Travelogue: Swiss Panorama
Note: This is a delayed post and date back to events on 27th January 2010.
Writer’s note: For some time, I had been holding back from writing and due to inability to continue after my last post, this site had been outdated since January. Blame me for that, LMAO!
Thinking back nao now, Swiss trip had been nostalgic and is one mof my precious memories.
Well, where do I start? My last post stopped at night time and it is the very 1st night I’ve experienced in Switzerland. The room where I stayed for the whole week is very spacious and nice as you’ve seen in my previous post. I even watched the late night series featuring Mr. Bean before sleeping. I couldn’t understand it though, because its in german. LOL
As I woke up the next morning, my throat is very thirsty so I gulped a few glasses of water from the water pipe. Mind you, the water in Switzerland is not chlorinated and very, very clean. I’ve even come across an article saying that the Swiss people are wasting water because they bath with mineral water (aka drinkable water)! Hahaha…that statement is hilarious, otherwise how would they bath? As Aunt Elisabeth said, thats the only water source they had for drink, laundry, shower and any other everyday usage. On the plus side, talk about power saving, well, at least you don’t have to boil the water to drink it. Save energy and time!
After getting myself ready, I head to Aunt Elisabeth house for breakfast. I get to taste the Swiss cheese in the morning and I immediately fell in love with in, literally at 1st taste! Well, i’m not a cheese lover at any standard, but Swiss cheese turned me into one! Hah!
[caption id="attachment_285" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="Morning Breakfast: Noodles and Bread with Swiss Cheese: Gruyere"]
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After exchanging a few remarks about my night, Uncle Jorg and me are off to visit Schilthorn! Schilthorn is famous for its beautiful mountainous panorama and had been a famous tourist attraction that had brought mountain lovers to professional skiiers to it for veiwing the beautful scene of Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau or skiing down the mountain for the thrill! Being in Switzerland is very relaxing and that’s the main purpose of my travel this time, to relax and enjoy as much as possible!
The panorama along the road doesn’t disappoint me and I ge tot see some spectacular sceneries, such as the Thummelbach waterfall, where small mountain springs fall from the mountain cracks. However, due to its winter right now, instead of falling water, I get to see the frozen ice glacier, which make it even more amazing!
[caption id="attachment_284" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="Through a tunnel"]
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[caption id="attachment_286" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="Another tunnel..."]
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[caption id="attachment_287" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="Thummelbach Waterfall @ 1"]
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[caption id="attachment_288" align="alignnone" width="539" caption="Thummbelbach Waterfall @ 2"]
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We arrived at the bottom of the mountain at around 11am and its quite chilly outside. The day is bright and no clouds over the mountain, which is a good sign. Clouds are main factor you should consider in Switzerland, which state the importance of the weather forecast channel in Swiss cable. LOL, Hehe….. you’ll understand better when you see my pictures….
Having arrived earlier, we had to wait for the cable car to arrive before continuing our journey to the top of Schilthorn. Our final destination would be at Piz Gloria which is situated at the top of mount Schilthorn. Piz Gloria is known as the highest spinning restaurant in Switzerland, if not, the world…Situated at 2970m above sea level and even debuted in 1986 James Bond 007 film before being turned to restaurant, now wonder, it had gained much popularity among tourist going to Schilthorn. In a nutshell, you’ve must go here to qualify in the rank of those who visited Schilthorn! Beside having Piz Gloria, Schilthorn’s skiing venue doesnt fall short. I was told 1 week prior to my arrival, there was a skiing tournament held at Schithorn.
[caption id="attachment_292" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="Going up to the 1st station, Gimmelwald from Stechelberg"]
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[caption id="attachment_296" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="From Gimmelwald to 2nd station, Murren"]
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[caption id="attachment_294" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="Murren, closeup view"]
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[caption id="attachment_313" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="Starting Point of Skiing"]
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[caption id="attachment_312" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="What more can I say?"]
