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Switzerland

Plunging into the Swiss Alps: Literally!

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So after the longish day on Jungfrau, we decided to stay back at Interlaken. End of November, winter is sort of there and a Saturday. All this meant, the shops shut, a quaint ghostly town giving us the feel of Christmas was awaiting our arrival.

We stayed at a hotel called, The Carlton-Europe, literally 5 minutes away from Interlaken Ost train station. The hotel staff was warm and helpful. They also helped us understand the place around. But unfortunately, due to winter, most of the tourist attractions were closed. We walked around Interlaken and then had an early dinner at this Indian place called Shalimar. A little expensive, but it was a decent place, close to our hotel. Plus, we did not have a wholesome meal for lunch, thought of having some before we sleep.

We were going to head back to Zurich the next day, but we thought of doing the cruise on Lake Thun before heading back. Or not.

Our Adventure in the Alps

Walking down the road towards town center on a bright sunny morning in Interlaken, we saw some para-gliders coming down to the empty lawns.

‘Wow’, we thought.

“Let’s do it”, One said.

“But, Lake Thun cruise?”, said The Other

“Seriously? we can also do a cruise back home in India”, One said.

The Other thought, ‘Why not?!’

Chalo! (Let’s go) and we proceeded to one of the ‘tourist shops’- Vaglio Reisen owned by an old man 10 minutes away from our hotel.

I have never done Para-gliding and I was pretty excited. The man at the shop was informative and interested in showing us the best of Interlaken 🙂 The next available slot was at 2pm and it was just 11am. Then we thought, why not! When we were about to pay, one saw a flyer that said ‘Skydive Switzerland’

“Do you’ll have Skydive here? Is it operational today?”, One asked the shop owner.

“Yes, and the next ride to the Skydive arena is at 12noon”, said the owner.

‘Hmmm’ we both thought.

The Other didnt give it much thought before agreeing because it was a long pending ‘Dream’ from Dubai to Aamby Valley to where not, but the plan never articulated. Later

Here we are, going from Paragliding to Skydiving. Not much difference? You will know 😉

Some basic information about Skydive Switzerland.

Motivation to Skydive here: The Alps (need I explain more?)

Skydive Switzerland: Interlaken- Flugplatz Reichenbach (no relation to Sherlock), 3713 Reichenbach im Kandertal, Schweiz

Cost: 4000m (13,000ft): CHF 395.00  (little costly? but totally worth it. Because Im sure you wont specifically go to another country only to Skydive, right?)

Video and Photos: 

GoPro- 120 CHF for video OR Pictures and 150 CHF for Video and Pictures

Cameraman who jumps alongside with you- CHF 180.00 – photos or video and CHF 210.00 – photos and video

So now the dive:

A mini-bus came to pick us up from the tourist office. The drive from Interlaken Ost to Reichenbach Flugplatz was beautiful. We drove alongside Lake Thun  😉

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When we arrived at the base, there were many more ‘divers’ waiting to go up the plane and jump off. There was a hangar where the professional sky divers prepped themselves with the right safety equipments. After that process, they prepped the tandem sky-diver with suits and harness. We could check our diving number on a screen, and we still had 4 trips to go.

The only thing we hoped was for the weather to remain as sunny and awesome as possible!It was fun to see others going up and coming down on the parachute, but we were getting restless to go and do it ourselves!

Finally, it was our turn. We got introduced to our instructors (who we will be flying with)

Were we scared? No

Excited? Yes.

We walked towards the mini plane. Our group had two individual divers, we both with our instructors and another guy with his instructor and an external camera diver.

Everyone got in and I was the last one to get in after my instructor. Before we boarded the plane, I asked him why are we going in the end.

“Because you’ll be the first one to get out of the plane!!”

It struck me a moment later, I was jumping out first. (oops and wow, together). Got into the plane and my instructor tied my harness to his. He also had a parachute on his back. The plane took off and we were in between the beautiful Alps. What a picturesque view, was just imagining how it would be when I jump. My instructor then tells me, “See that light in front of you, once that turns red, we are ready to open the door and jump. As soon as that happens, help me slide the door up”

‘Woah ok’, I thought and then came the time when the light went red. We slid the door open and I pushed my leg outside and held the side of the door frame. At this particular moment, I had no time to think ‘This is scary’ and start feeling scary because I was already having the first freefall of my life, from a plane. I could not hear my own shout!!! That was the moment you have to experience yourself to feel. After 15 seconds, he let the parachute out and we were just swaying in the air. Seeing the clean water river flow down, along with lush green grass, my instructor tells me “Welcome to my office, hows the view?”

