Lucerne - Mount Titlis !!!

Swiss tales!!! Summer!! May 2015! 

Feb 2015, my then fiancee was on phone! He was very keen to know about my dream destination. I wondered a little, but very soon realised that it was about our honeymoon. I reluctantly replied "oh, like you're going to take me to Greece or Switzerland😉 !". Then came a huge hearted response "most definitely, if we can plan now!". I ignored at first thinking about the budget, but this conversation got into reality very soon! NZ was in his mind considering Queenstown adventure sports. Merely, the glaciers had their share of luck to get us land in Swiss😀. Honeymoon to Switzerland fulfilled my childhood fantasy😍 !!! We planned 8N 9Ds vacation to the beautiful city of Lucerne and the serene towns of Interlaken and Gstaad.

It was Emirates flight from Bangalore to Dubai and then to Zurich. Hey, I boarded my first flight only then. I was anxious about my flight, the distance away from my parents, with a partner I've known only for some months! I felt some kind of a jolt in my stomach while the flight took off. I held my Mr's arms very tight to overcome my anxiety while he laughed at it. But he also made sure that I was comfortable like a good husband😊. After a few hours of talk came this huge flashy Dubai airport! Our transit to catch the Zurich flight was through a metro, one can imagine how huge the airport could be! My cautious husband did not sleep throughout our journey. He was watching out for the bags we carried having known my excitement about the honeymoon😝, though I asked him to sleep while I was awake. Duh!! once we boarded the flight to Zurich, probably the only time I was awake was when the non-veg meal was served in the flight. But the meal quantity in the flight was disappointing😞 given that I had a lot of expectations about my first meal in my first flight.

Lucerne city!

A freaking cold evening in Lucerne! 
We arrived in this beautiful city from Zurich by train. The train journey already got me the scenic views that I had dreamt of all my life! The huge landscape with the lush green grasslands all around will definitely catch your eye at first. From the time I landed at the airport at Zurich, I got goosebumps again and again due to the chilly breeze. All I could feel was the ice cold weather and the huge travel bag I carried! I was all packed from head to toe. The very first thing I remember telling my better half was that I was going to die in this weather😟 ! Day temperature was around 10 to 15 degrees on an average and it got colder as the day ended. During night, it would be 3 to 8 degrees. My thick skinned husband enjoyed every bit of this weather from day1 in style😜. But it took me a couple of days to get adjusted to this icy chilled weather. 

Ibis Styles along the Friedenstrass was 5 minutes away by bus from the main train station. As we checked in, the most useful thing we found for the given weather was the coffee maker placed in the reception area. After we check-in and got ourselves comfortable, we planned to take an evening walk in the city. The accommodation was good with a nice cozy cushion bed😉, a digital locker for safe keeping, a table with the reading lamp, mini fridge in which we kept the juice bottles we carried from the airport coop store and the bathrobes-wardrobes😀. Highlight of the accommodation was the huge window opening to the city's snowy weather and the distant icebergs! Also, there were few complementary ladybug chocolates lying on the bed which tickled our tastebuds with Swiss flavours! The complementary breakfast here was a thing to remember with its widespread continental varieties😋. 

The walk..

Kapellbrucke (Chapel bridge)

Wow😳 !!! The Lake!!! One can feel the calmness around having a lake amidst the city, the quacky ducks, the roving boats, the white ships, the long bridges across the lake, distant ice covered mountain views, the huge trees and benches along the lake, the tall stone buildings, ufff..I could see my breath as if am smoking! Btw, most people around will be smoking and hence cigarette butts are the only waste you can find in Swiss streets. The Kapellbrucke (Chapel bridge), a covered wooden footbridge walk across the lake felt pleasant with our very first few snaps in the city! Just like a Bollywood movie, we did find a guitar guy playing some romantic tunes in the european city, who earned a coin from my huge hearted Mr😉. As we took a long walk in the city, we found Indian restaurants nearby for our meal and food was something we need not worry about in Lucerne. Day light would be there until it's 9-10pm and post that it would be dark. The strasses (Streets in German) in the city used to be empty and all stores closed by 4pm. We had to walk back to the hotel at around 10pm while it was dark in the silent streets. The gang of 3-4 tall men smoking cigarettes stared at us which scared me a little, but we reached safe to the hotel. 

