An Alpine Adventure

The Volvo was speeding towards Yash Chopra land. With my nose firmly stuck to the window of the bus, my eyes were busy soaking in the vast stretches of verdant greens. I was expecting Madhuri Dixit to surface any minute, running around in a flirty chiffon with Lata Mangeshkar’s lalaaaa lalalaaa reverberating in the background. All I saw was potty trained, fat cows and beautiful chalets dotting the landscape. Sitting next to me was my better half, snoring softly. The one, I had waited all my life to complete my sentences. To look deep into my eyes and whisper “you complete me’. This was before Jerry Maguire stole our line and bared his heart to his much ignored secretary.

We were on our second honeymoon, to what lesser mortals call Switzerland. Seven summers back we decided that we wanted to embark on a duniya dekho trip. Since it was our first trip to the Continent, we decided to play safe and chose a readymade package from a reputed leisure Travel Company. And why not, it promised the sun and the moon with a host of glitzy locales thrown in. It sounded like a pretty good deal.

So here we were, a motley crew from Kanpur to Kozhikode heading towards the land of chocolate and cheese. The word excitement falls short of describing what I was feeling. To be amidst straight- out- a- calendar splendour. So captivatingly beautiful that you almost forgot to breathe. The snow capped Alps, crystal clear lakes, glacier fed streams gurgling merrily, emerald green slopes dotted with pretty alpine villages, heritage buildings, cobbled streets, the sound of cowbells tinkling merrily – Switzerland seems like God’s own abode!

I knew I was in Zurich, when a portly gent from Ludhiana started hollering on his mobile. He urgently wanted to inform his beloved friends and family that he had reached Jurich and Yahan ka temperature minus jeero hai! Actually we had quite a few unique specimens in our bus. The newly- wed femme fatale screaming “Janooo... chaarries” at a supermarket in Germany only to be interrupted with a “but Aunty these are strawberries”. The solemn looking Doctor from West Bengal who would start jumping around like a pogo stick after downing a few glasses of wine...The penny wise Mumbaikar who survived on packets of Haldiram bhujiya but went mad shopping for handbags at Interlaken... And of course me, getting my kicks by observing the antics... Our co-passengers were thoroughly entertaining.

We were going to stay in Engelberg, a charming village at the foot of Mt Titlis- a glacier paradise peak famed for its skiing. Our hotel set in a mountain side gave us a vantage view of this picture-pretty hamlet. But the best part was the hotel’s own railway car. Imagine going up to your hotel in a small carriage, on a railway track? It required immense self-control on my part, not to jump up and down like an excited kid let loose in Disneyland!

Next morning we were crunching our way on the snow covered slopes of Mt Titlis. The sight of vast stretches of snow can get a little intimidating. You realize your teeth are chattering faster than a Concorde and this even after you are covered up like an Eskimo. For the first time in my life, I was missing a monkey cap. But it doesn’t take too much to warm up to snow. One minute, I was gingerly trying to make snowballs and failing miserably and the next minute, I was clutching a sled and getting ready to zip down a glacier track! The joy of going down a slope in full speed, the powdery snow caressing your face, your arms flailing in abandonment and you realize that you are screaming with unbridled joy!

After two days of a hectic itinerary, which covered Jungfrau (Europe’s highest altitude railways station), Lucerne and Interlaken, we finally got a day to ourselves. Freedom from a water-tight schedule was an unexpected windfall. But we were in a fix – what do we do to make most of our day? Do we travel to a new city, do we loiter around at the local market and shop for made-in-China Swiss mementoes? Or should we just relax. Now relaxing is something we Indians abhor, especially when we are on a vacation. For us it’s a matter of prestige, how much we have managed to cram in day! What! You covered just Louvre and Eiffel Tower today. Bunty and I took a river cruise, shopped at Galleries Lafayette, went to Disneyland, walked up all the way to Sacre Coeur and watched a show at the Lido! And now my back is killing me and I can’t feel my toes. Such fun, na?

We just had an evening to chart out hectic plans for the next day. We were scurrying around like lost rabbits in the hotel lobby, when we saw a young guy playing piano in a quiet corner. It helped that he was very good looking. But when you are married, you say a silent yayy!, look lovingly at your husband and exclaim –“how beautifully he plays”. It turned out he had a beautiful voice as well.

Has it ever happened with you? When you meet a person and feel you have known him all your life. There we were, three of us, talking animatedly, sharing stories, singing our favourite Eagles numbers, oblivious to the rest of the world. An Indian, he had been in Switzerland for quite a while and had covered most of it in the famed Swiss Rail. I can still recall the way he described Berne’s old town. The way his eyes shone as he spoke about the arcaded walkways, streets decked with fountains and the ancient clock towers. I saw Berne through his eyes. And then he described this angelic site in our own little town – a series of waterfalls at its outskirts. We now had a plan and what’s more we’d just had one the most amazing evenings. It was past midnight when we reluctantly made our way to our rooms.

The waterfalls were spectacularly beautiful and so was the walk that took us past an ancient monastery, lush fields and sparkling streams. We even managed to get lost in a forest and I almost gave the chef of a local bistro, a heart attack. You are not expected to jump with joy, when the chef places an almost alive fish, sitting mermaid style, staring accusingly at you with its dead fish eyes and expects you to chomp it up! You shriek right? So loud that the chef hastily removes the fish and goes running back to the kitchen. So fast that I am convinced he broke an Olympic record.

That evening, I spent hours next to the window of my hotel, listening to the valley reverberate to the sounds of an alpine horn. I sighed, as my eyes took in the panoramic views one last time. Next morning as we were about to leave for France, our next stop, I was desperately seeking our friend. I wanted to thank him and bid a final adieu. He was nowhere to be seen. There were no good byes exchanged, no warm handshakes and I left with just memories of laughter and melody.

Expedia, I hope you are sending me back to Switzerland