We had 2 days gap between the Paris trip and this one. When we returned home, we started packing for this trip and restocked all of the ready-to-eat foods for this bigger trip.
Day 1 – 4 August 2022
We started from home at 9 a.m. for Germany. On the way, we saw a sign pop up on the car dashboard. A quick Google search told us that our tire had low pressure. So, we stopped at one of the petrol pumps on the way and filled the tyre with appropriate air pressure. The sign did not go away, so we got scared that one of the tires might have punctured. We stopped at another petrol pump when we crossed the border into Germany. The sign was still blinking. We later discovered that we needed to reset the alert after filling the tyre pressure.
After traveling for half the day, we reached Eltz Castle, which is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle between Koblenz and Trier, Germany. It is still owned by a branch of the same family (the Eltz family) that lived there in the 12th century, thirty-three generations ago. We had to hike down 1 km through the forest to get to the castle. The castle is hidden in the forest and looks breathtaking. We have not been inside the castle because it was way too busy with a long line. A shuttle service was available, which we used to return to the parking lot.
We then stayed in a town in Germany which was close to the border of Switzerland. The place was a huge upgrade from where we lived in Paris.
Day 2 – 5 August 2022
We left for Switzerland early morning after having breakfast. We had planned to visit a few places before going to our hotel for the trip.
Our 1st stop was Rhine Falls, which is a waterfall located in Switzerland and the most powerful waterfall in Europe. The falls are located on the High Rhine on the border between the cantons of Schaffhausen and ZĆ¼rich. Over a width of 150 metres and a height of 23 metres, an average of 700,000 litres of water cascade over the rocks every second. The Rhine Falls were formed in the last ice age, approximately 14,000 to 17,000 years ago, by erosion-resistant rocks narrowing the riverbed. The first glacial advances created today’s landforms approximately 500,000 years ago. The Rhine falls are quite impressive to see. There are plenty of good spots to observe the Rhine Falls along the river. There are many boat options available to go to the middle of the falls and even to climb the rock in the middle of the fall. We took the pink boat trip to see Rhinefalls which had an audioguide that tells the historical story about Rhinefalls in many languages. The weather was so hot that we got confused for some time if we were really in Switzerland or in Germany.
We then traveled to Lucerne, the most populous city in central Switzerland and a nexus of economics, transportation, culture, and media in the region. The official language of Lucerne is German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect, Lucerne German. We walked around the old city to visit a few landmarks.
We walked to the KapellbrĆ¼cke (Chapel Bridge), which is a covered wooden footbridge spanning the river Reuss diagonally in the city of Lucerne in central Switzerland. Named after the nearby St. Peter’s Chapel, the bridge is unique in containing a number of interior paintings dating back to the 17th century, although many of them were destroyed along with a larger part of the centuries-old bridge in a 1993 fire. It is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe, as well as the world’s oldest surviving truss bridge. It was adorned with beautiful paintings and flowers.
We then went to Musegg Wall which is the old city walls. The Musegg Wall and the nine Musegg Towers formed part of the townās fortifications. The 800-metre-long wall, erected around 1400 following the Battle of Sempach, is considered one of the longest, best-preserved defensive walls in Switzerland. Schirmer Tower is one of nine towers of the Musegg Wall in the city of Lucerne. It is located between the Zytturm and the Pulverturm. At the Schirmerturm, the gate of the same name leads out of the city into the countryside. Two windows on each side offer a panoramic view of the city of Lucerne, Lake Lucerne and Mount Pilatus. It is open to the public so we climbed the tower. The weather finally changed and it started raining.
We then proceeded to our apartment for the trip to Sumiswald. By the time we arrived, the weather was cold, just like we expected Switzerland to be. The weather was nice for the rest of the trip.
Day 3 – 6 August 2022
We woke up early the next morning and got ready as quickly as possible. The weather was supposed to be cloudy the whole week we were there. So we were very confused if we would be able to enjoy the view from the peaks. After much deliberation in the car, we finally decided to go for it as the weather seemed pleasant and might remain the same for at least half the day.
