Monday, July 27, 2009

Danke Schon Swiss Railways!!

To give credit where it is due... Swiss railways is synonymous with perfection. The days spent in Switzerland began with their website , we marked our journey plan and it gave us the options of trains available including the changes required if any, the platform number onto which one train would arrive and also the platform number from which the connecting train would leave a particular station. The time that was put on this website for each train and even for the inter city buses did not vary by even a second. With that plan in hand and a back pack we started our day and even ended it. "We don't wait for any body even if you are Barrack Obama..we will leave as per schedule..We keep the Swiss time" The pride was palpable as the guard spoke these lines to me.

The one flat ticket namely the Swiss pass, which is given out for tourists and can be bought at any of the railway counters or even the airport from where we bought ours is the ticket for any surface transport throughout this country.. be it rail, tram, road, or boats.

The trains that travel through the cities, the villages, the bridges, the snow and up the incline of mountains..the steepest cogwheel train that took us to Mount Pilatus is at an incline of 46degrees. Certainly for a person like me, for whom maintaining time is meditational.. Swiss Rails were Demi God.

A few pictures...

Zurich Haufbahnhoff or Zurich Rail Station
The Glacier Express on a Bridge


The World's steepest cogwheel to Mount Pilatus

Carrying us through the snow to Mount Jungfrau Hoch



Drizzling..but anything for a snap!!

With friends! Less people, cleaner trains..



All pictures courtesy Husband..who is always the official camera man! This is part of a short series on picture perfect postcards from the Alps!!

34 comments:

Kavita Saharia said...

Sujata....seems like it was a lot of fun,your official photographer is very good...does full justice to your beautiful description......can't wait for more

ZB said...

beautiful, looks like you had royal fun...Thanks for sharing...Like you i too am a person for whom maintaining time is meditational...i am darn punctual....:)

And how does it feel to be from SNOW to +40 degree C?...:)

Bhavya.B said...

Beautiful snaps....

Ajit Ray said...

Wasn't the three-tiered Zurich bahnhof awesome?

अनिल कान्त said...

भैये फोटो देख के तो बहुत मजा आ गवा....छुटका और छुटकी तो बड़े मजे ले रहे हैं :):)

pradipwritenow said...

Thanks to you and your official Photographer.

Tall Guy said...

You seemed to have a great time :)

Amit said...

nice pics, hope u enjoy more!

following u, nice blog, see u around!

Cheers,
Amit

Imagination said...

Wao! Amazing....thanks for us through the Swiss world...!

Aparna said...

The cogwheel looks dangerously exciting.

Pesto Sauce said...

Looks interesting...though am sure weather in Alps will be much different from Oman

R. Ramesh said...

great..thanks 4 taking us around sland...cheers friend

Nona said...

Nice pictures! Yes, they do not wait even if you are Barack Obama!

I spent 4 months in Switzerland till the winter set in just before the snow appeared. I commuted from Bern to Luzern everyday! The train was delayed by 15 minutes one day. The Swiss colleagues did not believe us! But this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. :) Don't know if I should take pride in it!

"The Swiss did not keep time! And I witnessed it!"

Rush said...

pics are just awesome...ur little boy is mommies replica?aint it?

hubby is the offical photographer..good for u!!

Ire said...

You are lovely Sujata...beautiful! Nice pics too! I am glad you had a lovely trip!

Kavi said...

Lovely pictures ! Glad that you had such fun !

:)

eye-in-sty-in said...

beautiful place! Thanks for sharing :-) Would love to go there some day...

NR said...

Lovely..looks like u had a lot of fun..great.
The pics were amazing...hope someday Indian Railways too runs like the swiss railways..lol!!

BK Chowla, said...

I agree with you .It is beautiful.I have experienced a train travel there.Due to heavy rain in Milan,the flight was cancelled and i had to take the train to Swiss.Superb

Supriya Dutta said...

Mannnn...for this country me think, Beauty and Punctuality are understated words...and thanks for sharing such beautiful glimpse.. :D..the pics and the punctuality are simply to be 'WOW-ed" upon... :D

Sumi Mathai said...

i wanna go swiz..NOW !!

sujata sengupta said...

