Journey to Switzerland

Journey to Switzerland

      Our journey to Switzerland commenced from the train station near Disneyland Paris in a high speed train, TGV was the French acronym for this luxury Euro Rail.

     It was an impeccably maintained vehicle , comfortable seats with a table in the center for a cosy family seating.

      A restaurant car was  attached to our compartment. There were mobile charging points provided to each seat. Big glass panels provided unhindered view from elbow level to the roof,  as the train glided through the most scenic landscapes of France. Endless stretches of green fields interspersed with bright yellow mustard fields resembled a  huge colourful painting, the picture was complete with hordes of healthy bovines grazing lazily in the green fields. We passed through some patches of light rains and the misty meadows which added a certain romantic feel to the journey. It was an undulated  countryside which presented varied topography with every passing moment. The distant villages barley consisting of twenty-twenty five houses with inverted   V shaped roofed houses with smoking chimneys, appeared right out of a nursery rhyme books. The bigger villages had a tall sharp structure which probably was the village  church. The whole place looked so peaceful and placid. The villages were spread far and wide and the lush landscape looked glorious. The four hours long pleasant journey brought us to the town called Basel, which is the entry point to switzerland. We crossed over from the French exit point and entered Swiss entry point. The  plan was to stay for four days In Switzerland and the itinerary involved extensive travel across the Switzerland, so accordingly we bought  Swiss railway passess which permitted us for unlimited railway travel at half the actual fare and with our daughter traveling free and that was indeed a good deal.

       Our next destination was city called Interlaken which was  two hours train journey by the Swiss Railway  This train journey was even more scenic,a classic Swiss topography which heralded that we are now nearing the grand Alpine of Switzerland !

We selected to stay in Interlaken town because of its convenient location at the base of the Swiss Alps mountain ranges, makes the travel to Alps easy.

         Interlaken is a charming city situated between two lakes and hence the name. It is a Tourist centric city with numerous hotels ,restaurants and some chic shopping malls. There are two Train stations,Interlaken West and Interlaken Ost, separated by a kilometer or so and the town lies between the two stations. Interlaken Ost is also a major train junction connecting most part of the Swiss cities through a wide network of railways.

The city jealously guards its ethnic identity and the old world charm. The city has barely about five thousand locals,mainly senior citizens most of them remain indoors. The wooden houses looked so pretty  with beautiful carvings, decorative windows and doors. All the houses had well manicured lawns surrounding the dwellings. There were no walls or gates but the gardens were beautiful with colorful eye-catching flowers, highlighting an excellent aesthetic sense of the Swiss people. Some of these houses were converted into Restaurants and Pizzerias.

Next day we visited mountain Jungfrau which is the highest part of the Europe. The train station at an altitude of twelve thousand feet is considered to be the one of the highest railway stations in the world. The trains consisting only three or four compartments designed to negotiate a steep climb gradient through the Alp's difficult terrain. This ride was definitely one of the most breathtaking train journeys ever and what an amazing view of landscape one gets to experience through this two hours of train ride.

Jungfrau is an underground train station and it is more than a hundred years old! Through a complex network of tunnels and elevators 'Top of Europe' building is connected which houses a mountain viewing platform from where one can venture into thick snow and if weather is clear can get a stunning view of the adjoining mountain peaks.

There is also an ice palace which is carved out of ice and once entered inside it transports you to a spectacular new world. There are statues of various cartoon characters, personalities,events etc all carved out of ice.

  Returning back to Interlaken was also equally exhilarating experience. Although there were three changes of train but one must compliment the Swiss train system, it works with Swiss clockwork precision!