We went to Jungfrau, which is one of the main summits of the Bernese Alps, located between the northern canton of Bern and the southern canton of Valais, halfway between Interlaken and Fiesch. The construction of the Jungfrau Railway in the early 20th century, which connects Kleine Scheidegg to the Jungfraujoch, the saddle between the Mƶnch and the Jungfrau, made the area one of the most-visited places in the Alps. The Jungfrau Railway, a rack railway, now goes to the Jungfraujoch railway station at 3,454 m (11,332 ft), providing easy access to the upper Aletsch Glacier and relatively short access to the Jungfrau itself. A large complex of tunnels and buildings has been constructed at the Jungfraujoch, referred to as the “Top of Europe”. There are several restaurants and bars, shops, multimedia exhibitions, a post office, and a research station with dedicated accommodation facilities. An elevator enables access to the top of the Sphinx and its observatory, at 3,571 m (11,716 ft), the highest viewing platform in the area. Outside, at the level of the Jungfraujoch, there is a ski school, and the “Ice Palace”, a collection of elaborate ice sculptures displayed inside the Aletsch Glacier. Another tunnel leads to the east side of the Sphinx, where one can walk on the glacier up to the Mƶnchsjoch Hut, the only hotel infrastructure in the area.
We returned back to the base station in Grindelwald and were discussing where to go next. We stopped by for a bathroom break at the station. Mummyji saw a grocery shop and decided to buy some vegetables for dinner. Rishi was shopping with her. Nupur had also gone to the washroom after me, so when I was done, I came back to check if they were still shopping in the grocery store or had moved on to some other shop. I saw that they were still busy shopping, so I informed Nupur, reapplied my lipstick, and went back to the shop. During my last washroom trip, Mummyji had somehow fallen and was bleeding from her lips. The shop staff were giving her first aid. Later, Rishi and Mummyji explained how it had happened. Rishi was carrying the shopping basket and had kept it on the floor while he was getting some mushrooms. Mummyji stepped back, her leg got stuck in the basket, and she fell face-forward. Apart from the lip cut, she had also hurt her knees. After this, we dropped all our plans and went back home to rest.
Nupur, Rishi, and I decided to take a walk around our rented apartment. Rishi randomly pointed to one side, saying it looked good, and we just proceeded to walk in that direction. We crossed a small stream on the way. We saw a cowshed where all the cows were numbered. After living in Europe for a while, it was my first time seeing cowdung on the roads. I had never seen a cow climb a mountain before, it was fascinating.
Day 4 – 7 August 2022
Since we had covered an important point the day before, we were a bit more relaxed. We got ready and left for the day.
Shikhar and Sree were also traveling to Switzerland at the same time. They had sat at a viewpoint near their hotel the day before. Rishi had asked for the location from them. And we decided to visit that viewpoint and relax a bit. We parked our car on the side, took out our blanket and snacks, and had a mini picnic on the spot. The view was amazing, as always, and since we were relaxing, we also played a little game of spot the point based on descriptions given by others.
We then proceeded to Blausee, which is a small lake in Switzerland, located in the Kander Valley above Kandergrund, at 887 meters above sea level. The lake is near the Kander River. The Blausee is located in a 20-hectare nature park. The water in the lake comes from underground sources and is therefore crystal clear. It was a lovely location, with turquoise-cold, crisp waters flowing off the mountains. There were a lot of different walking paths, and we could follow the route given on the map to discover them. We completed 2 different routes around the park. One was Forest View, which took us through a heavily tree-surrounded path where we also saw alpacas on the way. The alpacas came to anyone who pulled the branches for them to eat the leaves. The second was a canyon route where we had to go under rock cave-like structures. Both routes were quite enjoyable.
I am not a huge fan of DDLJ like I am of Jab We Met, but I didn’t want to miss out on the chance to do some Bollywood tourism in Switzerland. So I decided to visit Gstaad and Saanen, where DDLJ was shot. There were lots of articles for doing a DDLJ tour, and it had all the places with scenes marked. I followed those to make the list of places to visit.
We visited Gstaad, where the song Zara Sa Jhoom Loon Main was shot. I took lots of pictures of that street. Then we went to Saanen, where the church shown in DDLJ is located. There was also a bridge where a DDLJ poster was clicked and the iconic palat scene was shot. Because of its popularity among Indians, this bridge has now been named DDLJ Bridge, and it has the same DDLJ poster that was clicked here. We tried to recreate that pose. Finally, we visited the Saanem station, where Kajol finally boards her train. Not everyone was as excited or interested in these things, so I skipped the other station where she missed her train.
Day 5 – 8 August 2022
We planned to visit places around Interlaken. On the way to our first stop, there was a turn that we missed, and the navigation rerouted us to a path that had a narrow road with a huge incline at the turn. While passing that point, we hit something at the bottom of the car. We thought we had definitely hit the oil tank, but that was not the case. Whenever we parked that day, we checked for oil drippings, but only found some water drippings. We are still not sure where the water was dripping from.
