my all time favorite movie DDLJ. Never did I ever imagine that I will get to see this place.

It was May 2008, we were in London then. Wrapping up to leave UK and come back to India for good. We decided to see some Europe before bidding adieu to that part of the world. For me Switzerland was the first choice. My husband and I planned this whole trip all by ourselves with some inputs from our friends about the places to see.

We took a flight from London city airport to Zurich. Zurich, the capital of Switzerland is like just another European city. Fast, crowded and chaotic. The population here speaks German. Now about that, Switzerland is spread across this area where one part touches Germany, one France and another Italy. So this country does not have any particular language or people. Its a mixed bag really. The part that touches Germany is where Zurich is located and so is Berner Oberland (the best part of Switzerland). So people here predominantly speak German and are far more friendlier than the ones from the other parts (if you know what i mean ). The Zurich Railway Station is right beneath the airport. So as soon as we collected our bags, we headed to the swiss railways counter to buy our swiss railway passes. This pass will make your travel around Switzerland very easy. The reason being, you can pick the pass of your choice, throw in some places and you will never have to buy another ticket during your stay here.

PS - Make sure you add The Golden Pass Panoramic into your pass. Trust me its totally worth it. Details about that in just a bit.

We boarded a train from the Zurich station and headed towards Interlaken. The train ride was like some kind of dream.On one side was  long stretch of water body so blue its unbelievable and on the other side gorgeous snowclad mountains. Check the pics to believe it.

We got off at Interlaken OST and took a train to a place called Grindelwald which is where we had booked our stay. The house was owned by a single German lady by name Rose. She was a wonderful host who picked us up from the Grindelwald and took us to her haven, a small studio apartment with a well equipped kitchen with a balcony facing a mountain called Eiger. The dining table was put in the balcony, so imagine having your cup of tea or your morning breakfast watching the beautiful snowclad Eiger. 

There are plenty of places to trek around in this small village. Its totally worth it. Try taking a stroll and you will want to do it everyday for the rest of your life.

I will quickly walk you through some beautiful places around this area. I am not going to give you a detailed discription but use this info as a quick guide thats all.

Jungfraujoch - The top of Europe
You would'nt want to miss this place for the world.Take the train from Grindelwald to a place called Kleine Scheidegg. Here you will board a beautiful red train that will take you to a heaven called Junfraujoch. Let me give you some pointers here - make sure you take a pair of sunglasses to this place. Its so bright in here that it will hurt your eyes, have your afternoon lunch at Bollywood restaurant. They have a huge spread of Indian thali to relish. There is a place totally built with ice called the Ice Palace, a must see.

Lauterbrunnen

A small picturesque village, a heaven on earth, this place is so beautiful that you may want to pinch yourself to see if something like this can exist in this world. We hired 2 cycles and rode around this place, drinking in the beauty this place had to offer us. If you have plenty of time and energy left then even better, take a nice long stroll and it will totally worth it. A little ahead you may find Trummelbach Falls,a series of ten glacier waterfalls. This is another must see.

Gimmelwald is Switzerland's well kept secret. The best way to see this place is by trek. This place is accessible from Lauterbrunnen. Do not miss this little village.

Lucerne

A small town dominated by the German speaking Swiss population. A very popular landmark of this place is the Chapel Bridge. For those who have watched the movie Jillunu Oru Kadhal of Surya and Jyotika, the song Newyork Nagarm was shot not in Newyork my darlings but at this very own b'ful town of Switzerland. Next time you watch that song look out for this bridge. This is a typical historic European town with narrow alleys that has little restaurants with tables and chairs lined up for tourists to relish a coffee or a dessert or the very famous Switzerland dish Roshti.

Geneva & Zurich

The best way to get to Geneva is to take The Golden Pass train. You can board this train from Interlaken OST. Trust me, this train will take you through some amazing routes that will leave you breathless. The huge windows inside the train will give you a Panaromic view of the country. You will never ever want to get off this train.

Geneva is just like an European city. Its located closer to France and hence dominated by the French. I don't want to get into the details as i never really enjoyed this part of Switzerland much.

I've already covered the Zurich part at the beginning of this post.

I am going to stop my banter right here. I can go on and on about the country i've come to love so much. Thanks to Yash Chopra who really promoted this country through his movies. But this place is even more beautiful than how it looks like in Bollywood movies. You have to see it to believe it.
So save up and take a trip to a place I call Heaven on Earth.

Some blahs to break the ice

Being married to a man from the IT industry has its highs and lows. The best part of it is the travelling. Of fcourse that comes with its own pros and cons. But on the flip side you get to see some really exotic locations around the world. My favorite has always been the European countries. Most of these countries look like they are straight out of a painting.

So I thought why not write a blog about my travel experience. My blog may help you to plan your vacation. I am no lonely planet. But my blog may come very handy because all the trips that me and my husband took were planned by us. We took the most economical travel mode, stayed at some budget hotels. So going by this blog you may just end up seeing some of the most beautiful places going very lite on you wallet. So here you are ny very own confessions about the most exotic locations I've been, accompanied by some cool fotos. Have fun. Don't forget to leave your comments,suggestions and criticisms.