I just did not think anything, did not feel anything for I was viewing all things beautiful. Slowly we made our way down to the landing area and we had a smooth landing 🙂 I really had no words to talk to anyone. Just plain happiness, getting high while coming down? maybe thats what this experience was, literally 🙂

The cost maybe a little expensive, but you wont experience this anywhere in the world. So, if you’re coming to Interlaken, I would suggest continue with Jungfrau and please do this Skydiving experience. Even if you give a miss to Pilatus or Titlis, its perfectly fine. But fit this in your travel budget 🙂

Until the next post on Switzerland 🙂

Switzerland

Swiss Backpacks: Jungfrau’joch’

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As soon as we set our toes in Switzerland, the word ‘Jungfrau’ echoes. It is like everyone just reminds us- Visit Jungfrau!! So the first ‘to-do’ on our list was ‘Jungfrau’- literally meaning, young woman or a ‘virgin/ maiden’. Thus, our maiden Swiss trip to this fair white maiden mountain kick started our series of trips in Europe. We visited Jungfraujoch in the last weekend of November 2016.

Zurich HB-Bern-Interlaken

We started our journey from Zurich HB/ Hauptbahnof. Now, a good way to spend three days in a month travelling around Switzerland is to take a 3-day Flexi Swiss Pass which entails you to travel within Switzerland by train/bus/tram/boat for any 3 days in a month. It can also be 3 separate days in a month(with a gap in between).

TIP: If you are keeping a gap in between the days for a flexible Swiss Pass, make sure you have a phone reminder to tell you when is the expiry date, otherwise you can miss a day (sigh).

So, we bought the Swiss pass from the SBB office (any of them sell it) to see amazing 3 days of Switzerland. (Download the SBB mobile app, its of great help to see the train timetable before hand)

Coming back to our journey, we got into the train going towards Interlaken, with a train change at Bern. It is a comfortable 1hour 50minute journey from Zurich HB upto Interlaken. We enjoyed the minibar experience on the SBB train. Our morning cuppa was sorted on the train from Bern to Interlaken.

Interlaken onwards

We reached Interlaken Ost station at about 9am and immediately went to the ticket counter to ask for the Jungfraujoch tickets. Now, the travel from Interlaken to Jungfraujoch is on a mountain railway. Mountain railways in Switzerland have a higher cost and are usually not included in any of the SBB discounted ticket/ day pass etc. The cost per head is 210CHF

TIP: If you have a Swiss Pass or a Swiss Half-Fare card, there is discount for the mountain railways. With a Swiss Pass you have a 25% discount and with a half-fare card, 50% on the Interlaken-Junfraujoch route. So, it comes down to around 158CHF for a passenger with Swiss Pass; and 105 CHF for a half-fare pass holder.

This ticket you purchase is for the entire route and return, and includes all the experiences on the main mountain (not the food,  or skiing adventures). The one way journey takes about 2hours 15minutes. There are two routes from Interlaken. Unfortunately, we ended up taking the same route both ways.

The route are-Interlaken Ost- Lauterbrunnen- Kleine Scheidegg- Junfraujoch

OR

Interlaken Ost- Grindelwald- Kleine Scheidegg- Junfraujoch

Both ways we crossed Grindelwald, as the trains from the Grindelwald route were frequent at the time of our travels. The trip is a little hectic, when it comes to train change. We changed three trains here- one at Interlaken, then either Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen and lastly at Kleine Scheidegg.

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Winter onset and travel

The best part about travelling in the month of November or December is the onset of winter and thus, snow. To our surprise, there was hardly any snow on the way to Jungfrau. According to some skiers we met on our way, the snow was not much for them to enjoy skiing. Another unfortunate part about our planning was, the famous Trummelbach falls which is a little off Lauterbrunnen, was closed due to the winter.

In our minds we thought, would it have been better to come during the summers? But, as our train pulled into the Grindelwald station, we had some amazing snow peak mountain views and we did not regret our decision. Before we knew it, our next train to Kleine Scheidegg was already there.

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This is the most interesting route of the journey. The train stops at a couple of places that has viewing balconies. We can see some snow covered peaks and glaciers.

TIP: They have toilet facilities at these stops.

