Excursions from Interlaken

Firstly, we went to Lauterbrunnen - a small village situated at the entrance of an amazing valley

- where we saw the unique Trummelbach Falls
which thunders down in 10 magnificent leaps
nside the mountain and made accessible by an impossible network of man made tunnels running parallel to the falls.
This is one of those places that is impossible to capture in photos, you have to be there to hear the roaring fallsand feel the glacier cold mist on your face
to understand why this place belongs in an UNESCO world heritage site listing.
The second place we visited from Interlaken was Jungfraujoch - popularly known as Top of Europe.
To get up there we took Europe's highest train journey through some amazingly unspoilt settings and breathtakingly beautiful vistas. The construction of the Jungfrau Railway began sometime in 1896 and is situated at an altitude of 3454 metres above sea level. The railway station at Jungfraujoch has an eerie effect because it’s in a tunnel and there is no daylight but the experience is very exciting and indeed an experience of a lifetime.

From here you have a choice to either go up to the Sphinx observation terrace

(from where the above photo was taken)
or to go out into the snow - but in reality you can't come all the way here and not do both!
The one most striking (and slightly disturbing feature) of this leg of our tour was the super high percentage of Indian tourist up there at the top of Jungfrau (probably as high as 75%). Striking - because I was clearly not expecting soo many Indians (mostly Maharashtrian families and just married Gujurati couples) - and Disturbing - because of their ridiculously unruly behavior - they were extremely loud, impolite (to anyone who wasn't part of their large Kesari/SOTC tours' group) and completely inconsiderate to everyone around - who were there to enjoy the beautiful peace and tranquil of the high alps!
The evening was spent exploring Interlaken - a place as it's name suggests geographical positioned between the lakes. This is one of the oldest tourist resort towns in Switzerland, and remains one of the most popular, but most frequently visited by adventure-seeking backpackers. Interlaken is home to numerous backpacker-friendly hostels (like the one in which we stayed) and companies that provide guided services in skydiving, canyoning, hang gliding, paragliding, and skiing - sadly we had no time for any of that!

Ridiculously beautiful Switzerland!

Next day we were headed to Interlaken (where we were to halt at night), on route stopping at Montreux - where we took a quick walk around the city
and along its beautiful promenade along lake Geneva
its here that one of the most famous landmarks of the city stands - a statue of one of the city's most famous residents - Freddie Mercury
but our main destination here was Château de Chillon (a small castle) near by
after the castle we then headed to Lausanne -

where we saw the famous Notre-Dame de Lausanne (below) that was restored by Viollet-le-Duc
then we caught the golden pass panoramic train, on which we had booked the most amazing seats possible - the ones right in front (where the driver is suppose to seat).
It was from this view while winding up and down the valleys
appreciating the many lakes
and the Alps that it really sank in - 'this really is a ridiculously beautiful country'.
Once you get here you too will stop wondering why people refer to this country as 'heaven on earth'!

Geneva

Our first stop in Switzerland - Geneva -
is set in an amazingly beautiful landscape on the edge of the pristine waters of lake Geneva.
In fact the lake front was soo unbelievable that it has sabotaged all my memories of the city.
I will have to spent more time in the city and away from the lake
to make an opinion about the city
- hopefully that chance will come soon!

tourist.be

This is my fourth visit to this country and like always this trip too would be a lightning visit.

The day started with a lesson in history at the famous battle ground of Waterloo where the English finally managed stop Napolean,
the site today is marked by this impressive abstract conical hill called 'Lion's mound'.

The later half of the day was spent in the capital - Brussels.
Here we saw the city's most famous landmark
- the petite Mannekin Pis -

and had lots of chocolates around the Grote Markt,
the central market square of Brussels.
And also managed to see one of the buildings designed by the Belgian master architect of the Art Nouveau style - Victor HortaSadly there wasn't much time to explore the city further since we had an early morning flight to catch to Geneva.

NL

Now to mainland Europe! This was my first visit to the Netherlands after having lived here for 2 years from 2005 till 2007. I was a bit worried of having to face bitter sweet memories at every street corner and was quiet apprehensive. The fear of being unable to appreciate the 3 cities I would visit in this country loomed large!

Luckily my experience in my first city of call - Amsterdam - was quiet contrary and I really enjoyed the city.
As planned we did our round of all the usual touristic stuff - the Van Gogh Museum,
the flower market (above), Dam Square and the of course the famous canal tour. To my surprise I really enjoyed it and I had forgotten how beautiful this city really is!

I also managed to have a pleasant time in the Hague,
where my little cousins just adored the Mini-Holland Park (Madurodam).

My last stop in NL was Rotterdam - now this was never going to be easy! It is here that I went to school and lived. In under 2 years the city had really changed a lot!
Lots of new buildings and infrastructure was being built and parts of the city - that I spend most of my time in - is now a giant building site.I went to my school (the Berlage Institute - below photo) where I met quiet a few familiar faces (Marja, PV, Trummer, Danny, Suchada and Janki),
walked past my favourite housing project in the city,
went to see my favorite building in the city - the Kunsthal -
designed by OMA (above and below)
walked by the Erasmus bridge in front of which I rode my bike everyday.. here too was a brand new tower disappearing into the sky..
walked past my supermarket
and even dared to walk by where I lived! Ahhhh the good old days..
I bite my lip really hard and I didn't let a tear drop - now I'm left wondering if that was a good idea?

Anyhow I'm happy that I was able to visit this slightly eccentric dutch city once again!