So ,Swiss. I've always wondered, how its so unfair that they have all the money, the beautiful Alps,all the pristine nature, were never affected by the world wars,have happy cows, orgasmic chocolate, ambrosial cheese and the most precise and precious watches and what not!. The picturesque image of this little landlocked country I had, goes way back into my childhood. Thanks to all the Indian movie directors that shot in-numerous duet songs in the Alps , Switzerland was one the first European countries that I visualized.
So with this child-like enthusiasm combined with sating my never-dying hunger for travel,and the prospect of visiting a good friend, I booked my train tickets to Zurich in the previous exam period. I have this funny habit of planning my travels during exams periods, to make the vacations that follow the exams more exciting and motivating. The tickets arrived in my mailbox soon after, but forgot about them as the Zurich trip was so far away, as I had a couple of other trips planned before that. But as the date approached I was as enthusiastic as ever, and even the cancellation of the concert of my favorite Indian musician in Zurich couldn't dampen my spirits. Yes, I'm a travel junkie.
Finally it was time to go to Switzerland. I took the not-so-comfortable city night line train for an excruciating 13 hours from Utrecht . I happen to be way too long for the berth, and its supposed to be an European train. Irony! So after a lot of complaining , cursing, sleeplessness and with the slight pleasant company of Dan brown's Lost symbol, I managed to reach Zurich HB. The train was right on time and my friend Ashish came to pick me up. I stayed all four days at a student house, hosting students and researchers from ETH and all other Zurich universities So after a quick breakfast and refreshing shower, and a strong cup of coffee, I felt my co-ordinating mechanism back to function and I was ready to hike up to the highest point in Zurich - at Uitleberg.
The transportation system in Zurich is amazing. Almost every section of the city is well connected by trams .buses, water taxis and even the funky little train called the Polybahn that constantly carries passengers to the buildings on an higher elevation near the Zurich Central. I found the pretty little red toy train adorable. And a 8 franc day ticket is valid for all these modes of transport. So on my tram ride to ETH, before going to Uitleberg, I was observing the names of the streets and I had this faint Déjà Vu and ofocurse I realized why in no time. The Bourne Identity strikes again. My friend was showing me the major swiss banks, and with a playful disdain claimed that he is cool because he has a swiss bank account. I have to agree, its cool indeed and I would like to have one too, preferably the one that comes with the black credit card. But I should say from the outside, the banks don't look ostentatious enough for what they are worth. Maybe thats what they call as keeping a 'low profile'.
So with this child-like enthusiasm combined with sating my never-dying hunger for travel,and the prospect of visiting a good friend, I booked my train tickets to Zurich in the previous exam period. I have this funny habit of planning my travels during exams periods, to make the vacations that follow the exams more exciting and motivating. The tickets arrived in my mailbox soon after, but forgot about them as the Zurich trip was so far away, as I had a couple of other trips planned before that. But as the date approached I was as enthusiastic as ever, and even the cancellation of the concert of my favorite Indian musician in Zurich couldn't dampen my spirits. Yes, I'm a travel junkie.
Finally it was time to go to Switzerland. I took the not-so-comfortable city night line train for an excruciating 13 hours from Utrecht . I happen to be way too long for the berth, and its supposed to be an European train. Irony! So after a lot of complaining , cursing, sleeplessness and with the slight pleasant company of Dan brown's Lost symbol, I managed to reach Zurich HB. The train was right on time and my friend Ashish came to pick me up. I stayed all four days at a student house, hosting students and researchers from ETH and all other Zurich universities So after a quick breakfast and refreshing shower, and a strong cup of coffee, I felt my co-ordinating mechanism back to function and I was ready to hike up to the highest point in Zurich - at Uitleberg.
