Europe Trip - Day 12, 13 and 14 - Switzerland

Next up on our itinerary was Switzerland. We had a long train journey from Rome to Switzerland so we woke up early to head to the train station. We bid adieu to bhaiya/bhabhi as they were headed to Spain. Rakesh and I got on the train to Switzerland.

We arrived in Interlaken in the afternoon. The day when we arrived in Interlaken it was rainy and quite cold. Quite different from the scorching heat in Rome. We were going to stay in a B&B amidst the Alps called Mittaghorn in a small town called Gimmelwald. This place is highly recommended by Rick Steves. Most of the people stay in the Interlaken city but we did not want to stay here as we wanted to stay very close to the mountains and experience their beauty.

At the Interlaken train station

Waiting for the bus to Gimmelwald

From Interlaken train station we had to catch a bus and take a cable car ride up to Gimmelwald. This was a pricey affair as the cable car was expensive and that was our only mode of transportation that connected us to the town. Anyways we got off the bus and bought our tickets for the cable car/gandola. The ride in the gandola was great and we got an amazing aerial view of the towns and mountains on the way up.

Gandola

On the Gandola

We got off and walked in the rain to reach our B&B. I was little grumpy about having to carry the bagpacks in the rain but we had no choice as there is no transportation in this little town.We were greeted by the owner, Walter who is a very sweet old man. He runs this B&B along with the manager, Tim. We loved how the place was like a wooden log cabin. Most of the houses/B&Bs/hotels in this small towns looked like log cabins. Our room had a small balcony from where we could see the Alps. But as it was rainy and cloudy the mountains were hidden. We were little disappointed.  Well, you would not expect to find a great wifi connection in such a remote place but voila! We just took it easy and checked our emails/facebook and enjoyed the cosy room. We called it a day and hoped that the next 2 days in Switzerland would be nice and sunny.

On the way to our B&B

Posing outside hotel mittaghorn

Inside our cosy room

On our 2nd day here as we woke up the sun had come out full force and we could see the mountains. It was surreal to see how close we were to the famous Alps. They were magnificent and mind boggling.  All we wanted to do was to stare outside the window. We got ready and headed downstairs for the breakfast. Tim served us fresh bread and of course fresh Swiss cheese and fresh orange juice. The bread and cheese tasted so good. We hogged.  We made small talk with Tim and turns out he was also an engineer and after working for 15-20 years, now he spent most of his time in Switzerland running this place with Walter. It was great talking to him and getting some tips on what to see. We also got talking with the other guests there and turns out everyone came here as this place was recommended by Rick Steves. Tim mentioned that almost all his guests discover this place from the Rick Steves book. Anyway, it was worth it and yet another recommendation from the Rick Steve's book which did not disappoint us. Gimmelwald is a little gem amidst the Alps.

Beautiful Alps in the background

Beautiful view from our balcony

Check out the beautiful mountains

Loving the natural beauty

It had started to drizzle a bit. Nevertheless we wanted to carry on with our plan and first up on our plan were the famous TrummelBack falls. Trummelback falls are a series of glacier waterfalls inside the mountains that are made accessible by lift. They drain the water from mighty glaciers like Jungfrau and Eiger. Unlike any other waterfalls that we had seen so far, these waterfalls were mighty, loud, thundering and roaring in the interiors of the mountain. The photos do not do justice to these waterfalls. Hearing the deafening sound of the waterfalls in person is the only way to experience these falls. It also amazing how they have been made accessible to tourists by a lift that takes you up the mountains and stairways inside and outside the mountain.

At the Trummelback falls

Lift for the falls inside the mountain

One part of the series of waterfalls inside the mountain

From here we headed back to Interlaken to take a cruise ride. This cruise was covered for free with our EuRail pass. The cruise went through a beautiful serene lake and we enjoyed seeing the sights and small houses along the lake while enjoying our meal of the deck of the cruise ship. It was quite romantic and relaxing. 

Loving the views from the deck of the cruise

Later we just roamed around the beautiful town of Interlaken. One thing to notice here was the hordes of Indian tourists. Interlaken felt like mini India. People were busy shopping, eating or just strolling around in the city. Switzerland was very expensive in terms of shopping, eating and getting around. Wish we also had a Swiss account :).

On our last and 3rd day in Switzerland we were headed to the Luzern city. Before heading out as the weather seemed perfect we took a hike near to our B&B. We loved watching the mountains and the cows and goats with the bells in their necks. The orchestra of the bells as the cows grazed was very soothing.

This is very famous in India due to the movie Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge(aka DDLJ) where Shahrukh khan and Kajol meet at  a trip to Switzerland. It would be safe to say that this movie contributes to the huge number of Indian tourists here. Also everyone buys the cow bell either in form of a magnet or the actual bell itself. It amazed me to see that its been more than 10-12 years since the movie was released but the fascination of cow bells still remains in our minds :).

On our hiking path there were lot of fresh water spouts where we drank fresh mountain water. It tasted great and so much better than the bottled water. In our entire trip we carried an empty water bottle and it was so easy to fill it up anywhere in Europe due to lot of water spouts in the cities.

Then we bid goodbye to Walter and Tim and headed to the train station to catch our train to Luzern. Our experience of staying in Mittaghorn B&B was wonderful and Walter and Tim were wonderful hosts. We would stay here again if we get a chance to visit Gimmelwald again. We had to skip going to Jungfrau which is the highest peak in Switzerland, as the weather was not very conducive. The trip up to Jungfrau is very expensive and it is recommended to go up only if the weather is super sunny so that you can see the mountain. We were happy with the mountain views that we got so we didn't really care much for going to Jungfrau.

Rakesh posing with Tim and Walter

Beautiful swiss town

On the train to Luzern

We reached Luzern early in the afternoon. Luzern reminded us of Salzberg. It was a beautiful Swiss city with a lovely river flowing through the city. We stayed at a great hotel here. It had beautiful views of the river. Luzern is a walled city so we climbed up and walked along the wall enjoying the aerial views of the city.

Entry door to the city wall

city wall

There were lots of beautiful wooden bridges with flowers on their edges across the river. We walked up and down the bridges and just loved the fun atmosphere. There were lots of tourists here.

Then we headed to see the famous crying lion monument. This monument commemorates the heroic deaths of hundreds of the Swiss mercenaries at the Tuileries in Paris in 1792. The monument was carved out of a rock in 1821. The monument itself is awe inspiring.

We ended our day in Luzern with a beautiful dinner cruise.

That ended the Swiss part of our trip. Switzerland is truly heaven on earth. We would love to visit again.

Our last destination for this trip was Paris, France.  We were super excited to go to Paris.

Check out more pics here.