Our first stop was Panorama Bridge Sigriswil (PanoramabrĆ¼cke Sigriswil), a 340 m long pedestrian suspension bridge stretching over the Gummi Gorge at 180 m height and connects the two villages Aeschlen and Sigriswil in the Canton of Bern. It is located between Thun and Interlaken at the Thun Lake and the bridge allows for a spectacular view of this lake and the Bernese Alps. I was excited to see this bridge as it was featured in one of the KDrama called Crash Landing On You (CLOY). At the end of episode 4, Yoon Se-ri (Son Ye-jin) wants to commit suicide on this bridge. At the same time, Ri Jeong-hyeok (Hyun Bin) and his fiancĆ©e Seo Dan (Seo Ji-hye) are here to take pictures. Ri Jeong-hyeok stops Yoon Se-ri from commiting suicide by asking her to take a picture of them and walking off the bridge. There was a sign board with a poster of CLOY. I even tried to recreate one of the stills from the drama where Se-ri is holding a recorder in her hand while standing on the brigde.
On the way to our next stop we stopped at one of the spots along the Lake Thun.
Our next stop was St Beatus Caves, which is a popular cave system featuring lit pathways leading through tunnels and chambers. The cave tour includes many charmingly named stalactites and stalagmites, and a number of underground waterfalls and lakes. So far, roughly 14 km of the extensive cave system have been mapped. Visitors can explore around one kilometre in the depths of the Niederhorn massif, following a well-designed and safely lit path. Along the way, visitors will cross several bridges and see the gushing waterfall as it makes its way out of the cave. Whatever the time of year, the temperature in the caves is constant, between 8Ā°C and 10Ā°C. It is therefore advisable to dress warmly. It is a picturesque cave with stunning pools and a waterfall.
Finally, we decided to visit a small Swiss town. We had a choice between going to Wengen & MĆ¼rren from Lauterbrunnen. After a little google search, we were still confused as both seemed beautiful. We ended up choosing MĆ¼rren because it had a cable car and a train ride to reach it while Wengen had only a train ride. The way to MĆ¼rren seemed more fun. MĆ¼rren is a traditional Walser mountain village in the Bernese Highlands of Switzerland, at an elevation of 1,638 metres (5,374 ft) above sea level and it cannot be reached by public road. The village features a view of the three towering mountains Eiger, Mƶnch, and Jungfrau. MĆ¼rren has a year-round population of 450, but has 2,000 hotel beds. We bought some sovenirs from there and enjoyed the wonderful view.
Day 6 – 9 August 2022
Since it was our last day in Switzerland, we decided to take it slow and enjoy the day instead of running around from one place to another.
We drove to Vitznau where we hopped on the cogwheel train to the summit. Mount Rigi is home to the oldest cogwheel train in Europe. The Rigi (or Mount Rigi; also known as Queen of the Mountains) is a mountain massif in the Alps, located in Central Switzerland. The whole massif is almost entirely surrounded by the water of three different bodies of water: Lake Lucerne, Lake Zug and Lake Lauerz. The combination of the lower lands with mountain ranges offers a breathtaking 360-degree panoramic view of hundreds of Alpine peaks and 13 lakes. We reached the top and had a picnic with the sandwiches that we had packed from home. We enjoyed the view and clicked lots of pictures. While we were clicking pictures, a bee stung me on my arm, so we had to pause the photo session for a while. Even with the sting, the whole experience was wonderful.
While returning to our hotel, we saw a hiking trail very close to our hotel and thought if we come back next time to that hotel we would definitely go on a hike on one of these trails.
When we returned, we packed our bags as we had to leave the next day early.
Day 7 – 10 August 2022
We said goodbye to Switzerland and left early in the morning for Germany.
We drove for half the day before stopping in Trier. Trier is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It was founded by the Celts in the late 4th century BC as Treuorum and conquered 300 years later by the Romans, who renamed it Augusta Treverorum (“The City of Augustus among the Treveri”). Trier is considered Germany’s oldest city. It is also the oldest seat of a bishop north of the Alps. Trier was one of the four capitals of the Roman Empire during the Tetrarchy period in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries. Because of its significance during the Roman and Holy Roman empires, several monuments and cathedrals within Trier are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
We were walking towards a city gate when we saw the Karl Marx Statue on the way. When we crossed the street to get to the statue, the regular man in red and green at the pedestrian traffic lights was the silhouette of Marx. The Karl Marx Statue is a monument on Simeonstiftplatz in Trier. It was unveiled on May 5, 2018, on the occasion of Karl Marx’s 200th birthday in his native city. The bronze statue weighs 2.3 tons and is 5.50 meters high, including the base, a nod to Marx’s date of birth on May 5, 1818. The pentagonal base is made of concrete covered with basalt panels, and the statue is made of bronze.
