Swiss trip - day five

Day five - 30th May, Monday

Today was to be our longest & the most hectic day of the trip - we were to make a trip to Mt. Titlis in the morning followed by a visit to the Rhine Falls in the afternoon. Along the way we also had to shift from Lucerne to Zurich which was to be our halt for Monday night.

We left Lucerne a tad earlier than on previous days and got to the railway station where we left our bags in luggage lockers. Unfortunately, they only had one train an hour for Engelberg which is the base station for the cable cars to Titlis. So we just waited in the train, played Uno and whiled away the time and when the train finally left, we continued playing Uno and whiling away the time. The journey to Engelberg took just an hour. We had purchased combined tickets from the Tourist Information office at Lucerne for the full journey upto Titlis - we did get some discount for the cable cars but Ranga was the happiest of us since having a child meant his family ticket for Vaiju, Aditi & himself was actually cheaper than the two adult tickets both Prashant & I had to buy!

On the train Aditi found herself a friend and very soon they were the best of friends. The other girl and her parents were on a short visit from India and were also headed to Titlis. Engelberg is a small village popular with skiers but in the summer is largely quiet. The cable car station was a short walk away through village streets past quaint hotels & chalets. A small but fast flowing stream marked the outer boundary of the village beyond which was the cable car station.

The four-stage cable car journey to Titlis uses only three cars. The first ascent in a small 6-person cable car crests a plateau to Gerschnialp and the same car then continues on another steep ascent to the small picturesque Trubsee. From here, a bigger gondola rises in a breathtaking journey to Stand (2428 m). From Stand we got into the Rotair which advertises itself as the world's first revolving gondola. During the 5 minute journey from Stand to Titlis, the floor of the gondola moves in a full circle, giving everyone a view of the vast Titlis glacier. Nice to know, except that when we got to Stand, the thick fog allowed barely a few metres of visibility. As the crowd rushed from the gondola to the Rotair, Shoba and I waited a few minutes to put on an extra layer of clothes with the result that the Rotair leaving us on Stand. This allowed us to view the surreal sight of the cable car seemingly disappearing into thin air within seconds! As we took the next cable car, it was like flying through clouds in a slow-moving plane - we could not see a thing and the revolving floor only drove home the point that the fog was thick in every direction!

Titlis is not as tall as Jungfraujoch but the cable car ride over the glacier still makes it very popular with tourists. At the top is the usual circus of souvenir shops, restaurants and the ubiquitous watch shop. We skipped these and headed straight to the Ice Flyer chair car, which was an open-air ski-lift over the Titlis Glacier. Sadly the fog only seemed to get worse and as we flew through the clouds, we could see little beyond the tips of our noses. The ski lift dropped us on a thick snow covered plateau across the glacier where there was the promise of snow sleds & toboganning. I am sure that on nice days the views from the glacier would be very rewarding but today we simply headed in the direction of the small slopes. At one of them, rubber tyre buggies were being used as sleds with the usual long queues. We waited awhile but just as it seemed we could go next, the fog closed off the circuit. We then trudged to another slope a short distance away where young & old were enjoying tobogganing down a small slope on sleds & improvised skis. Not wanting to give up on a good experience, Prashant & I found ourselves small sleds and had a good time, a few times over. Vaiju, Aditi & Ranga were already at this place when we got there, enjoying themselves, Aditi especially! The fog added to the fun - from the top point one could not see the end of the slope so it was basically sliding off into the mist, dodging any obstacles at the last minute!

We spent a good half an hour at the ski slopes after which the weather started getting really bad. We then walked back to the Ice Flyer chairlift and came back to the main circus area where, once again, the restaurant menu pointed to the popularity of the place with us Indians. There was a Spicy Indian Pizza on the menu and there was also a small buffet of rice, daal, etc. After lunch we took the cable car convoy back down, stopping briefly in Trubsee to wander about the place taking some photographs.

At Engelberg we had a few minutes before our train, so used the opportunity to buy some of the current stamp issues, including one of the Matterhorn which when inverted shows a map of the African continent. Novel.

From Engelberg we returned to Lucerne to pick up our bags and caught the direct service to Zurich, playing Uno all the way. By now our plans to visit Rhine Falls was in some doubt. When we reached Zurich at 1815, it was raining in the city. The Tourist office in the station advised us that while the Rhine Falls were a much recommended attraction, we might not enjoy it very much if it was still raining. We had also missed the direct trains to Schloss Lausen and everyone was a bit tired so the decision was made to proceed to the hotel first. Our hotel in Zurich was the Ibis and while it looked near on the map, we realised it was a tram ride away. The rain showed no sign of stopping so we had to go out into the rain to catch our tram. By the time we got to the hotel it was 8 at night and all of us were drenched.

We were all very hungry too, so Deeps & Prashant and Shoba & I set off once again back to the town centre to see if any restaurants were open. Vaiju & Ranga had got a pizza from the station so we guys took the tram back to town. As we wandered the streets of Zurich town centre looking for a restaurant, I couldn't help notice the Paddington bear display in one of the streets. Every few metres there was a metre high bear made out to represent popular motifs, cultural icons, etc. The entire street was lined on both sides with these models - I even noticed one made out as Ganesha. I didn't have my camera with me otherwise we would have had a nice snap here! On the food front, the only place open was McDonald's so a quick burger later we were back in the hotel where we decided to watch the highlights of the trip captured through the camcorder. All of us gathered round in V&R's room and had a nice time commenting on the recordings. It was our last evening together in Switzerland before the Glasgow gang headed back home the next morning while D&R made their way to Geneva.