On Top of Jungfrau

The weather did not play much of a spoil sport, as we thought it would. I have experienced snow, but this was a maiden experience of snow on a mountain, which is at a height of 4,158 mtrs. The viewing gallery had breathtaking views, sometimes haunting with the depth and the silence you can hear in the wide glaciers and valleys. There is a research centre, which is the top most point of Jungfrau.

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As we went back to the main building at the Jungfrau mountain top, we could see many exhibits on differnet floors- we entered the ice cave exhibit. A cave made of, yes, ice. It has some carvings of animals and designs made of ice. For Ice Age movie fans, they have Scrat stuck inside the ice walls. We can take a picture with him 😀 (be careful of skidding on the surface, it is a slippery walk)

One direction said bollywood, but was shut for renovation. Wonder what could have been there (insert DDLJ theme song, not). It made us feel not far from home (not). As if this wasn’t enough, the also have a restaurant named Bollywood. We had coffee counters selling vegetarian sandwiches, which was great, with names of the sandwiches written in Hindi. We were very amazed to see the way Indian tourists were catered to. The flip side was, Bollywood restaurant had Buffet costing about 40 CHF per person. A little on the expensive side for food. Thanks but no thanks.

TIP: The coffee shop serves hot chocolate and special Jungfrau coffee for 8 CHF. A lot for a coffee?, but take it because you can take the Jungfrau mug home as a souvenir 😉

So, this was Jungfrau, Top of Europe. Yes, it does take more time to travel compared to spending time on the mountain, but we thought it was worth the effort. The effort to see the train, they way it is built on top of the mountain. They are an engineering marvel!

The change in the scenery as we come down to Grindelwald is such a complete transformation that we could not believe we were playing in the snow on top of this mountain, sometime back. As we descended to Interlaken, I took a moment to admire the clean trains, with clean windows and the beautiful scenery that we could see through it.screen-shot-2017-01-06-at-22-33-36

Little did we know then, the next day would also filled with surprising views and breathtaking sceneries too!

Next post: Interlaken and an adventure of a lifetime with pictures clicked in our memories 😉

Until next time!

Northern Lights

Chasing the Northern Lights: Nature’s spectacular show

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The first clear memory I have of the magnanimity of the Aurora Borealis is a video uploaded by one of the astronauts onboard the International Space Station. And I thought, hmm, ain’t that a view.

A reading on the Northern Lights, scientifically known as the aurora borealis, followed.

Nature, as it turns out, is quite the artist. Here’s how and why the phenomenon occurs.

Quote:
The bright dancing lights of the aurora are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth’s atmosphere. The lights are seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres. They are known as ‘Aurora borealis’ in the north and ‘Aurora australis’ in the south.

Auroral displays appear in many colours although pale green and pink are the most common. Shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet have been reported. The lights appear in many forms from patches or scattered clouds of light to streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays that light up the sky with an eerie glow.
Quote:
The Northern Lights are actually the result of collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth’s atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun’s atmosphere. Variations in color are due to the type of gas particles that are colliding. The most common auroral colour, a pale yellowish-green, is produced by oxygen molecules located about 60 miles above the earth. Rare, all-red auroras are produced by high-altitude oxygen, at heights of up to 200 miles. Nitrogen produces blue or purplish-red aurora.

http://www.northernlightscentre.ca/northernlights.html

Now, for us to be able to observe the phenomenon, the following need to be perfectly aligned:

– Minimal, if not a complete lack of, light pollution
– Far, far away from the prying light from the sun: this rules out a major part of the central hemisphere, and necessitates long winters
– And of course, the occurrence of the phenomenon itself

Turns out, there are very few places on earth that afford you such a view. Make no mistake, the phenomenon occurs everywhere across the skies, around the world. But one can’t “see” it as commonly, for one or more of the reasons above.

The Nordic countries, and also northern America, are some potential areas to experience the northern lights (similarly, souther NZ and Australia for southern lights).

History says Mumbai was witness to the lights in the late 1800s. Doubt that should happen anytime soon given how vibrant it is now!

Every so often, I thought of going “chasing” these lights; for that matter, a bunch of my colleagues/class mates visited Alaska hoping to see them. Not a lot of luck for them.

As it so turned out, I was to be in Switzerland in the winter of 2016. And the best part about visiting Europe during the winter is- an easy and convenient access to go hunting for the lights!

