basel, lucerne, interlaken, bern - walking in a winter wonderland

Last weekend I was in Switzerland. Damned bloody expensive this place is.

First we reached Basel Euro Airport, which borders on Germany, France and Switzerland. We took a bus into Basel, and train to Lucerne.

Arriving at Lucerne, we proceeded to check into our hostel.

Backpackers Hostel

The view from our hostel window, complete with its own balcony.

The Cubist University of Lucerne

Now we were planning on going for our own self-guided walking tour in Lucerne, when Weiquan decided, "Okay, let's go up Mt. Pilatus." even though it costs CHF 60.8 just to ascend the mountain.

It's amazing how all the religious places stand out and look like people actually put in effort into building them. The rest of the buildings look awful.

Church.

But what a spectacular view for CHF 60.8!

At the summit

Dragons.

Pilatus map

Snow sledding at the top of Mt. Pilatus costs CHF 8.

Snow sledding

After eating dinner of self-cooked pasta in Lucerne, the next day, we went to Interlaken.

Awesome

Middle of Interlaken

Our hostel

The view from the balcony so nice.

After not being able to paraglide because of poor wind conditions, our backside got itchy and we went to Bern. The Bern return ticket costs CHF 27 (SGD 36)!!!

Clock

The river and beside the river they keep bears.

At 6pm the clock played some music, which was really disappointing when you compare to the one in Prague

Two elderly men engage in a game of chess.

The Royal Palace, with its light show. I once saw something like this at the Singapore Art Museum.

Okay, that was really boring wasn't it? Anyway we went back to Interlaken to mull over our CHF 27 ticket and to read our lab manual.

The next morning we wanted to paraglide, but the wind conditions were bad again. So we decided to ascend Jungfraujoch. However, at the Wilderswil train station, the weather looked cloudy and we were certain there was nothing to be gained by paying CHF 197 to look at clouds. So a change of plan, we decided to sled.

At this point, I just want to express my disappointment at the Swiss misinformation. First we were sold tickets to take the train from Wilderswil to Grindelwald for CHF 9.40, only to be told on the train that those were half-price tickets. Thankfully the conductor made us top up the remaining half price.

Next, we wanted to buy the half-day sledding pass, but the full-day pass costs CHF 42 while the half-day pass costs CHF 31 and is only valid from 1230pm. So half-day does not mean half price.. okay, so we bought the full day pass. The staff at the counter told us there were 3 routes to sled: Alpiglen - Grund, Kleine Scheidegg - Fallboden, and Mannlichen - Holenstein.

On the train to Kleine Scheidegg from Grindelwald, the conductor told us that our tickets can only be used if we have a sled with us. So we stopped at Grund to rent sleds.

On the way up to Kleine Scheidegg, we asked the train conductor if we can take the train to Mannlichen. She said that Mannlichen is only accessible by a ski pass, and our pass does not cover that. Also, there are only 2 sledding routes: Kleine Scheidegg - Wengen, and Alpiglen - Grund. Great.

Route to Wengen

Jinsheng caught falling off his sled

On the way down to Wengen, we got separated from Weiquan. Some skiers told us that we were sledding on the ski route and we should go on the sled route. So we climbed up to find the sled route, only to be told by someone lworking there that the sledding route was closed, because the ice was melting. "Sled on the ski route instead." Yay.

Allmend

Thankfully at the bottom of Wengen we found Weiquan, and caught the train back up to Kleine Scheidegg.

On Kleine Scheidegg, we took the train down to Alpiglen to start our sledding. The conductor saw us again, and told us that our sledding pass covers from Grindelwald-Grund-Alpiglen-Kleine Scheidegg, but not from Kleine Scheidegg to Alpiglen. Ridiculous. It is like saying I can go from Hamburg to Schwerin to Berlin but I cannot go from Berlin to Schwerin. She then said the way to get to Alpiglen from Kleine Scheidegg is to walk down. -_- Why would I buy a sledding pass to walk down?! Anyway she let us go, telling us to just do the Alpiglen-Grund route.

 

Before attempting the Alpiglen route

We sledded down the Alpiglen route twice, because it was so much fun.

At night we met up with Bo in the hostel, who completed his "surreal" skydiving experience.

The next day, we were given the green light for Paragliding! Finally, after 2 days of waiting, we got the chance to try it.

Wearing good snow shoes

Thick snow, bad wind

It was raining at that time, and snowing at even higher altitudes. The wind was picking up, but there was a sliver of sunlight in the midst of the clouds. We were gambling on that ray of sunlight to pierce through completely.

Snowy weather

We waited at this shed, where a tandem paraglider was waiting with his paraglider. After waiting for a bit, we changed the launching point.

A shed for paragliders to wait

Initial launching point

This new launching point did not face the city, but the sun was finally out, and the wind died down along with the rain/snow. However, the snow was thick, and Bo fell down when he tried to run to launch the parachute.

2nd launching point

It was my turn next. Running as fast as I could in the shin-deep snow, the parachute started to tug me back, and soon, my feet were off the ground.

The feeling of flight is indescribable. Once you've tasted flight, you can never forget the sensation of weightlessness. And like an addiction, it keeps haunting you.

Weiquan

Jinsheng

When the four of us landed safely, we walked to Lake Thun.

So there are no pictures of Lake Thun because we got lost and the sun was setting. But anyway we saw it from the train, and it's in one of the pictures here. We left for Basel, to wait at the Euro Airport for our flight back to Hamburg next morning.

Switzerland is a nice place for outdoor sports, but it comes at a steep price. Nonetheless, it is a precious and valuable experience to cherish. By the time I earn enough to return to Switzerland, I doubt I will have much more youth to enjoy these activities.