Stories from our Europe Visit

This post describes the prominent experiences from our Europe Trip. It is going to be a rather long post on demand from our friends and relatives!

Paragliding at Interlaken: The highlight of the entire trip without any doubt was the 15 to 20 minutes we spent Paragliding in the air at Interlaken. One of the best experiences - especially with two lakes below, bright green forest covered mountains around, and snow capped Alps in the horizon! Paragliding is supposed to be a very safe sport when done properly - much safer than hand gliding or sky diving. We were told that it was becoming more and more popular lately among the adventurers. It is not as much an adrenaline pumping sport really. The calm peace in the air was breathtaking. We did it in tandem with our pilots (they call themselves a pilot even though they are not maneuvering a plane). The group was driven up the hill at Beatenberg in a van up to the launching point which is kind of a 45 degree meadow slope. 800m below was Interlaken and the two lakes. The pilot helped us with the gear, and then opened up the parachutes which surprisingly fit in an extra-large sized backpack. We wait in line seeing others run just about 5 to 10 steps gently down the hill before their chute opens up, and off they glide, smoothly into the air. It did not appear difficult or risky watching them do it. My wife was a little nervous that morning, but was comfortable with all that went on. She took off with her pilot ahead of me, and about three or four take offs after that was my turn. It was as simple as I saw others doing it. Before even I could think of being scared, we were in the air, and I was sitting comfortably in my seat with the glorious view around me. I had requested for a longer flight time, but the thermal conditions were not feasible that day. To glide upwards, rising hot air is essential, and the weather was not warm enough to prevent the descent. We landed after about 15 minutes on an open field right next to where we started. The landing was very simple, much like a 3 foot jump and a couple of steps along with the momentum. It was beautiful to watch the parachutes deflate and hit the ground as others in the group took turns to land. The ecstasy after that experience would be long remembered.

Black Forest: I had been all excited about this hike from months before the trip. My brother who was here before had many good things to say about the Black Forest, and all the information I got from my research concurred. But here was our problem. That morning when we planned to hike, we found that rain and thunderstorms were expected the whole day. Feldberg, where we wanted to hike was about 90 minutes away from Freiburg which was our base. Logistics and weather predictions at Heidelberg (planned for the next day) prevented us from swapping the trips. It was not raining yet at Freiburg, so we just decided to take the train/bus to Feldberg and defer the decision to hike when we were there.

As we rode in the train within the Black Forest towards Feldberg, we could see why it was fantastic to hike out here. Apparently, hiking was "invented" here! We reached our destination (Feldbergerhof) with lots of hopes. But to our ill luck, we found the starting point for the hike situated up the hill completely covered with fog. It was disappointing to hear further from the folks out there that rain was imminent. The scenery around us was nevertheless beautiful. The wetness enhanced the bright green color and everything was clean and pristine. It was nature at its best! But, all the more reason for us to be disappointed! :-(

Having come all the way, we decided we were not going to leave empty handed. We bought the tickets and took the cable car up the hill anyway. We would further defer the decision to hike once we got up there. It was not raining yet, so we would have three options - hike back down the same hill quickly, do the long 4 hour hike, or the short 2 hour hike. If the weather didn't improve, we could take the cable car back down. We passed in the cable car through the dense fog up to the top of the hill. Miraculously, the fog cleared almost as soon as we hit the top. The view from the top into the horizon was superb, but it was still overcast and cloudy. Decision time again. That was when we made the call of the trip!

We decided on the shorter version of the Feldberg hike for two hours. I had the map which Black Forest Tourism folks had sent to us as part of the brochures. Looking at the hiking path map may help understand our story. From the Bismarkdenkmal at the end of the cable car ride, we would take the shorter route down via the Emil-Thoma Weg, the steep descent down to Raimartihof hut, walk around Feldsee lake and climb up back towards Feldbergerhof, close to the cable car base where we started. The hike was beautiful. We saw grass covered meadows, little streams gushing underneath remnants of winter ice, dense forest, small wooden bridges across cascades, sound of all kinds of birds chirping in happiness (I am sure!), freshly sprouting greenery all around like we've never seen before, sliced tree trunks cut into chips and placed neatly on the wet portions of the path, beds of little yellow springtime flowers! To hike under the sun in the Black Forest would certainly be an experience, but to hike under the clouds was I think was even better. It was a treat. We clicked photographs away to glory. Now and then we said hi to other hikers young and old who were enjoying the same moments. We checked and ensured with them that we were indeed heading in the right direction. After all, we were not the only ones who decided to hike the Black Forest that cloudy day.

