10th Oct to 12th Oct - Zurich/ Luzern/ Swiss Alps
Zurich was just so freaking expensive!!! SERIOUSLY. A BK burger meal cost average about 11 CHF, which equated to more or less 20 SGD! And when I first met up with Uma in Zurich, we headed over to a local eatery, off the tourist track, and ordered a Rosti. It cost 12 Euros. Yes. 12 Euros (close to 23 SGD) for a plate of potatoes.
Don't get me wrong though. It was nice. But too ex for a plate of nicely cooked starch. Oh well, nothing I could do about it. Even freshly cooked pasta from the supermarket (like a entree portion) would already cost about 5 Euros. Oh man.... But one thing I did like about their supermarkets was their variety. Yummy! Yummy! :)
Spent the first day visiting a church and a museum (where I saw one of Van Gogh's self-portrait, Monet's and Chagall's works, amongst many others). Happy :)
The next day, I woke up bright and early and went on the 9.5 hour trip/ tour to Mt. Pilatus. Had booked the tour at the Tourist office for 137 CHF (about 97 Euros). But before I even reached Mt. Pilatus, the coach first took us to Luzern - a small, quiet town that didn't really appeal to me. There were nothing much there other than the usual suspects - The Lion Monument, The Chapel Bridge and the Water Tower.
When we finally moved on, the fog was still strong. So, as I took the cable car up to the mountain, I was struggling to see through the fog to see how far I was up from the ground, and how much higher I was going to go. But I could see nothing. And thought that the tour guide had lied about today was a beautiful day to visit Mt. Pilatus. Then, I imagined that I was in a fantasy world, taking a cable car, entering into Harry Porter's world. 'coz the journey just seemed so dreamy and it was as if I was carried through the clouds and into the sky. Hahaha.
But as the cable car went higher and higher, the fog began to clear and bright sunlight and mountain scape greeted me. Magnificent!!! The tour guide was right! It was super bright and sunny up there.
And here's a pix of my lunch break @ Mt. Pilatus - dining on a mountain! :)
After taking a quick lunch at the cafeteria on the mountain, I began my short hike to the peak (actually, there were stairs all around, so I just need to climb the stairs and not really hike up a dirt road). The view's beautiful and I thought to myself that it would be great to see the sunrise on the peaks, instead of viewing it then, in mid afternoon. Maybe next time.
And I was amused to see a helicopter ferrying the building materials up and down the mountain numerous times within the hour. Kinda cool actually. But I supposed it was real tiring for the pilot. Anywayz, they were still broadening and constructing a sheltered walkway/ platform so that visitors could have a better view of the alps, irregardless of the weather. So nice.
As for my descent, I took the world's steepest cogwheel railway (48 degrees gradient) all the way down. At first it seemed a bit frightening (like "when am i gonna fall...") but the view along the way distracted me. LOVELY. And then, I'm back to foggy "ville" again.
In order to get back to Luzern to board the coach back to Zurich, the guide took me (and the others) on board a boat ride to enjoy the picturesque view of the lake. Too bad it was too foggy. Otherwise, the view would have been lovely.
The next day, I woke up early again to see if I could get my hands on the train tickets to Jungfraujoch (so called the "top of Europe"). I'd initially wanted to join a tour 'coz it was cheaper by about 50SGD but the tour happened only from wednesday to sunday. So, I'd to go on my own instead.
The railway office helped me calculated the cheapest way to get to Jungfraujoch and it was as such:
Zurich HB --> Bern --> Interlaken Ost --> Lauterbrunnen --> Kleine Scheidegg --> Jungfraujoch (total duration: approx. 4 hr 20 mins)
And so I began my adventure to the alps alone, after munching on the following:
The feeling and the scenic view from Bern --> Interlaken Ost --> Lauterbrunnen --> Kleine Scheidegg --> Jungfraujoch was simply GORGEOUS!!! The non-stop changing of trains and the long travelling time, not to mention the cost of rail tickets, was definitely worth it! I just felt so brightened and happy along the way! At one point, I was so busy taking photos that I just shoved my ticket to the train conductor and quickly returned to my picture snapping. But he found it amusing and it was kinda clear that he had picked that time to check all passengers' tickets to playfully disturb them. Waraoz... kajiao pple...
When I finally reached Jungfraujoch, I went straight for a cup of hot choc at the cafeteria before I dared venture out into the observation platform and into the cold. It was kinda scary to stand on the platform 'coz I kept imagining that it could collapse any time (i.e.: whether the steel platform would freeze and then suddenly crack under the weight). But it ended up fine. Ha.
Honestly, though the view was nice, I found the scenary along my way up was a lot more captivating.
If given more time, I would definitely want to visit other parts of Switzerland such as Leissigen (where I think it would be beautiful to go there in Summer), Grindelwald, Interlaken and a few other small towns in between Lauterbrunnen and Jungfraujoch.
