Currrent - Issue

SWISS BLISS
 An Indian journey into the land of cheese, chocolate and chairlifts.
                                                                                                                           By Shuchi Sinha
Going to Switzerland for a honeymoon is not just a dream for many, but a dream come true. But Shuchi Sinha not only honeymooned there, she began to live in Switzerland after tying the nuptial knot. Here’s her account of Switzerland’s hottest — or shall we say coolest — places.

 
Moving to a little Swiss town on the shores of Lake Geneva after a hectic life in the bustling metropolis of New Delhi brings more than just a change in pace. It brings along the opportunity to explore at your own pace a country that is described geographically as "the heart" of Europe and in terms of lifestyle as "the most exclusive club" in it. I have spent more than a year in discovering the many facets of a serenely picturesque country with a surprisingly diverse society and culture.

Landing in Geneva                                                                                               APRIL 2003
After a blistering 38-degree Celsius send-off from New Delhi, I land in Geneva to a chilling zero-degree welcome. It is often rainy and rather gloomy in Switzerland at this time of the year, and certainly not recommended for a visit — you’ll be left wondering how anyone could dance in a chiffon sari in such a setting. Wait till end-May or June, and you’ll discover the answer. As for me, once we reach our new home in the town of Vevey, despite a one-hour drive in the rain, I manage to be stunned by the view. Our apartment balcony looks out on Lake Geneva, its opposite shore ringed by the foothills of the French Alps. Across the lake I can see the French spa of Evian (famous for the pricey bottled water from its mineral springs), with its gabled rooftops and hotel fronts. I can’t wait for the weather to change so that I can start exploring.

Breaking the Language Barrier                                                                          MAY 2003
Living in a French-speaking canton (Switzerland consists of 26 states, called cantons) has meant enrolling for regular French lessons, but I quite enjoy learning this complex yet musical language. The weather has changed dramatically, and the once brown hillsides have transformed into lush green meadows dotted with edelweiss (Switzerland’s floral emblem), primroses and daisies. The sun sparkles on the lake, the yachts are out … and so are the tourists. My brother is paying us a weekend visit (he works in the UK) and it will be his first visit to Switzerland. A good time to begin our own travels, we think.

Mt. Pelerin: A Birds-eye View of                                                              FRIDAY , 16 MAY
Switzerland’s Wine Country                                        

View from Mt. Pelerin
   While Swiss wines are hardly comparable in fame to their celebrated French cousins, many local wines find favour with the residents (the production is never enough to meet local demand). The Lake Geneva shore is one of the well-known wine-producing areas and many of our neighboring hillsides are covered in grape-laden vines. During the winemaking season (September-October), you can even visit the wine - growers’  chateaux f or  a personalized tour of the vineyards,  processing  sheds and  wine  cellars  ( with  some
 free tasting thrown in). And perched above the distinctive leaf-green of the sloping vineyards lies a little hill-station, Mt. Pelerine, favoured by tourists from around the world for its panoramic view. After fetching my brotherfrom   Geneva, we decide to see it for ourselves. While it is possible to drive up, the best way to reach Pelerinis to glide up the steep slopes in a funicular (or "funi") - a special hill and mountain transport common in Switzerland. It is like a tiny train that is pulled up the hill by a strong steel cable. We buy the tickets, settle into the front of the funi and drink in the late afternoon views - the snow-capped Alps and the twinkling waters of the lake are a fitting backdrop to quaint chateaux, each overlooking its own vineyards for miles around. Once we reach the top, there is a terrace restaurant on the edge of the hill: a fitting place for lunch. Cameras are whipped out and pictures snapped before we sit down for a lazy meal in very international company (there is even a young couple from Calcutta with their baby daughter, and we swap anecdotes on the places we have visited). They suggest Gstaad, and after some discussion, we agree to make the trip.