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There were a lot of nice panorama at the mountain top, one of them is the sea of mist which cover the lower mountain and cities below them. From above, the mist looks like clouds woven together and unmoving. Its a state of harmony and still. After some panorama capturing, my stomach had to call it off and beg to be fed. So, Uncle Jorg suggested that we had our lunch at Piz Gloria. I had Hungarian Goulash soup with bread as appetizer and James Bond 007 spagetti as my main dish. The name of the spagetti kinda used to advertise that Piz Gloria was once used as the set for the 1986 James Bond film. After having quite a large portion for lunch, I had no room for dessert so I settled for relaxing tea. Its a peppermint greentea, which I think the peppermint tatste is more pronounced and tasted both like dessert and drink at the same time. The restaurant took 1 hour to make a whole spin and uses wide glasses as window so we can view the maginicent mountain view as we’re enjoying our meals.
[caption id="attachment_297" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="TopShop on Mountain Top"]
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[caption id="attachment_302" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="The mist of clouds...soft"]
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[caption id="attachment_301" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="James Bond 007 Spagetti, no bluffing"]
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[caption id="attachment_303" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="Interior of Piz Gloria"]
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After the lunch, I continued to take some pictures before heading down the mountain.
[caption id="attachment_304" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau"]
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[caption id="attachment_310" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="On the way to video room"]
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[caption id="attachment_308" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="On the way down the mountain"]
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Next stop: Unterseen. But before that, we entered a special montage room to watch a special video about Schilthorn and its various activities which are held throughout the year. Truly, there’s great difference between summer and winter here! For our way back to Bern, we took a different route from what we took earlier in the morning. We took the highway when we came 1st, so this time, we’re taking the small road and pass through a few viallage on the way. The 1st would be Unterseen.
Unterseen is a small village which is quite famous due to its proximty to Schilthorn, making it a famous place of staying for tourists who are visiting Schilthorn. Uncle Jorg also told me that he had worked here for 2 years as a pastor in nearby church. Before continuing our journey home, we took a rest and had a drink at a local bar. The waitress is very nice and kind, as you would’ve expected from every Swiss citizen.
[caption id="attachment_306" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="Unterseen"]
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Continuing our journey home, we stopped at St. Beatus Cave. It is closed from tourists until April due ti safety reason so I can only trod a little at the steps and it is very steep and slippery due to the frozen ice. LOL I was lucky I didn’t fell over.
The rest of the journey had been straightforward with occasional stops to veiw Thunnersee ( The Lake of Thun) Quite a large lake if you ask me, but Lake of Geneva is in a much bigger scale that you could even mistaken it for sea and spot seagull on it. Then, we passed through the town of Thun, which I will describe in my later posts.
Fast Forward, we arrived home at around 8pm. Just in time for dinner, as Aunt Elisabeth would put it. Tonight, we’re having a typical Bernese dinner, Sauerkraut with Smoked Ham and Bacon. Although I’m an asian and rice is like a compulsory meal for most asian, I didn’t find this as shocking as other would be due to my experience living as a student in Russia. In fact, I had not been eating rice fro quite a while. So, what is Sauerkraut actually? It is actually fermented shredded cabbage which hold in the same class of food as kimchi, which is one of my favorite. After the hearty dinner, which I obviously cannot finish and I find this very surprising myself, I seldom reach the extend of unable to finish my meal which this occur at this time and quite awkward, as I’m the guest here. Show some decency! >_<
[caption id="attachment_307" align="alignnone" width="553" caption="Dessert"]
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[caption id="attachment_309" align="alignnone" width="539" caption="Yes, its red wine"]
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After the dinner, we had Schorzentorte ( at least, thats how it supposed to sound) It is very spongy and tasted as the very best chocolate cake I ever had in my life. Fluffy and soft, melt right in the mouth but not sticky and tasted very fresh, I mean the cream. It beaten every cakes I’ve eaten before, now it ranked 1st in my cake list! Last but not least, we had red wine to help in digestion. Well, I’m no wine expert but learned quite a bit in wine drinking. There are many types of wines and glasses which is used when drinking them. Plus, the serving time also matters a lot too. The wine I’m drinking is red wine and its the 1st serving, so a short glass with wide bottom is used so that my hand can cover the glass neck. It can bring out the most flavor, said Uncle Jorg. Well, I guess I need more practice before getting on the same level of appreciation as he is. Fortunately, I still have my consciousness and reason after my 1st glass, hehe I have a good alcohol tolerance LOL!
After the delightful dinner, I headed back to my abode and rest for the next morning! Good night and see ya you!