After floating this idea with friends, we had a winner! There is a general consensus that Tromso, Norway has become quite the popular destination to view the lights.

Tromso is comfortably in the arctic circle region; around 300kms from the Arctic circle to be precise.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troms%C3%B8

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https://www.tumblr.com/search/to%20minore

A friend’s friend had gone the previous year with a group: Chasing Lights. I promptly got in touch with them and signed up!

Yep, we were signed up to go chase the beautiful lights.

The company has a couple of options: a minibus (13 people) and the bigger bus (50 people). We booked ourselves for two nights on the minibus since over the bigger bus, it offered:
– Tripod stands
– Thermal suits and boots
– Dinner, and hot chocolate
– More importantly, being a minibus, easy and quick maneuverability and more reach
* on both, you get assistance on photography and a copy of photos clicked during your chase

Off we were to Tromso from Zurich. Our flight was Zurich – Frankfurt – Tromso. The last two hours of the journey are simply breathtaking as they offer a stunning view of ice-capped mountains and land, and settlements lit up along the blanket of ice and dark grey rivers. (Unfortunately, I was on the aisle seat, as is my travel preference)

Now, although this is just through observation: of the Arctic winter, Sept-Oct and March/April are considered to be the best months to view the activity as the skies are clear and Nov-Feb are generally hit-or-miss since a good amount of snowfall is expected and the skies are overcast.

We landed at Tromso amid grey skies on a tarmac freshly coated with snow and then walked to the terminal. A cab ride later, we checked into the Radisson, in the heart of Tromso; a quaint town on the Tromsoya island with gentle mountains peppered around the sea.

The “chase” typically starts at 6pm from the town and can go until 4am.

In preparation, we layered up: five layers on top, two on bottom and two pairs of socks within snow shoes.

We were last to be picked up by the troupe: a very friendly bunch of three (two guides that led the “chase”, and the driver, who they call the Stig).

Naturally, witnessing the northern lights is not a guarantee but the guides promised every ounce of determination and enthusiasm during the chase. They weren’t kidding: through the course of the chases on both nights, we hopped from one island to another, inland towards the coast, depending on where they anticipated a clear sky.

Now, here’s the thing about the lights: you can’t easily discern them unless the activity is extremely strong and you have a keen eye. You can easily mistake them for clouds. The second, the color (green/pink) isn’t as strongly seen as easily as you see them in the pictures. The pictures are so, because the camera lens are more sensitive than our eyes are in deciphering the light spectrum.

So, as the drive started, our guide had his camera lens settings in order (minimal aperture, high ISO (800-1000), low shutter speed) and pointed towards the sky.

And just as were settling in, mentally prepared for the uncertainty in viewing this phenomenon, he asked to stop and got down. And within a moment, called us out.

We had a sighting!

And a beautiful one at that!

The sight is one to behold: a beautiful wave of green across the sky! We couldn’t help ourselves jumping with joy as we admired the view.

And then just like that, clouds took over the show.

For the next two hours or so, we just looked all over the sky hoping for that clear patch. As we played hide and seek with the clouds, we soaked what was around us: snow-clad mountains, the sea around them and the occasional settlement.

We had a round of hot chocolate while around a bonfire and exchanged stories with others in the group: Polish, American, Danish and Siberian.

The skies probably felt left out and cleared up.

And what followed, ladies and gentlemen, was one of nature’s finest performances: we witnessed the aurora all over the sky, dancing around. For ten seconds or so, we saw the elusive pink lights.

A true spectacle, these aurora are.

We continued our chase for another hour or so, and then returned to our hotel by 3am.

Contentment doesn’t even begin to explain our feeling!

The next day was a completely snow-out, with day-long snow showers and sleet.

We lined up for our second chase that evening, even more excited for how the sighting would be. As we continued with our hide-and-seek with the clouds, we saw lesser activity that we had on the previous night, but with more intensity.

The guides said that after a period of strong activity, the lights (essentially, charged particles) get strewn all over the sky. So, we had the entire sky faintly lit up!

We returned that night as the snow shower was unrelenting, with stars and lights in our eyes.

Most of the activity we witnessed was around the Ringvassoya island.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringvass%C3%B8y

Our experience chasing the northern lights has been nothing short of extraordinary: an exciting rendezvous where nature put on a spectacular show! Something so beautiful that you stand still in the moment watching nature’s canvas turn up in its true splendor!

And the pictures!

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