Gstaad: Playground of the rich and famous                                   SATURDAY 17, MAY
We buy the tickets for the (rather expensive, but worthwhile) train journey to Gstaad on the GoldenPass Panoramic Express, the trains famous for their wide windows and scenic routes (Indian film-goers are probably familiar with them from watching the likes of Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor dancing inside them). The train powers us silently through the flower-filled Swiss countryside to our destination. Along with the super glitzy St. Moritz, Gstaad has traditionally been Switzerland’s winter resort for royalty, film stars and sundry lotus eaters. It also hosts the Gstaad ATP tennis tournament in July, when the top men’s tennis pros come to enjoy the high life while showing off their skills. This tiny ski village exudes an aura of luxury with three five-star hotels and a main street filled with designer boutiques to beguile the mink-coated celebrities. Showrooms for Cartier and Manolo Blahnik rub shoulders with Yves St. Laurent, Gucci, Chanel and Rolex. Much to our amusement, one of the boutiques with a collection of exotic accessories and jewellery holds something rather familiar. In the display window lies a jute bag flaunting some typical Indian sequin work with a price-tag of about 300 francs (approximately Rs 10,000). The sequin-work traces the Hindi lettering covering the front of the bag. In bold, glittery letters, it reads: Chutki Pan Masala.

Lucerne: Medieval Charm by the Lake                                                SUNDAY , 18 MAY

Panoramic view of Lucerne
   Before my brother catches his flight back to UK, we decide to pay a visit to Lucerne, situated on its eponymous lake with the River Reuss flowing by. Switzerland’s natural beauty is enhanced by the large number of sparkling blue lakes. Lucerne was one of the few Swiss cities to remain Catholic during the Reformation (which resulted in deliberately simple and unadorned architecture). As a result, it exudes a special medieval charm and has become one of the most
popular spots in the country (as reflected by the remarkable number of souvenir shops, even by tourist friendly Swiss standards, all apparently doing good business). As the tourist office suggests, we decide to go for a leisurely stroll through the picturesque the Old Town Centre with its  15 Century buildings sporting painted facades. We crossed the gentle river on one of its special covered bridges with their oldworld, tunnel-like feel and sat down to lunch in one of the riverside cafes. The meal was an entertaining affair with the river’s swans gravitating to us and begging for food with irresistible puppy-like charm (swans, ducks and even sparrows in Switzerland are completely unafraid of humans and will cheerfully "pile on" to you if they spot you eating).

Parents drop in                                                                                                       JUNE 2003
My parents come for a visit before I go off to Berne, the Swiss capital, for a course at the University beginning in July. What they find even more remarkable than Switzerland’s surreal spotlessness is how sparsely populated the country seems to be — not surprising when you compare the Swiss national population of just over 7 million (spread over an area about equal to Himachal Pradesh) to the 16 million inhabitants in Delhi alone ! No wonder they can keep even the countryside in pristine, picture perfect condition…

Interlaken and Grindelwald :                                                                   FRIDAY 27, JUNE
 Yash Chopra meets Heidi
There’s no doubt about it: Indians love Interlaken. In the heart of Yash Chopra country, this is one spot in Switzerland where you can arguably see more Indian faces than Swiss. The only other contenders with a strong presence are the Japanese tourists but then they are everywhere. My parents do not disappoint: they too cannot resist the beauty of the quaint town in the middle of two azure-watered lakes, Thun and Brientz (the name Interlaken in German literally means "between lakes"). We stroll through the souvenir-shop lined main street, running into one Indian family after another, and have tea and pakoras at the Shalimar restaurant. The waiter is from Asansol, and is keen to tell us about recent and not-so-recent Bollywood shoots. Kajol’s house in DDLJ is down the road, as is the field where Shahrukh played rugby in the film’s songs. And Amitabh Bachchan was here the other day, he states proudly, shooting for a song with Shilpa Shetty (now which film might that be?). We polish off the pakoras, and catch the magnificent funicular leading up to the top of a hill called Harderkulm, overlooking Interlaken from a height of 1322 m. The climb is almost vertical in places and the view spectacular: the two lakes and the city are in the background while the famous Alpine peaks of Eiger (3970m), Mönch (4107m) and Jungfrau (4158m) are in clear view ahead of us. There is the usual little terrace café on Harderkulm, so that we can refresh ourselves before the funi takes us down again. From Interlaken, we take a train up to the historic ski village of Grindelwald, where we find the HeidiWorld museum, based on the supposed life of child heroine Heidi (of Johanna Spyri’s book of the same name). From Bollywood gyrations to the simple world of Heidi: it's taken just a short train ride to go from one world to another.

