The famous fountain of Geneva lake: a view from the aeroplane
The plane has docked. The board on top of the building announces: Aeroport International de Geneve (this is the french part of Switzerland)
The banquet hall at the university
The professonal yoddlers
Prof Furui trying his hand at Yoddle; Prof. Bourland (top centre) looks on with an amuse.
Mathew, Nagaraj and Kiran around a banquet table
Streaks: remnants of jet flights over Geneva
A stream that takes away extra water from Geneva lake.
Chess play
A closer look a the chess play;
I liked these two-wheelers: protected from rain and hail, endowed with a dickey. Several of them were parked in a row; I could not resist the temptation of a photo for posterity.
A live band was getting ready to play on the sidewalk outside a restaurant.
View of the lake shore from a boat that took us on a tour of Geneva lake (and offered a close view of the famous fountain)
Kishore, Kiran, Nagaraj and Mathew
Being a veggie, I was happy to locate a McDonald where I will get french fries. A view of a food court.
A tram
The brunswick memorial; I was reminded of New Brunswick, NJ where I stayed for a couple of years
I was pleased with the lawn (and was tired).
A scuplure and a pond in front of the Brunswick memorial
View of the lake and city from the lake shore
The bridge over the two streams that carry water out of Lake geneva. The right stream flows into France and the left stream (to the left of the island, but not visible in the picture) flows into Italy.
A russian circus troupe had pitched tent opposite the fort.
Ideas spurting out?
Notice the rainbow just above the yellow boat
An ornamental pillar at a viewpost.
A cute car: the fountain is in the background
sail boats, the lake and mountains
ducks busy with the daily chore; beyond the bridge is the Geneva lake.
Inside the Geneva fort
Inside the fort.
An old fashioned merry go round. One can see the retaining walls of the Geneva fort in the background.
View of the Martigny valley as seen from from La Batiaz (the chateau). On right is the train station. A train (red+white colour) has left for Lausanne and is crossing River Rhone that flows (from left to right) into Lake Geneva. The town is on right of the station.
A reconstructed Trebuche (a giant catapult) on the courtyard of La Batiaz.
A road in Martigny. I like the shape of those trees.
Kids watching two skilled men playing with 'brooms' or where they knives?
A sculpture in a garden in Martigny.
Shajit's wife invited all of us for a dinner; a group photo. Top row (from L to R): ..., Hemant, Shajit's wife, Shajit, Kiran, Ajmera. Bottom row: Bhavna, ..., chief, Christina(?)
The gondola station at the Ruinettes
chief and Kiran with Bhavna
Hemant and kiran with chief
A view of the town below from inside the cable car
A procession of open cable cars; this system had closed since the peak season had ended. Notice the valley below and zig zag roads climbing up.
This was a mecca for paragliding. Notice a glider on air at the centre of the photo.
Several paraglide enthusiasts have unwrapped the 'umbrella' on the floor (lower right); one has just taken off (centre). Another has already gained some height (left). We saw several gaining great height by exploting thermals rising out of the valley.
Flora at this height
IDIAP?
An intercity express
Inside an intercity express. Such a luxury can't be imagined in any Indian train.
Remember, this is 2nd class!
Tourism is a large source of income in switzerland (banking is another). In quite a few towns, bikes can be rented for free; Mathew had drawn our attention to this; I love seeing a new place using a bicyle. Just outside the train station was a kiosk with a few bikes and a African person sitting inside. Kiran was worried about surrendering passport (of all documents) to an unknown person in a foreign country. The person would just give a receipt; but how would he trust him? I asked the attendent: "Have others taken bike by submitting passports?". He said yes and showed a bunch of passports. Yet, kiran was not sure. I had to pursuade him. The attendant said: "no passport, no byke". Finally, we got bikes by depositing our passports. We did not have any particular plan. So, we took to first (small - less traffic) road towards the city. The road starting going down and finally reached "Aare" river that meanders thru the historic city of Bern. Before crossing the river, we decided to have a photo.
After crossing the bridge, we took a left turn and followed the flow of the river. We passed a tennis court on right. A beautiful building was on the other side of the river.
We passed a tennis court on right and then we rode below a high bridge and reached a park like area. The river took a slight right turn; a barge established a canal that continued straight (into right centre of the river). We saw some people fishing in this canal.
Then, I wanted to go up and over the bridge. Riding the bike would mean an additional 2 km ride upwards thru some winding road (that we had to discover yet). Then, Kiran suggested that we simply carry the bike up the stairs meant for pedestrians. We actually did that! Of course, Kiran reached the top early, and helped me (I was panting after carrying the bike some 20 steps) to cover the last few steps. A famous museum (seen in the picture) is located at the square. We decided to skip the museum and spend time seeing the city.