We then walked to Porta Nigra, a large Roman city gate in Trier, Germany. It is now the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps. In 1986, it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site for Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier. This is a testament to Trier’s influence in the Roman Empire and as a unique architectural piece. Due to its dark stone, Porta Nigra was named in the Middle Ages. The original Roman name has not survived. It was a beautiful monument.
We then walked on the SimeonstraĆe and bought gelato and then I spotted Dreikƶnigenhaus. Painted white and with colourful patterns around its semi-circular windows, the Dreikƶnigenhaus is a Romanesque and Gothic patrician house from 1230. At that time defence was the first thing wealthy families were worried about, which is why the house is more like a fortified tower.
We walked our way to the HauptMarkt, a market square. The soul of Medieval Trier, this marketplace was laid out in the 10th century after the previous one was ransacked during a Viking raid a few decades earlier. The three-metre market cross was erected to commemorate this event in 958 and has a Carolingian capital, while its column was used as a pillory for public punishments from the 13th century on. The market is always crowded with visitors and is lined with old, very beautiful houses.
Our next stop was Trier Cathedral (the High Cathedral of Saint Peter), a Roman Catholic cathedral. It is the oldest church in Germany and the largest religious structure in Trier, notable for its long life span and grand design. The central part of the nave was built of Roman brick in the early fourth century, resulting in a cathedral that was added onto gradually in different eras.
On the south wall of Trier Cathedral, there is Liebfrauenkirche (Church of Our Lady). It is the earliest church built in the French High Gothic style outside France. It has a circular building plan, with circular portals and altar niches combining to form the outline of the 12-petalled rose, a symbol of the Virgin Mary. Inside, the brightly coloured windows and the sanctuary are beautiful.
We then walked to Kurfurstliches Palais (Electoral Palace), the residence of the Archbishops and Electors of Trier from the 16th century until the late 18th century. It now houses various offices of the federal government and often hosts classical music concerts. This palace is an added extension to the Basilica, or so it seems. It was a lovely place with a big garden and statues which give us a relaxing environment.
We walked around a bit and reached Kaiserthermen (Imperial Bath). We were already tired because it was a hot day so we didn’t buy the tickets to go inside. Nupur & Mummyji bought a few magnets on the way to the car.
Finally, we drove to our hotel in Traben-Trarbach. It on the Middle Moselle is a town in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Traben-Trarbach lies some 40 km northeast of Trier and some 60 km southwest of Koblenz in the valley of the Middle Moselle. This was supposed to be just a stopover town, but it looked very pretty when we arrived. So we decided to explore the nearby area.
We visited the BrĆ¼ckentor (Bridge gate), the city’s landmark which stands on the southern bank of the Moselle bridge there. The gate was built according to plans by the Berlin architect Bruno Mƶhring after the Moselle bridge was completed in 1899. The gate consists of three components. The first is the main tower, which is followed by a small pointed arch gate flanked by a decorative column. The second element is the middle section spanning the street with an archway, which is followed by the third part of the gate, a small side tower. There were a number of glass paintings on the side of the bridge. We then went down and sat on one of the benches along the river and enjoyed the view. Finally, we walked around the area and found it to be a charming little town. It was an unexpected discovery.
Day 8 – 11 August 2022
It was the last day of our trip. We took the longer route so that we could stop at Cologne on the way. We really enjoyed our trip to Cologne and decided to use the opportunity to show everyone the beautiful place. We visited both, the Cologne Cathedral and the Cologne Lock Bridge. We bought some gelatos from the shop, and I handed my phone to Rishi since my hands were full. Nupur really liked the magnet that we had gotten from Cologne, so we decided to look for the same one for her. After going to a few shops, we finally found it. When we were returning back to the car, I asked Rishi for my phone and then realised that my phone was missing. While paying for the magnet, he kept it on the counter and forgot to pick it up. Both of us ran back to the shop and luckily found it there.
Finally, we drove back home with lots of memories and stories!
Beautiful pics Limi.Loved all the places you have been..