We ate the Subway Sandwich we brought as we walked and used the time the Rain Gods gave us efficiently. Soon enough, we came to a unmarked fork. Should we choose left or right ? The left path was wider, but the right one seemed to go in the direction to Feldsee. The right one was also descending, which was expected because the lake was down below. So we chose to go right. The descent was gradual as it had been so far. However, the path seemed to be unused and deserted as we walked further, and it soon was a growing concern. I decided that we would go further down a bit and then decide. Fortunately we hit what appeared to be a dust road. A sign indicated the direction to Feldsee. Ah ha, we were not lost after all! Further down, we saw a path sign directing to Raimartihof hut, which was further reassurance. However, the satisfaction was almost immediately stunted when we saw the "Path Closed" sign a few yards ahead. A slipping stick figure indicated why. It was written in English too, which meant that it was indeed important and to be heeded (most signs out there were only in German). According to my map, the distance to Feldsee was not too much from where I thought we were, and the slipping sign made sense because we wouldn't have descended much enough from where we last saw the lake, and it would have to be a very steep descent. No taking risks in other directions now because (a) we didn't have enough time - we had to take the last train out early evening. (b) it was cloudy and rain was imminent (c) my wife has not hiked down steep terrains before.

I decided that we would climb back up the way we came. I remembered that we saw a marked intersection much before we met the unmarked fork. That intersection had a shorter 1.5 km marked path towards Feldbergerhof, which would safely take us back to where we started. We made climbed up, and slowy but steadily met our "fork of adventure" and then hiked up again to meet our "intersection of safety." The path towards Feldbergerhof was almost flat and very pleasant. It was still not raining, but the clouds were getting thick and dark. It didn't take us too long before the cable car base station came in sight to our relief. Rain was the perfect end to our hike - and it had to be. they were patient for so long! The last 300 meters or so, we walked together towards shelter under one umbrella with the rain and wind blowing against us.

Schilthorn: The Schilthorn day was more a well planned and deterministic experience than what the Black Forest would later be in our trip. We had two excursion options in the Alps. The first one was by train to Jungfraujoch (pronounced YOONG-frau-YOKE), the highest train station in Europe on Mount Jungfrau which is the tallest peak in the Alps. Or we could go to Schilthorn which is a vantage point with great view of the snow-capped Alps including Jungfrau. Both of us agreed on the latter because we were told that we would enjoy it better if we had already played with snow (plenty at Jungfraujoch) and that it was a better value for the money.

We started from Interlaken in a train to Lauterbrunnen, a little town in the valley between two huge mountain ranges. This map may help visualize. A cable car took us upwards on the south side cliffs to Grutschalp. The ride in the cable car was a little crowded but had exhilarating views of the valley down below covered with green meadows, pine trees and little cabins. We then hiked for about 2 hours to Murren along the ridge towards the snow capped mountains in view ahead of us. Jungfrau was one of them. From Murren, we took another cable car to Birg and then up to Schilthorn. There was a 360 degree view of the majestic mountains out on the top. It was a good time for lunch at the revolving restaurant. Dhal Makhni in the menu was no surprise by then because we had been seeing Indians all around us. Switzerland appears to be a favorite destination for our folks. Apparently Bollywood films shoot very often here with the mountains as the backdrop.

The descent was via Birg, to Murren, to Gimmelwald, then to Stechelberg, all by cable cars. We chose to hike the segment from to Murren to Gimmelwald. A bus then took us from Stechelberg to Lauterbrunnen and we took trains towards Grindelwald from there. The night was to be spent at Grindelwald.

The lowlight of the day was the tired return trip back to Lauterbrunnen as soon as something hit our minds at Grindelwald. We had locked our bags in the locker at Lauterbrunnen station in the morning and forgot to pick it up on our way back. :-(

Neuschwanstein Castle Tour: This was another high during our trip. We went along with Mikes's Bike Tours who did a very good job of planning out the day. If anyone is visiting Munich, these guys are much recommended. We left early to Fussen by train, two hours from Munich. A bus took us to the base of the mountain where the castle stands. The castle looked beautiful from below, nestled amidst the dense green trees. After a quick tomato-cheese sandwich lunch along with a history lesson from our guide, we took a quick glance of Hoenschwangau castle (where King Ludwig II who built the castle grew) and started a very steep 30 minute hike upwards. The guide seemed ruthless as he continued without stopping regularly, but it was for a reason. The castle interior tour ticket had a designated start time and there was nothing you could do if you missed your time slot. The tour was worth it. You could see why they called him "Mad King Ludwig" after seeing how extravagantly he spent on the castle. He apparently died mysteriously before he could complete the castle, and our guide was with the opinion that he was murdered to stop the crazy spending.

