An Aleatoric Harangue

SNOW? In the Summer? Awesome!

Switzerland was our longest stay in one place and was really quite relaxing. After all of the running around that we had to do throughout the trip, it was nice to be in a cooler climate where we could enjoy our surroundings a bit more. The first stop in Switzerland, was not quite as pleasant as the rest of the stay.

The drive from Italy was a rather long one and took the better part of a day to accomplish. It was filled with Bollywood movies I couldn’t understand, both due to a language barrier and the general hokie nature of them, dozing off, and enjoying the book that I had taken along with me. We stopped for lunch after having crossed the border at an amusement part of sorts called Swiss Miniature. Like Maduradam in Holland, the purpose of this little tourist spot was to take all the major sites of Switzerland and miniaturize them to make them accessible to see in one afternoon. I still can’t really understand the draw to these places and, to make matters worse, it was incredibly warm out that day so we were all a bit miserable and trying to make the best of an unfortunate situation. Once we were done there, it was back on the bus for a few more hours until we arrived in Engelberg at Hotel Terrace. Immediately upon arrival there was a sense of relief that overcame all the passengers of the bus.

The city of Engelberg is nestled away in this beautiful valley of Switzerland that is completely green. As your eyes scan the surrounding mountains you begin to see the snow capped mountains and feel the crisp, cool are fill your lungs and feel at peace. The hotel itself was nice, especially after the horrendous experience in both Rome and Pisa, and our room was surprisingly spacious. Hotel Terrace is above much of the city as it sits on the slope of on of the mountains that encapsulates this little town. The rest of the evening was ours to relax with a surprising dinner that offered soup and salad, a much needed infusion of Americana into our diet, among the typical Indian food.

The following day was an optional excursion for those able and willing. I believe the only people who did not join us chose to do so because of illness, some sort of stomach bug that went around the bus and hit about 75% of the people throughout the trip. The excursion was to the top of Jungfrau, one of the taller mountains in the Swiss Alps at 13,642 ft and boasts the highest railway station in all of Europe, Jungfraujoch. To get to the station, you must take two separate cog-wheel trains and the journey is about 45 minutes. The view from the highest observation deck is breathtaking and makes you wish you had a snowboard with you to ride down what looked like miles of untouched snow. At one side of the deck, you can see both the snow covered higher altitude areas and some of the lower areas that are lush green with scattered wild flowers and livestock. This is a view that can make anyone a nature lover, however temporary that infatuation may be. The other attraction inside is the Ice Palace. Housing hundreds of different ice sculptures, this structure is constructed entirely of ice. It is interesting, though, as you don’t really seem to slip as you would on most icy surfaces as it is coated with something that makes sliding possible, but only if you are trying to slide. One piece of advice to all those travelling to this area, do not where Converse as your feet will freeze in those thin-soled, canvas shoes. The real pleasure of the day was that we were able to walk around the different areas of the mountain at our own pace and really enjoy the things we were looking to do while there rather than having to rush into and out-of the bus all the time. That evening there was a “disco night” in the lowest level of the hotel which was amusing to attend, especially when a group of Columbian students arrived. This large group of girls was on a school trip of some sort and what made this really amusing was pushing two of the younger tour members, Yash and Abu, in to dance with these young ladies who were all about their age; a night I’m sure we’ll all be laughing about for a while.

The final day in Switzerland was spent mostly atop Titlis, a 10,623 ft mountain in the Urner Alps of Switzerland, with a few hours in the late afternoon spent shopping in the city of Lucerne. Titlis was an experience I don’t think I will ever forget. Most of the day was amazing. We had snow ball fights in which I was reminded again that I’m not the brightest bulb in the box after feeling like my hands and feet were going to fall off because I was wearing my Converse and no gloves. It was totally worth the risk of mild frost bite, mind you, as we all had a blast pelting each other and inevitably stuffing snow directly down certain people’s clothing. After fun with fighting in the snow, we went across the “Ice Flyer”, a fancy name for ski lift, over to where the activities were. What were these activities you ask? Well, they were sledding and snow tubing, both of which were amazingly fun. We enjoyed going down the hills in the snow tubes as the man in charge would spin you as fast as possible so that you were dizzy and disoriented by the time you got to the bottom because, like most things in life, it’s only fun if you feel like you can’t walk for a minute or so afterwards. Going down the sledding hill was pretty phenomenal as well, especially when we realized that some of the sleds were created to connect. We created a snake of sleds of 8 people and went down the hill. Our mistake, however, was having a small 13-year old kid in the front who just didn’t have the size to steer this beast as it barreled down the mountain. He eventually tipped over and got run over. He was fine after a few minutes and just had a nasty bruise on his thigh the next day so no big deal.

It wasn’t all this fun that made our time on Titlis completely unforgettable though. As we were coming up the moving sidewalk contraption from the bottom of the hill for the very last time, we suddenly hit a bit of a rode block and people started to fall backwards on to me because there was a crowd gathered at the exit of the conveyer belt blocking people from properly exiting. This gathering was caused by an elderly man from one of the other tour groups collapsing just off the belt. By the time we came up and finally realized what was happening, two people, one being a Canadian woman from our group, had already began administering CPR to the man. After doing this for quite a while, and all of us standing to the side seeing the horrified expression on his wife’s face, a portable defibrillator was used to try to bring the man back. By this point, some of the younger kids in the group had begun to get a bit uneasy so I took them back to the other side of the “Ice Flyer” to get warm, dry, and find some food. We found out later from the Canadian woman that the elderly man, a retired doctor and asthmatic, did not make it.

The rest of the day seemed somewhat unimportant as it was spent wandering the town of Lucerne, which is a gorgeous little city with a lot of amazing scenery and shopping, and finding little trinkets and chocolates and a new watch for me. Thus ended our time in Switzerland and an experience that has left a lasting impression on me, as I’m sure it did most members of our group.

Pictures:
Engelberg
Jungfraujoch
Mt. Titlis & Lucerne