Dear readers,
The description of my trip to Europe has reached up-to my visit to Berlin.
The exit of ours from Berlin left us feeling very odd. We flew by air to Zurich. The airport we passed through was Tegel.
The airport is very big, but it's interior design, especially after the security check, is unimpressive.
The interior designing of airports in major Indian cities is better by comparison, but of course, most of them aren't as big, and are relatively modern, but Tegel did not seem well-maintained enough to be an airport of the German capital.
In Zurich, we went to our hotel by cab. That was the first time in my life that I saw cabs with their own Wi-Fi hotspots. Unfortunately, my mobile phone ran out of battery.
It was, therefore, only at the hotel that I understood the rate of conversion between the Swiss Franc and the INR.
One thing that hits you when you're not a rich Indian visiting Switzerland is that the prices are very high. Zurich is one of the costliest cities in the world, no wonder.
But, I'd have to say that the experience was worth it. Switzerland is a really good place to visit for tourism.
We visited the Swiss Alps twice. We visited Jungfraujoch and Mt. Titlis, in that order.
The details of these tours and the descriptions of these locations is easily available online.
On the first of these tours, I was nervous. Our tour guide kept on reminding us that acclimatisation to the high altitude is necessary. There are, in fact, two stops inside the mountain named Eiger, which are meant for that purpose.
That, however, is not the reason I was nervous. The reason I was nervous was because I visited the Gurudongmar Lake a few years back, and I had a near-fainting experience because I ran outside from the car which had it's windows rolled up. For your information, Jungfraujoch is at 3,466 m and Gurudongmar is at 5,430 m.
The other reason was that I discussed what could happen, if there really was a problem, with my parents, who are both doctors (as in those who treat patients).
The stay there was very enjoyable for me. Sub-zero temperatures, snow, ice, and a very Indian restaurant with food that had taste, and was tasty. I over-ate and slept soundly on the return journey.
On the trip to Mt. Titlis, we had a Pakistani couple and their grandson along with us. The grandfather was well-travelled. The good thing with meeting Pakistani people on neutral ground (very much so, in this case (geddit?)) is that you can have good conversations in the common language of Urdu.
When we look into the lyrics of most Hindi Bollywood songs, we realise that most of the lyrics are Urdu. That doesn't come as a surprise. The languages are very similar, since Hindi is derived from Urdu and other Indian languages, Sanskrit, in particular, Hindi is, in my opinion, the symbol of unity in diversity in India.
One thing that I realised after these tours is that Switzerland is a small country. We traversed almost half of the country twice in those tours!
Well, further, further!
The description of my trip to Europe has reached up-to my visit to Berlin.
The exit of ours from Berlin left us feeling very odd. We flew by air to Zurich. The airport we passed through was Tegel.
The airport is very big, but it's interior design, especially after the security check, is unimpressive.
The interior designing of airports in major Indian cities is better by comparison, but of course, most of them aren't as big, and are relatively modern, but Tegel did not seem well-maintained enough to be an airport of the German capital.
In Zurich, we went to our hotel by cab. That was the first time in my life that I saw cabs with their own Wi-Fi hotspots. Unfortunately, my mobile phone ran out of battery.
It was, therefore, only at the hotel that I understood the rate of conversion between the Swiss Franc and the INR.
One thing that hits you when you're not a rich Indian visiting Switzerland is that the prices are very high. Zurich is one of the costliest cities in the world, no wonder.
But, I'd have to say that the experience was worth it. Switzerland is a really good place to visit for tourism.
We visited the Swiss Alps twice. We visited Jungfraujoch and Mt. Titlis, in that order.
The details of these tours and the descriptions of these locations is easily available online.
On the first of these tours, I was nervous. Our tour guide kept on reminding us that acclimatisation to the high altitude is necessary. There are, in fact, two stops inside the mountain named Eiger, which are meant for that purpose.
That, however, is not the reason I was nervous. The reason I was nervous was because I visited the Gurudongmar Lake a few years back, and I had a near-fainting experience because I ran outside from the car which had it's windows rolled up. For your information, Jungfraujoch is at 3,466 m and Gurudongmar is at 5,430 m.
The other reason was that I discussed what could happen, if there really was a problem, with my parents, who are both doctors (as in those who treat patients).
The stay there was very enjoyable for me. Sub-zero temperatures, snow, ice, and a very Indian restaurant with food that had taste, and was tasty. I over-ate and slept soundly on the return journey.
On the trip to Mt. Titlis, we had a Pakistani couple and their grandson along with us. The grandfather was well-travelled. The good thing with meeting Pakistani people on neutral ground (very much so, in this case (geddit?)) is that you can have good conversations in the common language of Urdu.
When we look into the lyrics of most Hindi Bollywood songs, we realise that most of the lyrics are Urdu. That doesn't come as a surprise. The languages are very similar, since Hindi is derived from Urdu and other Indian languages, Sanskrit, in particular, Hindi is, in my opinion, the symbol of unity in diversity in India.
One thing that I realised after these tours is that Switzerland is a small country. We traversed almost half of the country twice in those tours!
Well, further, further!
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