We took our bikes on the bridge. A view of the river and city (train station side) from the sky-high bridge.
On the way back to railway station, we encountered the clock tower. Tourists were waiting for the clock to strike a full hour (was it 3pm?) to watch various birds etc to come out and chime. Since there were only 10 minutes left, we waited and watched the event.
A view of the bay and castle of Spiez from the Railway station.
The castle of Spiez near the waterfront of Lake thun. I was happy to sip from the McDonald drinks and I was still holding the paper napkins given along with the french fries. I took a boat to see the Beatus caves and then Interlaken.
The boats docked on the bay of Spiez - a beautiful place. I had come there by train; the railway station is halfway up the hill behind me. A mountain is visible in the background.
View of water fall; one has to climb up several bridges across these streams to reach the Beatus caves.
The caves are at the top of the waterfall system.
Near the entrance to the caves
Lucerne railway station.
Bridge in front of the railway station
Ducks below the chapel bridge.
The famous chapel bridge with water tower (on the left); there is a chapel on the bridge. Notice 'kremlin' style building (jesuit church) on the right.
the water tower attached to the bridge.
A football game in progress; the fort is visible in the background.
A view of the fort wall (from inside the fort).
Inside a tower in the city/fort wall.
A batch of school kids had come to visit the famous Lion monument. The lion is seen weeping-a symbol of the grief of swiss people over the death of their (mercenary) leader who was killed in a battle while fighting for the king of Britain. The sculpture is carved out of a lime stone wall.
chief and the lion. For a closer look, see http://www.lucerneguide.ch/Seiten/09%20%20%20%20%20Lion%20Monument%20Lucerne_jpg.htm
The boys are just mulling around. Kiran took this opportunity to click a photo of chief.
A ticket station (closed now). Notice different modes of transport for which tickets are available! (from L to R: boat, ..., funicular train, cable car, bus).
The cable car.
At the upper landing station.The cable car is more like a bus!
A view of lake from top.
A view of the lake from inside the cable car.
A view of the Lucerne town from the Fort.
We took this boat to return to Lucerne after the downward cable ride.
"Positioned at the point where the Untersee arm of the Bodensee narrows into the Rhine 20km east of Schaffhausen, little STEIN-AM-RHEIN is an almost perfectly preserved medieval village, famed throughout Switzerland for the intricacy of the sixteenth-century frescoes which adorn an array of houses in the village" (source: <http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/northeast/steinamrhein.html>). The central square is in the background.
The town hall of STEIN-AM-RHEIN facing the town square.
The road leading to STEIN-AM-RHEIN. The buildings with walls made up of earth/brick reinforced with wooden beams remind me of similar structures in Himachal Pradesh; Naggar castle is a fine example.
I went to see the Rhine falls in Neuhausen (northern Switzerland bordering Germany). I walked for about 3kms from Schaffhausen to the suburban town of Neuhausen along the river. The footpath was well maintained and it was a pleasant walk. A view of the watefalls from the footpath. A food court is on the right centre of the photo from where boats take visitors close to the falls.
The water fall is supposed to be largest water falls [33 feet :-( ] in Europe. A let down (similar to the Pykara falls near Ooty) to Indians who have seen great water falls of the Jog falls variety. An observation platform is on an island at the centre of the fall; some people (one in red jerkins) are seen on the island that can be reached by a boat.
The water fall is on the right.
A view of the water falls (and the island housing the observation platform).
The water fall from the observation post. A railway station is on top of the hill on the other side of the waterfalls.
Mathew (my friend and travel advisor) suggested the following adventure: one can buy a special ticket at the cable car station at Grindelwald: one takes cable halfway upto a landing station (in the picture). The attendent gives you a two-wheeler (caller a trotty bike); it does not have a pedal! One does not need one since the road to Grindelwald is nearly monotonically downwards. The road was smooth and mostly had gentle incline; a few stretches were steep and i had to press the brakes very hard to keep the speed down to something that I was comfortable with. There was a level stretch of road and the gravity was not sufficient to move the bike forward. I had to move the bike by pusing the road by legs. A class of nursery kids were walking on the sidewalk (possibly on a picnic) and were thrilled to see an oldie on a trotty bike. They started laughing loudly. This drew the attention (and disapproval) of their teacher .
A view of city clock tower from the top of the church. Climbing a lot of steps to the top was an effort, but the views were rewarding.