The journey to Engelberg which is 40 mins away from Lucerne gives you some huge grassland views with a few houses here & there that are placed at an elevation, along with some Swiss cattle & sheeps. The misty weather kept the roads wet! It was snowing when we reached Engelberg! My very first snow experience was no less than a fairytale😊 I stretched my arms as I looked up the sky and rounded with joy! I rushed to my husband and took our first snowy snap! I thought I'd freeze but nothing of such sort happened. The thermal wear along with my denim and a waterproof jacket with the hood, trek shoes, hand gloves worked all fine! Just to have a nostaIgic feel, I had carried a monkey cap as well😉 . Frankly, no fancy caps can better the warmth of a monkey cap😀 ! Umbrella is one thing we missed to carry which is important to take snaps while it is snowing. We exchanged our excursion vouchers with the actual tickets at the valley station. In case you need few necessaries like rain coats, umbrellas, jackets, goggles etc., they are very much available at the station. 


Snowy summit to TITLIS!

Mountain gondola ride!

Excursion to Titlis is a real treat😍 ! It was snowing throughout our journey up the hill. As we walked towards the TITLIS Xpress stands, it got noisy as the huge solid chains moved to pull the gondola. It was a queque system on first-come first-served basis. As we boarded while it was snowing, our view from the cablecar was murky due to the water droplets running all over the cablecar. So we had to wipe the misty glass planes to get some views. The snowy trees along the ride added to the alps beauty. It was frightening when the cablecar used to swing a little while moving through the connecting bridges or while stopping. After reaching a certain altitude in the cablecar, our journey to the summit continued in the TITLIS ROTAIR which happens to be the world's first revolving cablecar! It revolves 360° during the 5 mins journey from the middle station. The rotair gave us a stupendous panoramic view of the Swiss alps while taking us to an altitude of over 3000m. At the top, it's just magical and pure bliss! 

View from gondola!

TITLIS Cliff Walk!!!

TITLIS Cliff Walk!

The tower at the top station was linked to the Europe's highest cliff leading towards the adjacent alps. The view from the highest suspension bridge, the Titlis Cliff Walk was stunning! It was scary when I took a look down the cliff, made me feel like I was having a big fall down the alps and getting lost in the snowy mountains, finding no help😟 . Otherwise it felt filmy to me with all the romcom songs that I was humming😍 .  Snow, snow, snow..all you can see is the extravagant snowy alps around, snowy xmas trees and the cablecars on the solid ropes. Most people were awestruck looking at the glorious glaciers, I think 💭! You can turn around and see all different kinds of posers (including us), be it couples with crazy enthusiasm or the bunch taking selfies. I thought my boring-poser husband came up with a lot more innovative poses than SRK😀 . Me being just a few days into married life, discovered a whole lot of my happy husband. While we played in the snow throwing snow balls at each other, some were busy making snow men.


The station at the summit had a few floors with each having chocolate stores, gifts stores and instant photo studios with remarkable costumes, while the top floor was for the Panorama restaurant. Another interesting place is the Ice cave with music and neon lights all around. One can pose for pictures with the ice carved creations like a giant Toblerone! Titlis Ice Flyer was closed due to snowy weather conditions. This ride will cost you a few extra Swiss Francs or Euros, but I believe it will be one nerve-wracking experience considering it's an open flyer ride down the alps. After having some hot beverages at the Panorama restaurant, our journey back to the ground station started with a hell lot of memories about our many first-time experiences! 

Ice cave!

The Lion Monument!

After relaxing for an hour in Ibis Styles, it was time for our evening walk to the famous dying lion in Lucerne. The Lion Monument signifies the loyalty and bravery of the swiss guards during the french revolution. One can see that the lion is injured after being speared around his shoulders, keeping his head bowed. There's a pond beneath which reflects the lion, amongst the water lillies. We sat here for some time chitchatting and snacking. It's good if you can learn about the history behind this monument, otherwise there's not much to do at this place. But I must say, evening walks in Swiss are like wandering in wonderland😊 . 

This is all I've got to share about Lucerne. Our next destination by train was the beautiful town of Interlaken where we had some more of first-time experiences! 😊

To be continued...



Added information,

>> Swiss Travel Pass is the best choice for worry free travelling. 
It includes, 

• unlimited travelling throughout the country by buses, trains and boats. 
• discounts on trips to mountain excursions.

We opted for weekly pass since we planned for 8-9 days vacation. Thus, it depends on your plan and days of travel. 

>> We got our customised package booked by Thomas Cook. Below is the list of documents provided by Thomas Cook along with some guideline for our travel.

• Hotel and excursion vouchers
• Swiss travel pass for 7 days
• Travel insurance
• Flight booking and visa copies .

>> Local maps makes our life easier with necessary directions for our travel. As I recall, we used to get the city maps from the hotel reception. Most importantly, we always talked to the hotel staff/receptionist for the necessary information on our planned activities. Also to check on bus/train timings.