The transportation system in Zurich is amazing. Almost every section of the city is well connected by trams .buses, water taxis and even the funky little train called the Polybahn that constantly carries passengers to the buildings on an higher elevation near the Zurich Central. I found the pretty little red toy train adorable. And a 8 franc day ticket is valid for all these modes of transport. So on my tram ride to ETH, before going to Uitleberg, I was observing the names of the streets and I had this faint Déjà Vu and ofocurse I realized why in no time. The Bourne Identity strikes again. My friend was showing me the major swiss banks, and with a playful disdain claimed that he is cool because he has a swiss bank account. I have to agree, its cool indeed and I would like to have one too, preferably the one that comes with the black credit card. But I should say from the outside, the banks don't look ostentatious enough for what they are worth. Maybe thats what they call as keeping a 'low profile'.
After paying a short visit to the ETH campus, joining Mayanka , we had lunch at a Pakistani place. I felt Zurich was definitely expensive, but my friends dint find spending 10 euroes for a normal meal extravagant. So after a tasty refueling, we set out to the hike. It was amazing, though it took a great deal of energy. The view from the top was spectacular, and again a'running out of adjectives' syndrome hit me. We were thorough;y exhausted , and went back home for a mouth watering udipi style dinner made by Kartik, God bless him. The student house has quite a lot of Indians and one of them was celebrating his birthday so there was a little party that night,so we stayed up late to cheer the birthday boy. In four days my Hindi improved considerably spending time with these guys.
The best part about visiting a city with people that are familiar with it is that, you don't have to carry a map and be all touristic. My intention was to be a subtle tourist so it worked great for me. The next day we just roamed around the streets of Zurich, and when I heard there was some Sri Lankan place that served Dosas, my joy had no bounds. I mercilessly devoured the five dosas infront me with unimaginable glee. Yes, I'm a food junkie too. Especially when it comes to Idlis and Dosas which I haven't had for almost 6 months. We went home a little late to watch a nice Coen brothers movie with a group of friends in the cinema room with a nice projector. After which Asthana was reciting some awesome stories about incidents greatly exemplifying Murphy's law.
The next day was the most touristic. We went to the Rhine falls. I was instantly in love with the gushing volume of water and the beautiful river. After being dazed by the breathtaking sight, we took the train back to Zurich, which was roughly an hour's ride from the falls. Our ticket was valid even for a 2 hour boat ride to Rapperswile, another beautiful location near Zurich. The boat trip was very good, and as I share this unexplained love and respect for water, I'm always enthusiastic about boating or swimming.
The last day in Zurich was quite eventful as well. I bought a beautiful swiss watch, after which we had a nice buffet at an Indian restaurant. We then left to the Lindt chocolate factory close to Zurich, and as soon as I got off the bus the heavenly aroma of chocolate was like a powerful magnet. After buying enough chocolate, I though they wouldn't survive the train journey back as I would finish all of them in no time.
But there were some random things that I noticed in Zurich . for eg',For such a prosperous city , I dint spot a single Ferrari on the roads anytime in the four days
My train to Holland was later that evening, but time had passed so quick and I had an awesome time. I was boarding the train with a handful of goodies, bagful of dirty clothes, and a brain full of thoughts. The return journey was even more horrible, and I swear I'm not choosing that train ever again. I reached Delft in a bad shape, and I was waiting for the rattling of my trolley wheels against the brick road to stop, and it never felt so good to be home. I rushed upstairs to just crash into my bed and slip into a dreamless slumber and guess what!
MY BED WAS GONE!!
5 comments:
Shal! Swiss??! Whoa! Where nxt?
U shud hav tried sum bollywood dance on the street too.
Shal! Swiss??! Whoa! Where nxt?
U shud hav tried sum bollywood dance on the street too.
Reading your posts make me regret my decision of choosing US.I wanna come to Europe too:(
hey btw wht happend to ur bed??
@Tanya- Sure , will remember next time
@Vivek- Yeah Europe is awesome, and yeah my housemate borrowed it when a guest came over, and forgot to put it back.
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