Zwingli’s Zurich

An excellent description of Zurich seen from a tourist point of view.
However, this is only the ``tip of the iceberg``, around 90% is underground and can be difficult to surmise from looking at what is visible above the surface. Meaning that the trouble is only a small manifestation of a larger problem only visible to people like me who live here.

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Ref nikki7777 #32

[I would rather mingle among the vast ,unwashed indian public and revel in the theater of their life there than visit cold, dreary europe with their stone cold monuments again.]

I have done that too. The first day I was in Benares I was walking gingerly picking out the least unhygienic spot for my next step as I walked about in sandals-clad feet. Realizing the futility of it all, I chucked the sandals and walked barefoot for the next 10 days. But there is nothing wrong with having clean facilities. (It took me three months to get my toenails clean again!)

The public toilets at the Milan, Italy train station rank and reek with the worst the subcontinent has to offer, if that is any consolation to you.

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#29 by nikki7777

harimau did a good one on Kumbhakonam. i think every good t-logue must include description of local food, wine and women (ok men too, just to be PC).

Banjara has travelled a lot in india and pakistan, so he should do some t-logue.

and did you miss the veeresh/dost logs? they kicked-up much dust..and not just from the railroad tracks

Ref nikki7777 #29

[I`m sick and tired of Europe!!!.Can someone who visited india, pakistan, srilanka or any other south asian country write an article about their experiences???.There`s so much that is both fascinating and beautiful in our part of the world.]

The whole trouble is one has to put up with all sort of crap in the area, unless the site is maintained by some organization like the Archaelogical Survey of India. Even then, one has to step through rubbish just to get to the place.

The fact is it is almost impossible to get some amount of cleanliness in South Asia. I am not talking about the aseptic conditions of Disneyland or Northen Europe. Even the level of cleanliness (or lack thereof) in places like Italy have not been achieved in South Asia despite having Italian imports of all kinds!

[...but sincerely, why can`t someone write a travelogue on south asia that isn`t ethno-centric, but secular and from a traveler`s point of view...]

Sure. Maybe I should write about Bhagwan Ram`s palace in Ayodhya and the dining table set with the stainless steel plates said to have been used by Ram and Sita. Or the benches used by Ved Vyas and other sages for teaching their disciples in Naimicharanyan just outside Lucknow.

Indians don`t/can`t maintain their heritage and we have hucksters trying to cheat the gullible public.

If you want a travelogue about South Asia, get a coffee table book.

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For some strange reason I have suddenly lost interest in going to any Western country. I don`t even want to go to the West coast. I am an avid traveller and back packed through almost half of the europe but now I have no interest.

Harimau, when did you go to Brissie? You should have tried the choccies-fresh, handmade ones always are better than anything on the massmarket!!!

Ref khamkhwa. #23

[....harimau...

......and it`s interlaken and not interlochen...hehehehe...]

Well, I guess that is what happens when one hangs around Boulder, Colarado for a while, as I did a couple of weeks back. You keep seeing signs for the Interlochen Business Park at Broomfield. Though at that time my mind rebelled at the spelling, I guess it got used to it just like we get used to `color`, `neighbor`, etc.

Ref Mullah32 #24

[harimau: you forgot the part where the gnomes of zurich chased you through their strasses and and into the bahnoff where you almost got run over by the zug.]

And I am sure you tried your best to wangle a free room by pointing out that the sign outside the hotel said ``Zimmer Frei``.

harimau: you forgot the part where the gnomes of zurich chased you through their strasses and and into the bahnoff where you almost got run over by the zug.

....harimau...

...thanks mate for the useless info and it`s interlaken and not interlochen...hehehehe...but i was hoping you would punch a few holes in the story of banjaara and give us some points to rankle him..i tried....;)

Ref khamkhwa. #17

[Harimau, I expect some feedback from you since you have travelled extensively in that area.]

We had decided to avoid the usual tourist crowds at Zurich, Bern, Basel, etc., and make the Interlochen area our base. We stayed in a smallish village called Grundenwald and wandered around in the hills.

Despite the fact that Switzerland lives on tourism (and black money in numbered accounts), we did not find the people to be friendly. Polite, yes, but decidedly business-like. We stumbled into Grundenwald at about 9:30 pm and after a half-mile walk from the train station stopped at a store to ask for directions. The proprietor who thought we were there to buy something asked us to wait till he finished with his current customers. When we explained our request for directions, he simply asked us to come back the next morning as he was closing the store! It would have taken him less time to tell us to keep going for another 300 meters in the same direction to find our hotel! If that is their behavior in the 21st century, I shudder to imagine what most of Europe was like in the medieval ages!

We also found that our Eurail pass was not valid on the line between Interlochen and Grundenwald. That is a private railroad and not part of the Swiss Federal Railway system. We had hopped on to the connecting train at Interlochen not knowing this fact and when the ticket collector came we had only dollars on us. Switzerland`s currency is the Swiss franc but by law they have to accept the Euro too but not US dollars. The ticket collector called the railroad company office on his cell phone, found out how much in dollars he should take and let us pay the fare in dollars.

The local store where we shopped got used to us after two days. So rather than charge our credit card daily, they offered us supplies on account which we settled on the last day. That was unexpected!

Grundenwald is a beautiful village full of tourist lodgings. But a word of warning: ``zimmer frei`` does NOT mean the rooms are free, it is just the Swiss way of saying ``Vacancy``! The Japanese have done exactly what they have done in Brisbane, Australia. They have their own hotel, their own bus line and their own travel agency in Grundenwald. Thus the Japanese could leave Japan to come to Switzerland and still be in Japan! They travel in groups, are led by the flag-holding tour leader, and are allowed limited amount of time to enjoy the place. We found a group getting off the cable cars atop the mountain and dutifully getting back on after hardly 5 minutes for taking in the views.

The only thing jarring is the fact that in almost every town they have a little mill in the stream to pick up and crush gravel for concrete. As you walk through the hiking trails, your ears are assaulted by the sounds of the mill when you least expect it.

The line to Jungfraujoch -- billed as the highest mountain in Europe -- is also a private line. The cog railway up the steep incline is truly an engineering marvel as are the kilometers-long tunnels in the mountain. Quite a few tourists of Indian origin (whether from the UK or from India) were at Jungfraujoch and I guess the lessee of the restaurant must be Indian for it to be named ``Bollywood``.

The trip to the Lauterbrunnen valley is equally beautiful. You descend steeply into the valley from Grundenwald. You can then climb the opposite mountain by the incline railway to the village of Muerren and gaze at the valley below you and the mountains surrounding Lauterbrunnen. The scenery is spectacular.

Ref nb #20

It seems every village makes its own cheeses -- several of them. The cheeses are absolutely out of this world. The handmade chocolates are outrageous at $50 a lb and up. They look down their noses if you mention Godiva! My regret: I didn`t try the ice cream.

#15 by Banjaara

banjara, you are most welcome to write about ayodhya and hanuman garhi, look forward to it. alas, if only i could write as well as you and had good memory, i would abut my visit to Bithoor (Brahmavart) near Kanpur where Nana Peshva of 1857 rebellion spent his last days. the brahmins there still will discuss history and give you a ride on the ganges in a very dangerous boat for a few rupees.