Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Holidaying in swissland!!! Update # 1

Well so am in Switzerland .. well in Switzerland again on the way to Db training in London with the entire Db gang.

And am I enjoying it? Well yeah sure !! its awesome.. its mind blowing and I dunno y but it feels like am home again..
Having stayed here for like 3 months and having traveled and seen every gaon, gali and nukkad and the returning back is a feeling that I don’t think a lot of people can relate to. I mean I have the memories and joys and the brilliant moments that I spent here last time. And now suddenly its all nostralgia. The memories keep coming back.
Well yeah! That’s wat it is to be back!!

So to begin with we had a perfect flight all the way to Zurich. The Swiss people known for their wonderful and caring nature were very receptive in the flight, catering to all our needs and more than made up for the very less leg space in the flight. In one line, they kept us “full” literally but stuffin food onto us. There were like 4 times when the snacks bar was taken around and same was the case with the drinks trolley. Wll I know why I am so happy. That because I had my fave beer “Heineken” and it sure tasted like crazy!!

So once we had landed, the immigration was plain and simple and so was the currency conversion and other formalities. And so began our wait for our two guides:: Nijhara and sharmanzeee!!!! And they for once did not disappoint us and turned up duly in time. Sharma for once hasn’t changed a bit but nijhara with his cropped hair was looking like a pucca “Southhall Punjabi munda”. I cant believe myself that I used that term!! Well I mean I haven’t touced base in London yet and all I am doin is using their terminology!!

So while the group decided to park their luggage in Sharmazee’s place, I decided to tag along and have ameet up with nijhara. Its always nice to meet friends, good to meet best friends and great to meet best friends in Switzerland!!!! So that really sums up my emotions in meeting nijhara there!!!

So after dumping our dumping at sharmazees place, we went to our ex home, St Gallen’s. St Gallen’s is a city which can be best defined by something that Parvathy said about it. And it is that “St Gallen’s is one place in Switzerland that has both the old traditional look (well the Church) about it and at the same time has a very contemporary urban and city look (the Red Lounge) to it.

So we went back to Zurich haptbahnof and w/o even looking at the timings (which we obviously knew by heart) took the first train back to home J.
And then it was like the old times all the way! Well Zurich flugafen, Winterthur, Wil, Utzwil, Flawil, Gossau and finally St gallen. So we got down at the station, took a long breath and finally to our apartment.

It had been a long and tiring morning and with such huge amounts of luggage (thanks to the n number of ready to eats and masala’s) that we decided to take a cab to the apartment. One thing about taking cans here is that you get to sit in the cars which you only talk about in India. So I made myself comfy in a sweet Volvo (well “sweet” is the only word that can probably describe the car!!!!!) and then paid a huge sum for a ride of barely 4 mins!! But it was more than its worth in the currency!!
J
so we dragged our luggage upto the first floor ( believe me it was quite an ordeal) and made ourselves at home. Refreshed soon enough and made our journey back to Zurich HB.

Zurich is one of the places in Switzerland that actually doesn’t have too many places to boast of. But it sure has one of the best high streets in the world. Its not only got the best brands but more importantly its got the best crowd. The people are soo stylish and wonderfully dressed that it make sthat place even better and makes you realize how inadequately dresses you are!!! But yeah who cares!!! Having filled our empty stomachs with some Mc Chicken we made our way to the famed Zurich Zoo. Zurich zoo happened to be the first zoo that I have ever been to. Its tagline is what interests me the most.
“Its not a zoo, it’s a Zooh!!!”

the experience inside the zoo was quite awesome. I mean apart from the real attractions like the rhino and hippo, tiger, lion, elephant and others they had awesome facilities for children. But my fave area was the penguins. These are such surreal yet not so surreal animals and can stay w/o moving at one place for so long that its quite unnerving!!!!
So in all it was quite a wonderful experience and we finally managed to make our way out of the maze of the zoo/wildlife park and then took the first tram to the main station. The best thing about the Swiss youth pass (one that I have) is that it is not only valid on the trains but on the intra city transport as well. And so it sure solves all head aches associated with buying expensive tickets and other stuffs!! But the best part is still to come. Over the period of my travel and through something that my friends from the Sweden trip called the “Learning Curve” is that – you can best see the entire city but taking a day pass and then sitting through the buses of that city. These buses take you from one end of the city to another and so not only do u see the entire city but also you do that w/o straining a single muscle. So that’s precisely what we did in Zurich and saw the entire city. By then we were totally exhausted. So we took the first train to St gallen, and then I hit the sack!! It sure was a darn tiring day but making the most outta it was the most satisfying task!!!
End of day 1!!!!!

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