Euro-Trip III (20.12.09): In heart of Switzerland

To move on was the destiny. Due to extreme weather conditions, we hardly were able to follow the exact itinerary we had plotted. But one thing was planned well. The whole group had fixed it pretty well in advance that 18 of us were to meet in Vatican City on the Christmas Eve. We wanted to at least do some justice with our travelogues in Switzerland and then to see a bit of northern Italy before hitting the Colosseum. The day was 20^th December, 2009 and it was decided to spend two more days in the Swiss paradise. We hadn’t many choices on board, neither did we want to experiment anything unconventional, so we set our foot towards Lucerne.

Lucerne/Luzern is a beautiful small city in heart of Switzerland. With nothing especially spectacular, everything is spectacularly mesmerizing about the city. A fine blend of new and old, the city is full of energy in its main market place and is a treat for travelers looking for the real Switzerland. But there was something more memorable before we reached Lucerne. It is well known fact that Switzerland has one of the world’s best laid railway networks. The train journey from Interlaken to Lucerne was its proof enough. Apart from the engineering marvel of the high speed rails that take you in between the snow covered jagged mountains and along the stretched lakes, the beauty one witnesses from the large windows of trains is unparalleled. For most of the journey, all of us were simply awed with open mouths, taking our own time to assimilate the reality that we were seeing. There were vast stretches of grasslands covered with soft snow, with occasional cows feasting in meadows. The lakes were majestic and calm, reflecting the grey cloudy sky, with a few of the fluffy puffs kissing their yonder banks, and the fog giving beautiful hallucinations as if the train was floating in air. The mighty Swiss Alps covered with pine trees could be seen on the not so far horizon, sprayed with fresh snow that would fall with a slightest disturbance. Soon the sun rays started falling on the highest peaks, coloring them in gold, a prized sight indeed it was, and more precious than the yellow metal itself.

      

The city as I already said was small, but fun. To our fortune, the day started with bright sun. That did save us from hypothermia. But a layer of snow had already been laid all over, and now it was starting to melt, making the weather even more numbing. And such melting snow always finds its way through the seams of boots, giving your toes a very difficult time. We had our feet covered with a layer of stockings and polythene bags to save them from water but, amateurs we were, the mischief was done.

Rest of the day was spent roaming around in the streets of the city and along the river Reuss that flows through it. Ahh!! The word ‘roaming’ reminds me of an interesting event that happened around here, and I shall narrate a little later. We visited les eglises and other important landmarks marked in a radius of 5 km around where we stood on the map. Few of the sights were certainly remarkable. One was the river Reuss itself. I don’t know if it was the low temperature, or the smooth basin, but the river flowed in a very streamlined manned, defying all laws of turbulence, especially over one of the river gates (Inset). The 14^th century chapel bridge made of wood was a lovely walk. History has it that most of the bridge was burnt inadvertently by a discarded cigarette butt and had to be reconstructed. Sure enough the people around didn’t learn a lesson from history, and a lot of blown cigarettes could be seen in the cracks and crevices of the bridge. Across the bridge was a small fair where people were enjoying in a merry mood, and cultural dances were being performed on a makeshift stage. I chanced to have one of the best hot brewing soups of I-don’t-know-what there. The market was also a very traditional one, like any small town in India and people also looked very simple. What was not very simple was the price tag on each item displayed in the windows. Nevertheless Telang became our proud companion to actually shop a pair of boots, which he hoped would save from the seeping ice cold water.

After some time of wandering around, we spotted an Indian restaurant. The longing for Indian food was unbearable after about 110 days of leaving home. Yet we chose to control and rather stepped in a food store. This looked a real cheap place in an otherwise pocket burning market. We quickly bought some fruits, a large chocolate home baked cake, some bread and butter and juice and feasted upon it. Two ladies were selling world famous Swiss chocolates at the exit of the store. Knowing well we were not going to purchase any from here, we hesitantly picked one piece each that was being offered for tasting. But on realizing that the ladies were least bothered about whether we buy it or not, we picked a handful of then. Chocolates were very tasty, truly Swiss, and we were very greedy, truly Indian.

The last sight for the day was The Lion Monument, a majestic sculpture of a dying lion carved on a wall of a small park. It commemorates hundreds of Swiss guards massacred during the French Revolution. The sculpture was an amazing one, very realistic, that can be mistook for a real one for a second. It reminded me of Aslan from Chronicles of Narnia. We found some time to play snow-fight for some time here, Pinak of course being the favorite target. Here I shall narrate the ‘Roaming’ incident. Pinak, who had proudly acquired a Matrix SIM card from India itself, had a penchant for talking to his near and dear ones (especially his girlfriend to keep her convinced about his commitment for her) back home in India. But he had failed to realize that we had crossed borders and his phone was now in roaming area. He had spent hours, chit chatting over phone till now, when someone reminded him of 3 Euro per minute call charges. He literally squealed over it. And then he told his father to call him back instead and spent another hour or so on phone. It was then someone broke the news to him, that incoming calls were rather charged at 4 Euro per minute. Haha!! He was inconsolable.

Well, finally bowing one last time for the dying lion, we headed back to the railway station. Stupid it may sound, but we were to go back to Interlaken for the night stay, for lodging in Lucerne was damn costly and we had travelling for free. Also it was time to bid good-byes again. Avinash and Swetabh were to part from us here for their escapades in Eastern Europe. We were to etch our path again early next morning, to our last stop in Switzerland. Zurich!!