Click here to read Part 2 : Bam! It's Amsterdam
Its never late, for another chocolate
25 June
2022
We checked out from Grindelwald and as usual asked Simi what was the plan for the day. She smiled and gave the usual reply, 'more nature'. We visited Oeschinensee and Blausee. It was a much more relaxing day with lot of time for taking pictures. And exactly on this day, the memory card of our camera got corrupted denying the universe from witnessing all the solo pics/couple pics/family pics/group pics that we took that day.
Luckily we had mobile phones with us.
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| On the way to Oeschinensee |
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| Blausee - Deosn't it look dreamy? |
| Blausee - a glimpse |
One interesting
activity we did was the mountain coaster which was a first-time experience and
an amazing one. It was a ride where a person sits on a cart and the cart goes
through a slide of almost 750 meters amidst nature. Me and Nachu sat on one cart,
and I started the video of my camera to capture the complete ride. But the
moment the ride started the video automatically stopped. 😐 This
doesn't seem to be a good day to capture memories digitally!
After a gap
of 2 days, we returned to Sudhi's place and called it a day.
26 June 2022
'What is
the plan today?'
'More
nature'
It was a
Sunday and Sudhi, Swati and Swasti also joined us for the sightseeing. We
visited Mount Stoos. To reach the top, we had to go via the world's steepest
funicular. Up above, we were truly awestruck by the view. Even though we
jokingly said that it was only 'nature' every day and no city vibes, the beauty
of nature really amazed us. There were mountains, greenery, lakes, and one
could just stand on the viewpoint and gaze at the beauty for hours together.
But not when you have a 4-year-old kid with you. There was a park there with
swings and slides and Nachu and Swasti played there for some time. It was too
windy and after our regular photo sessions, we dispersed from that place.
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|
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| with our Swiss hosts |
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| Is nature looking too artificial? |
In the
evening, we visited a restaurant on the banks of Lake Lucerne with a mission to
try the local cuisine, especially the Swiss national dish, Swiss cheese fondue.
Sudhi
graciously paid the bill stating that we were guests, and we could pay when
they visited Bangalore.
Sudhi, we
are waiting for you to come to Bangalore to buy you the Bangalore special Bisi
Bele Bath from Shanthi Sagar😜.
No,
seriously come down, let's continue the party that we put on a pause in
Switzerland.
That was
our last night in Switzerland and Nachu and Swasti truly enjoyed the time
dancing and playing on the Lucerne bridge.
Thanks to
Sudhi, Swati and Swasti, an evening to truly remember ever!
27 June 2022
It was time
to bid farewell to Switzerland, but not without a 'memorable' incident.
We had to
drop the rental car and take another one which we had booked for the cross
country drop off. Me and Soorej planned to drop the older car and pick the new
one and then go home to pick the others. That way they could spend time at home
to pack, get ready etc. Now, we couldn't pick the new car and then drop the old
one because the drop off time of the old car was earlier than the pickup time
of the new one. Delay in dropping off will lead to hefty charges. So, the plan
was that I would drop Soorej to the rental office of the new car, then go and
return the old one and wait there. By that time, Soorej will pick the new one
and come and pick me.
Soorej was
driving when we reached the location of the new car rental. He got down from
the car and I took over the driver's seat. Soorej went ahead to the car rental
office. I drove off to the other car rental office. The drop off time was
nearing.
I drove
through Zurich city. Driving in the city was totally different from driving in
the countryside. There were too many cars, buses, bicycles in the cycle lanes,
trams on the middle of the road etc and several rules to follow. I was driving
highly concentrated and reached a traffic signal. While staying at the
signal, I got startled with a thought! The car key was with Soorej. I
think he had put it in his pocket while driving and when he got down, the car
key went with him.
Yeah, so I
was driving a car on the busy street of Zurich at the busiest hours, and I did
not possess the car key with me. If the car engine shuts down for some reason,
I would have no way to start the car. I looked at the rear-view mirror and
it was a police car behind me. Wow. No other car would have made the
situation more dramatic. I waited for the signal to turn green. The car
meanwhile went to sleep. A chill ran through my spine.
The signal
turned green. I pressed the accelerator and the car started and took off. I
sighed relief for the time being, but still the thought of engine shutting down
lingered in my mind. I wanted to quickly reach the rental office but there was
no way to cruise with the busy traffic.
I somehow
managed to reach the rental office exactly at the drop off time and was
relieved.
The relief
was only for half a second when I realized that to return the car, I need to
return the key as well. I called up Soorej before getting out of the car. He
said he has started off with the formalities for the new car and will be
getting the car soon. I got off the car and told them that Soorej was just
nearby and has the key with him.
For them,
the car return time is when I hand over the key and they started threatening me
to charge for late return. I convinced them for more than half an hour that the
key is just 5 minutes away (they didn't seem to believe me for some reason).
Soorej finally arrived and we handed over the key. That is when the rental
company added more drama to the story. Well, that is too long a story to be
covered as a sub plot. So, that one is for some time later.
We walked
out of the rental office, and I looked at the new car. A Volkswagen Touareg!
It was such a huge one. Truly majestic.
We drove
home and picked up the others. With all the incidents, we were late to start
our day. We said bye to Sudhi, Swati, and Swasti. They were amazing hosts and
truly made our trip smooth as Swiss butter. You guys truly rock! (I think we
should visit you again to thank you personally. 😜😁)
Okay Touareg, time to cross the Swiss border. On our way, we saw a supermarket and wondered whether we should get our usual hot chocolate and chocolate croissants, and some chocolates for the way. We looked at the time and it was already too late. But it's Swiss chocolate. We looked at the time again.
The car
waited in the supermarket's parking lot.
It’s never
late, for another chocolate.
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| Isn't it a small car for our remaining trip? |
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