Panoramic Europe Tour - Day 3

We get up in the morning again watching last night’s trailor. Soon we were heading towards Mt. Titlis. After breakfast, we head to the cablecars at Engelberg. The cable cars which take upto 6 people goes uphill from Engelberg towards Trubsee. From inside, other cable cars look like pearls on a necklace. As you pass over the hills, we suddenly hear a symphony of bells. The bells sound more like triangles. We look down to discover they’re cows with huge and different bells.

The cable car stops at Trubsee, from where we change to a bigger cable car which would accommodate more people. This would take us to Gletscherstation Stand. (I just had to refer to the picture of the stand to get the name right). As we move higher, the view just keeps getting better and better. We can see a frozen lake from the cable car. After we reach the Stand, it’s now time for a third cable car, the world’s first rotating cable car. With a good capacity, the cable car had a rotating floor. So the handle attached to the window, which we were holding, had to change after every few minutes. The cable car gave us a good 360 degree view

We finally reach Mt. Titlis. From the final stop, we still had to climb 2 stories and Voila! Snow!!! Seeing snow after around 15 years was too much of euphoria to control. I just ran onto the snow, fluttering my arms like a small kid. I slipped and fell a couple of times but then I got up again and started running all over the place.

We spent a lot of time playing in the snow, throwing snowballs at each other, sliding downhill, and making snowmen. Well, actually destroying others’ snowmen. The place had an igloo, a skiing track (only for professionals), a special cable car to bring the skiers and a breathtaking view. Snow all around and greenery if you look a bit lower. I was surprised I would get to see snow at this time of the year even though Switzerland was really warm. Even Mt. Titlis just seemed to be cool because of the altitude and the earlier lying snow.

I just couldn’t get enough of the snow and Mount Titlis. I was reminded of a magazine on Mt. Titlis I saw the previous night at the hotel. It read “Mt. Titlis – It’s heaven” It indeed was. Coming down the cable car was great as we got to experience the beautiful Alps, frozen lakes and the musical cow bells once again. This time however at a distance, we could see many colourful parachutes hanging in the air. Engelberg is an important destination for paragliding as well.

Later on we have lunch and head to Interlaken. Interlaken is situated between two lakes, namely Brienz and Thun, hence the name which means between two lakes. As we enter the city, we get to see more paragliding. Interlaken is a prime destination for adventure sports. The city is a prime destination for shopping for those with extra surplus disposable dumpable income. Since I don’t fall into that category, I just saw the river Aare which passes through it and left the place

Next was Geneva. As we headed Geneva from Interlaken, the boards changed from Ausfahrt to Sortie (exit in German and French). Geneva would be our first place in the French part of Switzerland. Geneva is a worldwide centre for diplomacy. With the headquarters for the United Nations, many of its branches and the Red Cross, Geneva makes for a perfect global city.

From the United Nations headquarters, across the street is a monumental sculpture, the broken chair. The giant chair with a broken leg symbolises opposition to landmines and bombs. After clicking pictures of the Broken Chair, United Nations Headquarters and many more other headquarters like WMO, UNHCR etc, we head to the water jet.

The jet d’eau located on lake Geneva or Lake Leman is a hydraulic pump which has been fitted on the lake to create a fountain as a tourist attraction. The pump which throws water to a height of upto 140 m is so powerful that at any point of time, there’ll be 500 litres of water in the air. Near the Jet d’eau, my parents bump into an old friend after a couple of years. I’m sure the backdrop of Geneva would’ve made it more special for them. A few snaps later, we head to retire at the hotel

Panoramic Europe Tour - Day 2

The next day we make our way through the deciduous black forests of Germany to the home of the famous ‘Cuckoo Clock’. The factory itself has been shaped as a huge Cuckoo clock. As we reached there at 11 o clock, a huge wooden cuckoo bird came out of a window and made the cuckoo sound, followed by statues of couples dancing which came outside rotating and dancing.

Inside the factory, the entire procedure of making the clock, its history and the variety of clocks were demonstrated to us. The whole description would take up an entire post, so I stop it right here. We leave the factory at 12 sharp, to see the big cuckoo bird and dancing statuettes again. That was the end of our stint with Germany. Even though we can’t really say we saw Germany.

After lunch, we cross the border into Switzerland to see the Rhine falls, Europe’s largest waterfalls. Passing through deciduous forests and the German-Swiss border, we make our way to the gushing falls. The water was just divine. Its bluish green colour was very tempting. The colour resembled the colour of a glass slab seen from the side. As we wait for out boat which would take us closer the falls, ducks and swans approach us. The swan gets up and does a little act and takes away a lot of applause and attention.

We then get onto a boat which would take us closer to the falls. Passing through the beautiful river we’re now just a few metres away from the falls. As we approach the falls, a zephyr of droplets blows across us. As the heat was rising, the aerosol spray came as such a relief! It was a wild experience as the boat was getting rocky.

Later on we get to move around the falls and see it from the top. The falls were just stunning with lots of greenery around. In the area, they had also instilled a manually operated turbine. The turbine was inside a cylindrical glass container with water and attached to it was a handle which we could rotate. As we rotate the handle, we would create a whirlpool. This was to manually demonstrate how hydropower works.

Our next destination is Luzern or Lucerne as it is called in French or English. The city which is split by River Reuss is a good blend of tradition and modernity. A witness to the turning pages of history, Luzerne ranks high among the topmost tourist destinations in Europe. After a stroll through the city roads and besides River Reuss, we later on go to the Lion Monument.

The lion monument is a carving of a wounded lion. It was built to commemorate the hundreds of Swiss guards who were massacred in 1972 during the French revolution. It’s believed that the artist who carved it was not paid well on time, so he carved the outer frame in the shape of a pig. Even though you might miss the pig while watching it face to face, it’s hard to miss it on a photograph.

That evening, we head to Engelberg. We would stay at a hotel facing Mt.Titlis, one of the most popular mountains in Switzerland. As we moved towards Engelberg, the view was just spectacular with mountains and rivers flowing on either side. At a far distance, a snow capped mountain was visible. That was Mount Titlis. We passed through various picturesque landscapes as we started to ascend uphill towards Engelberg.

Unwinding roads, mountains and small waterfalls everywhere were making for a beautiful spectacle. The picturesque sceneries were only picturesque until half way. After that it was time to keep cameras away and experience the beauty. The air was so clean that anyone from an Indian metropolitan city could get an asthma attack. We finally reach our hotel at Engelberg from where we could see Mt. Titlis and cable cars leading to it.

That night at Engelberg with a balcony facing Mount Titlis was a movie trailor for the whole night. We would be watching the real movie the next morning