On Timeline: 30 Sep - 07 Oct 2007
Why would one say that?
Probably because most of the time if you intend to grab a bite along the cafes, food costs from 16 sFr and up for just a simple meal, and it is hard to get a decent warm meal at a cheap price.
Gosh.
And I could not locate the supermarkets (which sucks) and therefore I'm down with the food (read: BREAD) which I had painstakingly brought from Eindhoven to Dusseldorf to Berlin and to Switzerland.
Anyway, just to carry on with the entire trip outline, it was a fun trip to Switzerland, famous for its part of the Alps (which are split between 4 countries). I would say that it was nature at its best, and Switzerland is indeed a good place for trekking/hiking, whether in the forest, on rock trails, on steep slopes, or on snow along the mountain ridges. More on that, later.
Went down from Berlin to Zürich via night train (12hrs OMG) by CNL and I think the train ride was simply amazing. Met up with a couple, Tino and D, and they were telling me how nice Freisburg was, with the Black Forest and everything.
When I exited the train station, it was all peaceful and quiet, with little pedestrians, being a Sunday morning. And in that peace and quiet morning, I managed to take in the sights of Zürich in the morning. A walk around the Lake Zürich showed many interesting sights and sounds, for example the wonderful (but smaller version of the one in Genevé) water fountain, the amazing churches and the huge mountain range in the backdrop of Lake Zürich.
As I’ve reached Zürich pretty early, I covered the main town area on foot (and it was easy to cover on foot with just a day pack as I had stored my Tatonka in the lockers), and went up to the nearby Uetliberg, which is south-west of Zürich and is reached in 15 mins. The best part of this trip up the mountain is that the railway brings you up to 840m and you climb about 10 mins to the summit, following which you can climb this tower of 170 steps and have a 360° unobstructed view of Zürich, the Alps and even the Black Forest! Moreover, the place was quite popular with the locals and even the tourists. Many, with children in tow, scale the peak gamely, and it was quite a sight! The best part was, there was a restaurant up there, so one could get food and beer up there!
After the short trip to Uetliberg, I made my way to Luzern, which is a nice city near all the mountains like Pilatus and Rigi. With the intention to stay for 2 nights, I walked covered the sights in the city in the evening, and having nothing to eat for dinner and no luck in locating the supermarkets, I had to depend on the dinner from the hostel, which sucked. Ugh. The Luzern youth hostel was only so-so and the Internet terminal must have been the worst I've used! The keyboard was all metal, which made typing very very difficult, and I had to use a very funny setup for the keyboard too! The Internet was also expensive - 1 sFr for 10 mins!!!
However, the stay was more than made up for by the fact that I had some nice guys to talk to in the dorm which I was in, with people like Gabriel (Brazil), Rickey (Germany), and Alexander (Germany). Nice people to talk to and share some trip information too!
Luzern was a nice city, with the Transport Museum as one of the most interesting museums around, and the various bridges along the entire river in Luzern city. On top of that, I found time for a hike up Burgenstock (and all the hotels, except 1, were closed!) and took the world's steepest cog railway up to Pilatus (48% at some stretches!). I was hesitant to pay money for the train ride, but I was thinking, since I'm already here in Switzerland, what makes me so sure that I'll return again to try the rides? Besides, it would be an experience to go up the mountain too!
And sure it did.
Me at the foot of Pilatus
Up the steep slope and into the tunnel!
I'm above the resthouse! Woohoo!
View from Mt Pilatus
I lurve the mountains! =)
Bottoms up view of Pilatus
It's super steep...and it felt so easy to go down :S
Another view from the top!
Meanwhile, I've not uploaded other photos...so possibly it'll take some time.
Moving on for this fast update, I went off from Luzern to Grindelwald, where I managed to find the hostel without any directions (save for 1 sign which just pointed where to head...THAT'S ALL OMG) and climbing a 20% slope, with my bags and all, in the middle of the night. Gosh. I was so hungry that I gratefully accepted the leftover chocolate cream (dunno wad that is) the reception had.
Jungfraujoch mountain was next to come, and I can truly say that I'm at the Top of Europe! It is above the clouds, so the glare from the sun is truly amazing, and the sunburn u get is almost 100% (save for the ozone layer...that is) On top of that, there is snow everywhere - more like permafrost. And it's nice to play in that type of terrain (well different from snow I guess, this you could just grab it, it's not wet, and mould it into the shapes you want). View from up there, truly unbelievable. Even Mt KK and Mt Rinjani pale in comparison.
After a day at Jungfraujoch, I missed the train to Geneva, so I had to stay on another night at Grindelwald (which is super expensive compared to the ones in Geneva and Berlin. Geez). It rained the whole night, which allowed me to move on to Geneva without much contemplation as I could not hike anymore trails in the Grindelwald region. Got a lift out of the hostel by an Australian family who had rented a car, and I was really grateful as it meant that I could get on the train on time, as well as not walk in the rain!!!
From Grindelwald, I travelled to Geneva, making stops at Interlaken, Interlaken West and Bern. Basically I just took my time, spent a couple of hours at each location, before arriving in Geneva.
And of course, this update is from Geneva...land of peace? It's super near the French border, with Mt Saleve (climbable!) in the French territory as well as some parks, the UN HQ and much more. The people here speak French instead of German (in Zurich, Luzern etc). Somehow, I'd prefer the Germans. Dun ask me why. lol.
Updating more later...Internet's expensive here too!
I love the mountains, I don't know why.
A sense of peace and calm just flows by.
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