Paris Switzerland Travelogue

Paris - the city of romance and love. I completely agree. The beautiful city is a must see especially for honeymooners. We had chosen a hotel in the La Defense area. The hotel etap(considering it is a budget hotel) was good although it was away from the train station. So we understood our first rule, while in Europe, choose a hotel near the metro station but then these hotels come at a cost but well, it eases your life. The train, tram
and metro network in europe is first class - completely reliable and takes you everywhere. I wonder why Indian railways dont have that competitive edge. I feel they should not be analysing only themselves but they should be looking at it as running a business and analyse their competitors as well. Why dont they try and find out, why the private volvo buses which ply in between Pune and Mumbai have so much clientele inspite of being expensive.

Anyway, coming back to Paris - A lovely city with beautiful people. Every individual is good looking - sharp features, amazing complexion and surprisingly almost all of them looked fit. I dont know how they manage to
keep themselves so slim and trim. I found Parisians very helpful. Once I got stuck inside the ticket-operated entrance door along with my luggage but a Frenchman helped my husband to find an officer who could unlock
me.

Day 1 - Our entire trip was self planned and managed. We were on our own, a perfect way to explore a place. It gives you a feel for the place. We had taken a 3 day pass for the local transport. So we took a train from CDG to
Chatelet Les Halles. Note: All train stations do not have escalators so you may have to carry your luggage while changing platforms. Be ready for it. We explored Arc De Triumph, Champs Elysees and Eiffel Tower. I just fell in love with Paris. Champs Elysees was as colourful as the autumn leaves as we walked hand in hand. Paris looked its best from the top of eiffel tower as we followed the blue light moving around the eiffel. It
was night time and the entire city was lit up.

Day 2 - The plan was to see the Louvre museum. We set out with that aim but we ended up taking a wrong turn. So instead of the louvre we came to a shopping area. The place was filled with shops selling antiques -
paintings, statuettes etc. All of this stuff was so interesting that we ended up spending a lot of time here and by the time we reached Louvre it was quite late. So we decided to skip entering the museum. There was a long queue for the ticket and we did not have time to enough to see the museum. BTW, if you are planning for Louvre (I mean the entire museum), you will need two days. So prioritise what you want to see before hand. The louvre was followed by a nice stroll by the river Seine. We took a one hour cruise on this river. Coincidently the time we chose for the tour enabled us to see the Paris riverside in daylilght as well as in night time when most of the places were lit up on our return. I suggest that you take this tour at this time. You will love it. Paris has a string of night shows like the Moulin Rouge or Lido. Do catch up one of these shows (adults please). We did so accompanied by a bottle of champagne. Sorry to disappoint my readers, I did not like the champagne and it was wasted.

Day 3 - This was our day for travel to Switzerland. On the morning we just did a small last round of Paris (the alexander bridge on the Seine and eiffel tower during day time) and did some souvenir shopping. One
point to note. As compared to the US I found Paris very expensive. A meal in McDonalds which would cost 5$, cost us around 8 euros. This is just an indicator. Secondly you do not get stuff similar to 1$ shops in Paris. The
small Eiffel towers, which we took as souvenirs, cost us around 6 euros and 8 euros. We took a flight to Zurich and a train to Luzern. In the train, I tried learning some German words from Kaustubh - my husband. Some terms like hauptbahnhoff are important for first time travellers like me. It means the main railway station
and when choosing hotels you should checking the distance to Hbf (short for haputbahnhoff). This was a saturday and saturday night in Luzern was quite lively or rather a bit scary. We saw the youth outside the station drinking and making merry but readers, this is not a cause of worry. This place is very nice and safe. We took a taxi to our hotel Drei Konige. For the taxi, it is a longer route but there are small alleys which give you a shortcut to Hbf while walking. The hotel was very nice and cozy. The building had an old world charm.

Day 4 - The next morning, after a superb breakfast, we left to explore the beautiful town of lucerne. The lake was a 5 min walk from the hotel. The historic bridge on this lake is decorated with a lot of flowering plants. The lake is home to a number of swans and ducks. A large number of birds (which also swim on water) could be found. People fed bread pieces and all of them swarmed together for the feast and it was a feast for the eyes. We
were lucky to catch the glimpse of a marathon. Then we went for a boat ride on this lake
Vierwaldstratersee for 2 and 1/2 hrs. This boat ride is not just a fun ride. It is a means of transport for local people. It was a bright sunny day. The lake was surrounded by hills, green pastures dotted with small houses and barns with cattle grazing. The clear blue lake water and the surroundings were perfect for a day out. By the end of the ride, it had started getting cold and chilly.

Day 5 - We had planned an excursion to Mt. Titlis. We took a train to engelberg followed by a cable car ride to reach Mt. Titlis. The glaciers looked amazing from the gondola. Once we reached the top, we decided to take the ice flyer. I was so excited to see ice all around and to add to it, it started snowing very lightly. The air was getting chilly. Once we were on the ice flyer, the cold wind sent a chill. I was very busy shooting the ride and
the valley below when i realized that Kaustubh was very uncomfortable. I did not know he had a fear for heights. So it was the other way round. I was holding Kaustubhs hand and talking to him to lower his tension. For him it was an ordeal completed succesfully. By this time the snow fall was increasing. We also saw a small man made ice cave. Nothing much to see here except that you will get to hear national anthems of different countries including India and some messages for tourists were also written in Hindi, just shows the popularity of the destination among Indians. We also saw Amisha Patels photo in the list of celebrities who visited this place. After a lunch of Pizza and Bratwroust, we started on our way back. At mid height is a lake called Trubsee. We took a small detour and went to the lake. The walk was nice. Kaustubh was admiring some of the
flora and fauna by the lake side.

Day 6 - As per our plan, Jungfraujoch was our destination for the day. We took the Golden Pass Panorama train to interlaken. This place is really very beautiful. The lakes surrounding this place and the hilly area on
one side makes for a picturesque setting. Unfortunately, it started raining and there was a sudden drop in temperature. Due to these reasons we decided not to go ahead to Jungfraujoch. I was a bit disappointed since I
wanted to see the ice museum. I had heard a lot about it.

Day 7 - This was a day at leisure when we decided to explore more of Luzern Altstadt. We took a walk on Kapel Brucke and visited the lion monument. This was a day of Diwali padwa, a day special for husband and wife. This was my first padwa and hence will remain special to me all my life. We decided to go to a very fancy restaurant. We had a swiss lunch of veal and pork with gemusse suppe. This was followed by a snitzel at cafe bachmann conditorei. This conditorei is recommended. The pastries just melt in your mouth and its yummy. We went shopping for souvenirs and cuckoo clocks. We only ended up buying a t-shirt. Once we reached back hotel, the temperature had dropped quite a bit. It started raining but very soon the drops changed to snow. It
snowed all night. I was enjoying every bit of it. Snow is always nice when watching from a warm cosy room.

Day 8 - We headed for Zurich to day. The train ride had a different panorama. The landscape was covered with snow. All trees were snow capped. We checked into Hotel Rex. Today we took a general stroll around zurich by the lake and did window shopping. We spent the evening at the Swiss national museum. Kaustubh gifted me a Swatch, my first gift after the wedding.

Day 9 - This was the last day of my trip. Today we explored the old town. Kaustubh being a fan of classical western music so I gifted him some CD's. We had a kebab lunch. We also saw a chocolate making demo. Switzerland is a rich country with a rich heritage. The people here have a very high standard of living and
for Indians like us it is a very expensive place to be in but let me assure you that every penny is well spent and every minute is a treasure for a lifetime. Soon it was time to say good bye to europe with a promise of returning back soon.