Swiss trip - day three

Day three - 28th May, Saturday

The original plan for the day was to go up to the Klein Matterhorn by cable car from Zermatt, but this was closed for repairs so the tourist office recommended the ever popular train to Gornergrat, offering excellent views of the Matterhorn. Everything in Zermatt is about the Matterhorn. This impossibly pointed peak, in the minds of a lot of people, stands for Switzerland. In reality it is only one amongst the 30-40 odd peaks around the Zermatt area but it is the only one that can be immediately recognised by anyone.

The Gornergrat Railway runs on metre gauge cogwheel tracks from Zermatt to Gornergrat which at 3130 m is Switzerland's highest open-air railway station. The route is winding & twisted, like all the mountain railways in Switzerland. It hauls tourists a distance of just under 6 miles but climbs almost 1500 m (4900 ft) during the 45 minute journey. The views are fantastic - we got into the front car which allowed us to stand next to the driver's cabin and enjoy excellent views. We started climbing almost immediately after leaving Zermatt. The Matterhorn was a constant feature on the journey, but the lesser known snow covered peaks all around also added to the beauty.

In the winter this is a very popular skiing area but there was still a lot of snow when we got to the top. Gornergrat has little beyond the station, a part of which doubles up as a viewing platform for the nearby peaks & the Matterhorn. Like most of the peaks around us, Gornergrat is also covered with snow throughout the year and in anticipation we had taken along a pile of warm clothes. But strangely, the temperature at the top was still above zero and with hardly any wind, just a light fleece proved sufficient to keep the cold away. This was a constant feature of all the peaks that we went up during this trip - the weather was actually better than here in Glasgow!

The draw of a snow covered field was too much for all of us and very soon, we were having our snowfights while Aditi & Shoba were making a tiny snowman. We must've spent an hour at the top but with little outside the station, we were very soon headed down on the same railway. Our next stop was at Riffelberg, which has a restaurant & is the food stop on the route. We had picked up some sandwiches from Zermatt but virtually everyone in the train got off and made a beeline to the restaurant. At Gornergrat we had seen maps of hiking trails from Riffelberg to Riffelalp but the station crew at Riffelberg cautioned us against this walk for reasons that the language barrier prevented us from knowing. We then decided to walk down from Riffelberg to Zermatt, which would still get us down to Zermatt in time for our direct train to Interlaken that evening.

At Riffelalp (2200 m) the walking trail was clearly marked out. Vaiju & Ranga decided to continue in the train to Zermatt. The four of us - Deeps & Prashant and Shoba & I - set off alongwith a small group of other hikers for the 90 minute walk that would take us about 600 m down to Zermatt. It was a lovely walk through wooded countryside, through a narrow & often steep path with tall coniferous trees on both sides. It was a well-trodden path though I cannot imagine anyone but the exceptionally fit heading in the reverse direction to us. We stopped at a few spots on the way, primarily to record clips for Prashant's video diary. As we got near Zermatt, the woods gave way to small brown chalets set in green fields with small yellow flowers and surrounded by the Alps - it was the exact picture that I had built up in my mind about Switzerland.

We got to Zermatt with about 30 minutes to spare for our train to Interlaken. Vaiju & Ranga, after returning to Zermatt in the train, had spent some time in the shops, got refreshed at the hotel and arranged for the bags to be brought down to the railway station. We met them at the station and set off from Zermatt at 1630. After a couple of changes we reached Interlaken by 1930. We spent the journey part sightseeing and partly playing Uno, a card game that Deeps & Prashant had got with them.

Interlaken is a small picturesque town of little interest but provides a very convenient base from which to explore the tourist points of Jungfrau, Lucerne, etc. This location has made it popular with all the tours from India, with the result that a visitor to Interlaken can be forgiven for assuming that the town has been colonised by Indians. As we walked the few minutes to our hotel, we felt the warm familiarity that comes of seeing so many of the same colour! There were further indications - small signboards in Hindi outside shops advertising Cheese Fondue, others saying in Hindi that they will accept Euros. As we checked in, our hotel owner mentioned that as if regular Indian tourists were not enough, that night Interlaken was also playing host to President APJ Abdul Kalam who was on an official visit to Switzerland.

Just as we checked in the skies suddenly opened up and unleashed a fury of rain & hail that would do an Indian downpour proud. All of us watched from our windows as the rains lashed the town set to a fast & furious rhythm of thunder & lightning - the spectacle lasted almost 30 minutes after which it ended just as quickly as it started.

That evening since India seemed to be the overriding theme, we had dinner at Spice India. If I had closed my eyes and not looked at the streets outside, I would've said I was at a restaurant in Bombay or any Indian city. The food was excellent and after a sumptous meal, Deeps, Prashant, Shoba and I went on a walkabout in the main street. Vaiju & Ranga had had dinner in the hotel room since Aditi had fallen asleep soon after getting to Interlaken. Interlaken town is really just a long street with the usual souvenir & watch shops - the only establishment of any interest was Hooter's, a restaurant/pub with a rather amusing reputation (Ranga's story ;-)). After a short walk we came back to the hotel and called it quits for the day.