Our group then hiked down the mountain along a waterfall gorge, and walked towards Tegelberg a beautiful mountain in that area. We rode on the Alpine Slide, a 5 minute thrill-slide down from the top of a hill upon a bobsled on wheels. Then the 1 hour bike tour around the area - which was fantastic. I had not touched a bike since going to school at ASU, and my wife hadn't since her high school days! The scenery around was fantastic and that that was the best part of biking out there. A bus brought the exhausted group back to Fussen station in the evening. The day long busy but fascinating tour ended with some magic by our guide before we boarded the train at Fussen. He was apparently a student at a German school of magic. The two hour train ride via Buchloe brought us back to Munich and we deservedly hit the bed almost immediately.

Boring Rhine: It was with a lot of expectation that we planned for the Rhine Cruise. The Rick Steve and several other tour books marked it a "must-see" and the best thing to do in Germany. But we personally thought that it was not worth all the hype. It was beautiful no doubt, but it was not something that couldn't have been skipped. We did the 50km stretch from Koblenz to Bingen called the "Romantic Rhine" and recommended by many. The six hours on the ship we must say was rather boring and probably too long. The brief views of the castles every 30 minutes or so gathered some interest in the beginning, but at the end we didn't even bother looking out. There was nothing much to do on the ship other than have lunch and dessert, both of which we did. Perhaps the boredom was also because we already had a blitz view of those castles when we went the other direction by train the previous evening. And perhaps, our previous cruise on Lake Luzern and paddle-boat ride on Thunersee brought us to our saturation levels on boats.

Other moments in our trip worth mentioning
I was personally annoyed by the fact that many restaurants in Europe denied to serve us free drinking water. It was ridiculous. What was even more stupid was they did not allow outside water. Most stations and public places did not have a water fountain. The only decent way to get a drink was to buy the 3.40 Swiss Franc small water bottle. In our first thirsty experience, we bought one of those bottles to find that it was actually the carbonated bitter water which we could not even sip. Too bad you can't read German! But then, that purchase didn't go for a total toss. We saved the bottle and from then on, used it to fill tap water from our hotel rooms and carried along with us.

It was evident from our excellent trip that Germany has risen up from their racist history of the Nazi era, but I could still feel hostility at times. Once was on our last day in Germany at Munich station. It was a four hour expected wait for us before we could board our train to Zurich. Since we had Eurail 1st class tickets, I inquired at the counter if we could use the DB Lounge (a waiting area designated for 1st class passengers). The man in the counter trying hard to make himself sound polite responded tersely by saying that DB 1st class customers paid 2000 Euros every year and I was not to use the DB Lounge under any circumstance. Yes - he used the precise words "under any circumstance". I could not stop taking offense to that statement. But I left it at that because he was the only English speaking person there, and I had to get as much information from him about our upcoming journey.

Switzerland on the other hand was excellent. A very hospitable country indeed. Very accommodating in terms of language as well. Most signs and announcements were in English too, and people were more friendly. I have stayed in many hotels before, but I must vouch for the fact that the most hospitable hoteliers I have been with was Usula and Chris at Hotel Rugenpark, Interlaken where we stayed for 3 nights. They were FANTASTIC and took wonderful care of us. Anyone going there is assured of excellent service and personal care. They helped us with everything - planning what to see and do, booking tickets, filling us in with restaurant ideas and were more than willing to answer all my questions very patiently. Reminded me of how we are supposed to be treating others.

One final thing I must mention even though this post is going really long is about the trains in Europe. They were excellent and very reliable! I think we boarded more than about 40 trains, boats and buses in our trip (we were surprised too when we counted) and almost all of them departed and arrived on the scheduled minute or so. During our journey between Luzern and Interlaken, a coach's electric line burst and became disabled at a station on the way. The coach was promptly removed from the train in just about 10 minutes, and we still made it to Interlaken on time. The kind conductor confirmed the details of our next connection and even offered to phone the other train to hold on for us in case there was a delay.