Gruyeres: Building Cheese Castles Lake                                      SATURDAY , 28 JUNE

View from Chateau de Gruyeres
   The next day, we drive to Gruyeres, a picturesque cheese making centre in the Fribourg canton with a lovely lake and a commanding castle overlooking it. The Counts of Gruyeres once held sway over large parts of this region and the Chateau de Gruyeres has an interesting display of original tapestries and furnishings giving glimpses of their life. Gruyeres is famous for its  eponymous  creamy cheese (it takes 12 litres of full cream milk to get a kilo of Gruyeres) and there is a local  dairy    next    to   the  

View from Chateau de Gruyeres
station where you can watch the cheese being made into "wheels" (each weighing 35 kg). But be warned: authentic Swiss cheese has a highly pungent odour, rather far removed from our home- grown Amul cheese (which I love). Being rather lily livered myself, I chose to miss out on watching the cheese making process.

 
September 2003
" Having spent a couple of months at Berne University, I return to Vevey ready to explore some more."


Top of the World                                                                                        SATURDAY ,6 SEP

A man in traditional gear blows the Alpine horn in Zermatt
   We drive into the purely Alpine canton of Valais (which contains the 10 highest mountains in Switzerland, all over 4000m high) to Zermatt, a skiing and mountaineering resort (literally) in the shadow of the Matterhorn, one of the most famous Alpine peaks. This dangerously jagged peak has attracted mountaineers from the world over (many have never left - a walk through the pretty cemetery is a sobering experience) and was first conquered in 1865. It also inspired the shape of the now equally famous Toblerone chocolates, the staple buy of tourists here.

 


                                                                                                 SUNDAY ,6 SEP
Keeping to the Alpine theme, we get together a whole party of friends and drive to the foot of Eggishorn, a more accessible peak in the Valais Alps (2926m). We take a cablecar ride to the top and are lost in the beauty of the view, which sweeps over the Valais Alps to Mont Blanc (the highest peak in Europe). The Ice Sea of the Aletsch glacier glistens down below and a network of over 1,000-km of mountain paths stretches invitingly in the valley below. It is one of those "Top of the World" moments when you wish you were an award-winning photographer and could capture it forever.

 

 

Aletsch Glacier, the longest in the ALps

Bollywood in Berne                                                                       SATURDAY 22, MAY 2004
It’s been a year since I first started exploring and I’m back in the Swiss Capital. Some might be surprised at how quiet the city seems to be — and there’s a reason. At the time the Swiss were picking their Capital, Zurich was the obvious choice as the commercial and financial hub. But the French-speaking Swiss found it too German. And the Germans found Geneva too French. And voila! Berne was chosen as a compromise. We are at the Swiss Parliament dot on time for the guided tour. Indians can’t believe how small it is, compared to our own awe-inspiring Sansad Bhawan. As we walk through the lovely building, a monument to one of the world's oldest democracies (since 1291 AD), the guide explains how the statues and tapestries depict the diversity in language and culture. From the Parliament, we walk down to Einsteinhaus, where Albert Einstein lived when he postulated the Theory of Relativity (he was a clerk in the patents office here). As we walked back from Einsteinhaus, we were assailed by earsplitting music with the characteristic beats reminiscent of Rehman and Ilyaraja. And sure enough, through a picturesque arch topped by Berne’s oldest clocktower, an enormous camera on a moving crane focused on a nubile thing in a little green dress. A crowd of curious spectators had assembled to watch as the choreographer (in a blood-red and silver kurta on jeans) showed the heroine how to shimmy alluringly to the chorus line in what was probably a Tamil song. Her romantic lead took turns at the shimmying, dressed in Rajnikant-white, with a handkerchief around his neck. As we hurried to catch the last train home, I turned around for another look, and recognized Nauheed Cyrusi as the lady in green. As she wended her way through another take, some spectators turned to leave, cheerfully trying out some of the more interesting moves they had just seen as they walked down Berne’s cobbled streets.