@Kavita thanks am yet not fully into the grip of the routine..plus schools opening for the kids from tmrw..lots of blog reading to be done

@ZB I take a bit of time to agree to a time that is set, but once the time is set..I keep it always have never failed even by a minute..and I hate to wait!! snow is fine but 20 degrees plus without a fan is quite unbearable and summer in the house without a fan was a bit hot..here it may be 40+ but we have ac so I would say 40+ with ac is much better than 20+ without a fan

@BhavyaB thanks

@Ajit it was quite mind boggling!

@Anil Kant thanks the kids did enjoy a lot esp the snowfall on the mountains

sujata sengupta said...

Thanks Pradipda will convey the message to the photographer as well

Thanks @Survivor

@Hopeless Romantic Welcome on board hope to see you regularly

@Imagination thanks

@Aparna the Ice flyer was dangerous..an open seat with a strap running like cable cars on the glacier peaks...phew!!

@Pesto Sauce yes the weather was good..we got rains the sun as well as snow..

@Ramesh thanks

@Nona that must have been a moment am sure..You must blog on it..the swiss fail to keep time!!

@Rush thanks..yes the little boy looks like me completely

@Nikki thanks dear

@Kavi thanks, the trains were worth all the praise

@eye-in-sty-in thanks next time go via zurich.

@NR i hope so too..but so many people and so many different administrations and then the railways in swiss are privately owned..maybe thats what works

sujata sengupta said...

@BK Chowla I agree completely to see that whole gigantic network running so well oiled was worth all the appreciation

@priya thanks

@extremity i would love to read the poetry you churn out sitting in the alps...

KParthasarathi said...

Sujata,We don't have to be a Barack Obama.Even an ordinary third grade politico can hold a plane leave alone the train for thirty minutes.Can India aspire to be that punctulaity conscious even in my grand child's time?I doubt.
Fabulous pictures

Sumandebray said...

Great landscape! Great Pictures!

those train seats has seen so many of our on screen Bollywood couples :)

Urmi said...

Marvellous photos. I feel like visiting Switzerland. Absolutely mind-blowing place.

nsiyer said...

Interesting photos and a beautiful place. Should visit before it is too late.

Sandy said...

The pictures are perfectly beautiful. I am especially fond of the one on the train with the snow in the background. It took me on a beautiful trip, full of imagery and excitement. I detect your happiness to be back home. There is no place like it, for sure.

Onward said...

kaash mein bhi switzerland jaa saktha..!! kaash my wife also becomes a terrific camerawoman..kaash i could get on those trains...kaash i could watch baracks face if he ever missed a swiss train :D :D :D

luvly pics su :)

luv
amith

SJ said...

Ooo I would LOVE to go on that roller coaster I mean train ;) Wah, you must one of the few I know u likes snow. I hate hate hate snow, ice and everything associated with winter ;(
Waiting for the next part !

~PakKaramu~ said...

Pak Karamu reading your blog

Meira said...

yes. The official photographer is very very good:)

I've moved from emgisempire.blogspot.com to happyhoursbeginhere.wordpress.com. Pls update.

sujata sengupta said...

@K Parthasarathi..I wish we didnt have democracy, If India was ruled by a single person maybe we would be more disciplined, if not, maybe privatisation is the key.

@SumanDebRay yes the locales are frequented not only by bollywood but a lot of recent tollywood pics have been shot here as well..so I think I parked myself on seats which have been taken up by the likes of Prosenjit!!What say to that??

Thanks @Babli

@Nsiyer yesterday I had a major fight with my husband who was starting to plan another trip during the upcoming eid holidays..my point being if we take the kids to all these places what urge will be left in them to visit any place on their own ever?I think he got it..soi eid holidays we are going to be home..am pleased as a pie..and its better to be a little late than too early..will my kids remember any of these? I doubt..

@Sandy surely no place like home..

@Amith you will do it all and get it all..i would have loved to see mulayam singh's face if the swiss trains didnt stop for him!! it would have more expression and some choicest cuss words than Barrack could ever conjure!!

@SJ this was my first snow experience, I was ok with it but my face muscles got a bit numb..and i found it a bit hard to move my lips the way I wanted too...the kids loved it!

@Pakkaramu thanks

@meira I have your new address updated