I LOVE THE ALPS!!!!!!!!!!!!
And here are some random pix I took along the way:
Don't get me wrong though. It was nice. But too ex for a plate of nicely cooked starch. Oh well, nothing I could do about it. Even freshly cooked pasta from the supermarket (like a entree portion) would already cost about 5 Euros. Oh man.... But one thing I did like about their supermarkets was their variety. Yummy! Yummy! :)
Spent the first day visiting a church and a museum (where I saw one of Van Gogh's self-portrait, Monet's and Chagall's works, amongst many others). Happy :)
The next day, I woke up bright and early and went on the 9.5 hour trip/ tour to Mt. Pilatus. Had booked the tour at the Tourist office for 137 CHF (about 97 Euros). But before I even reached Mt. Pilatus, the coach first took us to Luzern - a small, quiet town that didn't really appeal to me. There were nothing much there other than the usual suspects - The Lion Monument, The Chapel Bridge and the Water Tower.
When we finally moved on, the fog was still strong. So, as I took the cable car up to the mountain, I was struggling to see through the fog to see how far I was up from the ground, and how much higher I was going to go. But I could see nothing. And thought that the tour guide had lied about today was a beautiful day to visit Mt. Pilatus. Then, I imagined that I was in a fantasy world, taking a cable car, entering into Harry Porter's world. 'coz the journey just seemed so dreamy and it was as if I was carried through the clouds and into the sky. Hahaha.
But as the cable car went higher and higher, the fog began to clear and bright sunlight and mountain scape greeted me. Magnificent!!! The tour guide was right! It was super bright and sunny up there.
And here's a pix of my lunch break @ Mt. Pilatus - dining on a mountain! :)
After taking a quick lunch at the cafeteria on the mountain, I began my short hike to the peak (actually, there were stairs all around, so I just need to climb the stairs and not really hike up a dirt road). The view's beautiful and I thought to myself that it would be great to see the sunrise on the peaks, instead of viewing it then, in mid afternoon. Maybe next time.
And I was amused to see a helicopter ferrying the building materials up and down the mountain numerous times within the hour. Kinda cool actually. But I supposed it was real tiring for the pilot. Anywayz, they were still broadening and constructing a sheltered walkway/ platform so that visitors could have a better view of the alps, irregardless of the weather. So nice.
As for my descent, I took the world's steepest cogwheel railway (48 degrees gradient) all the way down. At first it seemed a bit frightening (like "when am i gonna fall...") but the view along the way distracted me. LOVELY. And then, I'm back to foggy "ville" again.
In order to get back to Luzern to board the coach back to Zurich, the guide took me (and the others) on board a boat ride to enjoy the picturesque view of the lake. Too bad it was too foggy. Otherwise, the view would have been lovely.
The next day, I woke up early again to see if I could get my hands on the train tickets to Jungfraujoch (so called the "top of Europe"). I'd initially wanted to join a tour 'coz it was cheaper by about 50SGD but the tour happened only from wednesday to sunday. So, I'd to go on my own instead.
The railway office helped me calculated the cheapest way to get to Jungfraujoch and it was as such:
Zurich HB --> Bern --> Interlaken Ost --> Lauterbrunnen --> Kleine Scheidegg --> Jungfraujoch (total duration: approx. 4 hr 20 mins)
And so I began my adventure to the alps alone, after munching on the following:
The feeling and the scenic view from Bern --> Interlaken Ost --> Lauterbrunnen --> Kleine Scheidegg --> Jungfraujoch was simply GORGEOUS!!! The non-stop changing of trains and the long travelling time, not to mention the cost of rail tickets, was definitely worth it! I just felt so brightened and happy along the way! At one point, I was so busy taking photos that I just shoved my ticket to the train conductor and quickly returned to my picture snapping. But he found it amusing and it was kinda clear that he had picked that time to check all passengers' tickets to playfully disturb them. Waraoz... kajiao pple...
When I finally reached Jungfraujoch, I went straight for a cup of hot choc at the cafeteria before I dared venture out into the observation platform and into the cold. It was kinda scary to stand on the platform 'coz I kept imagining that it could collapse any time (i.e.: whether the steel platform would freeze and then suddenly crack under the weight). But it ended up fine. Ha.
Honestly, though the view was nice, I found the scenary along my way up was a lot more captivating.
If given more time, I would definitely want to visit other parts of Switzerland such as Leissigen (where I think it would be beautiful to go there in Summer), Grindelwald, Interlaken and a few other small towns in between Lauterbrunnen and Jungfraujoch.
I LOVE THE ALPS!!!!!!!!!!!!
And here are some random pix I took along the way:
Labels: Switzerland - 2010
posted by ikan bilis at 5:10 PM
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