"Frooty!!!".
I stare at my in-flight meal in dismay. As if the bad meal isn't bad enough, SwissAir has also served Frooty to go with it. Yes, Frooty, the cheap packaged mango drink normally seen in school canteens.
Expectations vs Reality!
I push away my unpalatable meal, and shift uncomfortably in my narrow seat.
Thanks to Seatguru, atleast I have chosen seats having more legspace, in the Airbus A330. But the seats are narrow and hard. This Swiss flight wins handsdown for being the most uncomfortable flight experience of mine so far. For once, I envy the kids for their ability to adapt and fold themselves into any shape and sleep like a log.
The flight touches down at Zurich, through the green and white alpine landscape laid out like a quilt. We have the entire day ahead of us, and its clear and sunny.
As we get into the Airport Terminal Train, on our way to Baggage Reclaim, a pleasant surprise awaits us. The train erupts into a medley of ringing cowbells, mooing of cows and musical Alpenhorns.
A pretty swiss maid appears, momentarily,
on the window screen of the train, to wink at us.
Leave it to the swiss to showcase their country and culture in this unique style.
We leave our luggage at the Luggage Lockers near the Train station, where we meet an adorable Swissman manning the desk. While I chat with him in my high school German, he magically converts our 9 pieces of luggage into 7, and charges for 6. I am loving the Swiss already!
The train to Rhine falls passes through a route that is nothing spectacular.
Ho hum...
But the station at Schloss Laufen is quite remarkable. The train passes through right under the castle.
Views from the various viewing galleries of the castle.
The castle is the side from which you want to view the falls. Believe me.
At this point I suspect I am almost under the thunderous torrent. Its that close. I quickly scramble out of this particular viewing gallery. Whoever built this castle and the viewing galleries, has done some damn neat work.
This handsome little guy is quite adept at photobombing unsuspecting tourists. I suspect some tourists have been feeding him some tidbits.
This one's more sensible, on the other hand. He keeps away from the junk food and contemplates his role in life.
On the boat ride to the middle of the falls, I notice this banner.
Are we supposed to conclude that the Swiss are more proud of their river water than of the beer that they manufacture? Perhaps, let me imagine, this is their pride in their natural resources, and rightly so.
After spending a relaxing morning at the waterfall, we return to Zurich to take a look at the trams, and walk along the Bahnhofstraße, the shopping street outside the station.
Zurich railway station
Spring has arrived and its a time to sit and relax a while.
But for us, its time to move on to Interlaken, which is to be our residence for the next 8 days.
The scenery undergoes a change, as the train approaches the Bernese Oberlands, the mountainous region near Bern. Soon its time to change trains at Bern, and I ready myself to disembark with my luggage.
And as I glance out of the train, this stunning picture comes into view..
We would pass by this route numerous times in the coming days, but never would I manage to click a picture this perfect ever again.
Mindblowing beauty of Bern, a city I would fall in love with.
Shortly, Interlaken West comes into view.
Its a quiet and charming neighbourhood, unlike the big city I had expected Interlaken to be.
A picture perfect end to the first day in Switzerland.
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