Tour of Switzerland

Day 1: Sunday, 23 April 2006

Arrive safely at Geneva Airport at approximately 11:45 after which we had to catch the train from
the airport to the closest station to where we were going to be staying, Aigle. It was a beautiful
day, about 20 degrees, and the snow-covered French Alps were clearly visible across the other
side of Lake Geneva. Didn't do much after arriving at our residence, Les Cretes, in Torgon. The
drive was quite nerve-wrecking as it is located about 11km up a steep mountain pass...
probably because when it is in-season this is quite a popular ski-resort. After settling in we
went for a stroll in the nearby forest which would normally be completely covered in snow, but
as you will see from the photos, most of the snow had melted by the time we arrived. Aigle, our
closest major town, is the capital of the Chablais wine-producing region. The Chablais produces
some of the country's best whites using the Chasselas grape. I tried it and it was great.

Click here to see photos from day 1

Click here to see the route travelled on day 1

Day 2: Monday, 24 April 2006

Once again we were blessed with good, clear weather, which in turn enabled us to visit Gruyeres.
Gruyere, obviously best known for its cheese, is a beautiful town and strikes you immediately
as a typical, quaint Swiss village. The Gruyere cheese-making factory was fantastic and the free
samples handed to us instantly made us decide to have lunch there. I had a Gruyere cheese burger,
which was much more healthily presented than what you would come to expect from western countries.
Served with carrot salad and a lovely salad, it was very enjoyable indeed. After this we visited the
Chateau de Gruyere. This castle was rebuilt after a fire in 1493. Inside the Chateau we found
very interesting art galleries, beautiful little restaurants and stunning views of the town. Really lovely
place and a must-see. On route to Gruyere, as you will see from the pics, you find an amazing
number of small towns, typical scenes of Switzerland as you would always have pictured it. Logs
piled next to three-storey houses, smoke bellowing out of the chimneys, cows and sheep grazing. The
peacefullness is striking and you can't believe how these people live as primitively as they seem to.

Click here to see photos from day 2

Click here to see the route travelled on day 2

Day 3: Tuesday, 25 April 2006

Today our main destination was Neuchatel, the capital of the province of Neuchatel and also situated
on the bank of Lake Neuchatel. Jake's mom specifically wanted to visit the site because they have
ancestors who lived there and in a small nearby village by the name of Rochefort. Once again, even
taking mainly the highway this time, the views along the way were just stunning. On the way back we drove
along the eastern side of Lake Neuchatel and there we encountered many more farms and little villages
on the lake's shore, most of them German speaking. It is also just a half-hour's drive from the capital,
Bern. The Chateau de Neuchatel in particular was a highlight, as well as the cobble-stoned roads and
pathways in the town.

Click here to see photos from day 3

Click here to see the route travelled on day 3

Day 4: Wednesday, 26 April 2006

Today the main aim was to ski on the slopes of the Matterhorn in Zermatt. Zermatt was a beautiful ski
resort, which is completely car-free and is mainly serviced by electric taxis. You basically drive to a little
town named Tasch, where you park the car and take the train or a taxi. Very picturesque and quaint, but
good service and all the restaurants and shops you could possibly desire.

Click here to see photos from day 4

Click here to see the route travelled on day 4

Day 5: Thursday, 27 April 2006

Today we once again travelled a very scenic route through the Swiss countryside, heading more into
the German-speaking areas northwest from where we were situated. Interlaken was our final
destination, and although we didn't get a clear view of the main attraction, the Jungfrau peak at 4158m
above sea-level, we did manage to travel from Interlaken to the Trummelbach Falle. The Trummelbach
Falle is a range of waterfalls that have managed to carve their way through the mountains over time and
we took an excursion into the mountain to see the falls. On arrival we first took the train up to a town
named Lauterbrunnen where we had lunch at the only open hotel/restaurant, The Hotel Oberland. The
food was quite delicious and the Indische Rosti I managed to sample was great. An interesting fact to
note is that of the 800 films produced anually by Indian film-makers, more are shot in Switzerland than
in any other foreign country, the Jungfraujoch region being one of the favourites. The reason for this is when
the popular location of Kashmir became too risky to film in because of the fighting between India and Pakistan,
the alpine region presented itself as being visually similar, but more politically stable an area to film in.
Therefore the Indian public see Swizerland as a land of dreams and although Swiss tourism grew 8%
between 1995 to 2000, the number of Indian visitors doubled.

Click here to see photos from day 5

Click here to see a map of the Jungfrau region

Click here to see a map of the Jungfrau region in relation to the whole of Switzerland

Click here to see the route travelled on day 5

Day 6: Friday, 28 April 2006

We spent most of the day in Montreux, a truly beautiful place on lake Geneva. We rented mountain
bikes from the local train station and then took the the bikes on the cog train which goes through
10 different stations up the mountain to reach the peak, Rochers de Naye. About 6 stations from
the top the visibility became really poor and there was unfortunately not much to see when we
reached the top. So we travelled down to station 6, Haute d' Caux, and travelled by bike for about
3km all the way down to the centre of Montreux. All the way down we found wonderful little towns,
churces and even a well-known hotel school 3 stations from the bottom in the town Glion. The
rest of the day was spent browsing through the stalls and cycling along the lake-side.

Click here to see photos from day 6

Day 7: Saturday, 29 April 2006

Seeing as our flight only left for London at 18:50, we decided to spend the day walking through
Geneva. Of particular interest is the Jet d' Eau, Europe's tallest fountain. It sends a plume of water
shooting 140m into the air, at a rate of 500 litres per second and at 200km/hour. It came into existence
by accident when in the late 19th century a temporary fountain was set up to relieve excess water
pressure while a reservoir system was being installed. It became so popular that they decided to
keep at as a tourist attraction.

Click here to see photos from day 7

Videos [Save to PC for better viewing]: