Eurotrip Diaries - Basel, Lucerne

Day 7.

8.30 am. Wife is upset at yet another early morning train. She wants to sleep. And I don't?

11.30 am. We are in Switzerland. No passport checks. Europe is truly an open space. Our first haltage is Basel. The station has luggage lockers where we store most of our bags and set out to explore this city. We noticed the language switch on the train. In France, the announcements were made in French and English. Here, it became German, and then English.

I loved the small trams here - seen so many of them in Bollywood songs!

Basel Train Station

Downtown Basel

1 pm. Take the train to Lucerne. I love the Eurail Pass. We can take any train we want.

2 pm. Lucerne! Already I am loving it. The air is crisper, less polluted. Lakes and mountains all around.

The streets outside our hotel

like being inside a Hans Christian Andersen novel

3.30 pm. Walking all over this small city. Full of pedestrian streets, lovely old buildings and scenic mountains and lakes and DID I MENTION THE MOUNTAINS AND LAKES!!

A view of the Chapel Bridge and River Reuss.

There were even swans right by the lake!

5.pm Walked to the Dying Lion Monument. Carved right out of the mountain stone, this is incredible.

The famous carving of a dying lion by Bertel Thorvaldsen is in a small park just off Lowenplatz. The carving was made to commemorate hundreds of Swiss guards killed by the mobs who stormed the Tuilleries Palace in Paris during the French Revolution in 1792.

Day 8.

8.30 am. Man, these Germans eat everything at breakfast! Lucerne in Switzerland is the German-speaking part of Switzerland and the language is so great to hear, so manly! Full of ich! nasht! glost! Dishoom! (the last part may have been added by me)

Back to breakfast. Oh boy, what a spread by our hotel! Now for the tourism.

Today was going to be all about Mount Pilatus. First up is a 90 minute cruise to take us to the base of the mountain.

10.00 am. We get up to take pictures across the other end of the cruise boat, for just one minute, and some (brown) family take our seats.

Me: "These brown people are ruining this country!"

Wife: "And you are ..."

Me: "Why, Canadian, of course!"

There was a river INSIDE the lake. You can see clearly the two streams of water that don't mix. Always fascinating to see that.

I want to live here.

It's very green, clean and serene.

11.30 am. Our first view of Mount Pilatus!

We would be heading to its peak (hidden amongst the clouds) soon.

12.00 pm. It's amazing that it's the same scenic beauty that is present in, say Bangladesh or India, but somehow it looks better in Switzerland. The Swiss have preserved the natural beauty, and transformed it into a very pleasurable tourist experience. It's so efficient, hardly any waiting in lines, English signs available everywhere, and people are so hospitable.

The base is called Alpnachstad, and the peak of Mount Pilatus is called Pilatus Kulm. The cogwheel railway that takes one there is the world's steepest cogwheel railway.

Soon we are on our way, and the views keep getting better.

Soon, we start seeing clouds at our level!

12.30 pm.
Me: "Wife, look! That cow! It's eating grass!"

Wife: "Last time I checked, ALL cows eat grass."

Clearly, I was a bit TOO much smitten with the scenery.

The cows had bells on their necks.

It has become a distinctly Alpine scenery by now.

1 pm. The ride took close to half an hour. We are now at the peak.

This is unlike anything I have seen before. You can see clouds all around, or even BENEATH you, and you are not on an aircraft. We are literally walking on clouds.

Is that a cable car sneaking its way through the clouds?

Wife: "Look! There's a Swiss alpenhorn player. Let's take a picture with him."

Wife: "This is a great picture."

Me: "Should I tip the guy?"

Wife: "We are brown people, remember?"

From the peak (where there's a restaurant AND a hotel - the Swiss know their tourism) level, you can hike up another few hundred steps to get to the top of the mountain. We decided to do so.

Me: "Man, if someone falls here they won't even find his body!"

Wife: "Hmm..."

We were there just 15 minutes ago!

Mt Pilatus is also a military installation due to its Resteraunt View photoclear view to the Swiss borders. Apparently, this top of the mountain is fake, and "opens" to let helicopters etc fly in.

Swiss people were crazy about outdoor sports. They were paragliding down the mountain!

I am sorry to say England, but the best Fish 'n Chips I had was in Switzerland, right at the peak of Mt Pilatus.

After lunch, we took a walk through the carved-out cave view tunnel called the Dragon Walk that cut through the mountain stone, to short climbs to nearby peaks.

After a fantastic 3-4 hours, it was time to take the cable car down. This cable car would take us halfway, where there was an amusement park, and we take another smaller cable car all the way down.

We descend through the clouds.

5 pm. We are at the amusement park. It's time to try the luge.

The luge

After the luge it was time to take the smaller cable car back to Lucerne.

The ride back was over and through some beautiful villages.

And that was two beautiful days in Lucerne. Our next destination - Zurich.

Eurotrip Diaries - Paris

Day 4.

9.30 am. Under the English Channel, over in a flash. I estimated then that around 9.30 am we would be under the Channel. And so it happened – one minute we were in England, the next minute it’s all dark around me – and then it’s bright again and my phone informs me I am now ‘roaming’ in France.

10.30 am/11.30 am. We are in Paris. Only to find out it’s an hour ahead of London and it’s 11.30 am here.

There are gypsies everywhere. One lady comes up to me, wearing a scarf. “Speak English?” She asks me. I nod yes. Bad mistake. She thrusts a paper in my hand, with a pity letter claiming she is a Bosnian refugee. I wave her away. We see a gang of them harassing some other passenger, who then screams Police before they run away.

My wife keeps a firm hand on the luggage.

The line for information is dreadfully long. We stood in line for more than 30 minutes before we got to the counter. I know my route, but we have to buy a transport pass for the three nights we are in Paris. I also want to verify my route and information. All the time I notice this Algerian guy trying to sell metro tickets in black. I wonder who printed a bunch for him.

The guy at the counter says “very little” when I ask “parle anglais” (Speak English?). Why are you at the Tourist Info booth then if you don’t know English? Then he proceeds to instruct me very clearly in what was very good English.

A lady in burkha begs in a corner. All these shady characters appear Muslim. Or Arab. London appears to be so safe now. We saw a cop or official at every entrance at every tube station. Here it’s mayhem. London felt like home. Paris is already a culture shock.

1 pm. We finally reach our hotel.

A typical Paris street, the stuff of poems, with small white buildings lining up neat streets, lined with trees, and balconies with flowers hanging.

Too tired. Saw a black dude jump the turnstile and enter the metro without paying. Paris is dirty. The traffic is crazy. “Just like Bangladesh,” remarks the wife, and I have to agree.

Paris streets are small, and cars are parked very dangerously close to each other.

It seems if you want to cross the road and there are no lights, just step onto the road. The cars will then stop (hopefully). Otherwise they continue on.

4 pm. Lunch is McDonalds. Filet-o-fish. Can’t find a halal place nearby. Everything else is so pricey. Decide it’s not a bad time to visit the Eiffel tower. Our hotel is right next to it – in fact we can see it from our window.

View of Eiffel Tower from our hotel street

6 pm. Done the Eiffel tower.

At the Palais de Chaillot, which magnificently crowns the Chaillot hill in Paris, overlooking the Eiffel Tower across the Seine river.

It is truly amazing.

Walking past the majestic fountains in the beautiful gardens of Palais de Chaillot, on our way to the Eiffel tower.

It’s also huge – doesn’t seem like it’s so huge when you think about it, but it is.

The lift right up to the very top is one of the scariest I have been on. Everything is open to view and the ride is so SLOW! The CN tower takes you up in a flash, here you have time to absorb the fact that nothing stands between you and a 400m drop to the bottom.

Yup, looking up the Eiffel tower feels like you are looking up a girl’s skirt. No way around that feeling. Wife somehow agrees while still blaming ME for being dirty minded.

7 pm. Go for a walk. Damn I am tired. Travelling and sightseeing on same day is tiring. I wonder how I will stick to my schedule. Decide to go back to hotel and rest and wake up early the next day. Discover French taught in Canadian schools will only take you so far in France (especially if you cheated).

Day 5.

8.30 am. Happy Canada Day, but we are in Paris, France. First up is Louvre, the museum. Neither the wife nor I are big art fans – we are just heading there for Mona Lisa, and for seeing the pieces involved in the Da Vinci Code. Breakfast is some cereal bars and water as we are running late.

10 am. Wow, there is a line to buy the tickets to stand in the line to enter the museum to stand in a line to view the Mona Lisa.

The Winged Victory

Even the ceiling of the Louvre was a work of art.

Madonna of the Rocks. For fans of Da Vinci Code, this is what "So dark the con of Man" resolved to - underneath this painting there was the key.

10.30 am. Mona Lisa! Wow. Too many people, a huge glass window in front, and a big barrier separating every one. Still, desi instincts taking over meant pushing people out of the way for a good picture and getting close to the master piece. I was setting myself up for disappointment but somehow I wasn’t. We would later go back and see it several times.

11 am. Done the Louvre. Nothing much to see beyond our Da Vinci Code list – it got boring after sometime. Same statue, same naked painting, different room, different artist. Magnificent ceilings though! Snap a few pictures of more nude paintings when the wife is somewhere else. For art!

12 pm. Mandatory pictures with the Louvre pyramids later, we are on our way to the Notre Dame. Man it’s hot in Paris too! 37 degrees this time. Am I in Dubai?

12.30 pm. Seems the only answer to “parle anglais” is “very little”. And they lie every time. To quote Abu Sinan, "France would be nice place if not for the French".

1 pm. The Notre Dame’s a beautiful church.

I can’t understand how one can pray inside though – with thousands of tourists streaming in all around you, walking around, snapping pictures. Somehow, the sanctity of the place of prayer feels – violated. There’s lot of noise too, with people snapping pictures, yelling at friends or family to move right or left or to say ‘cheese’, and flashes.

2 pm. Paris streets are beautiful. The short buildings and flowers on balconies makes for a nice touch. And there’s trees everywhere, and the streets seem so well planned.

Lunch is a tuna sub. Still no sign of halal food. We see plenty of Muslims all around though. Most appear shady, some are allied to these gypsies and begging on streets, other appear on steps of tourist places selling everything from fake brand bags to Eiffel tower souvenirs. No wonder the French are mad at Muslims. These ‘Arabs’ are spoiling the image of this city.

Cheap souvenirs though. We buy some Eiffel towers that we bargained for 4 euros each that sell officially for 15 euros.

5 pm. Man, the Concorde and Luxor plaza is being renovated! That sucks.

Plywood and barriers everywhere. Why do they have to do this when we are there? Can’t take good pictures. The fountain’s full of sculptures of naked women.

7 pm. If you want Halal food follow the rich Arabs when they shop. We go to Champ de Elysees and sure enough, there’s a shawarma shop AND a shisha bar AND a halal Indian restaurant. We take a shawarma as a snack. The Indian food will be dinner.

10 pm. Somehow have spent a whole three hours on this street.

Walking to the Arc de Triomphe

People watching, walking to the Arc de Triomphe, climbing it, watching the Eiffel tower light show at sunset. Hard to believe Maghreb is at 10 pm and Fajr is at 2!

Underneath the Arc

Climbing the Arc

A View of the Eiffel Tower from the Arc - it puts on a light show at 10!

A view of the streets leading to the Arc (this is the Champs de Elysees).

The street is quite busy at night.

11 pm. Have dinner at La Rose du Kashmir. Most expensive biryani ever. 25 euros a plate! God bless Toronto and our Gerrard street. Truly, we have halal everything, and they deliver too!

Day 6.

8.30 am. Our last day in Paris. We wake up early and decide to skip the Chateau de Versailles. Neither of us were that keen on palaces or ornate walls. We decide to take it easy and head to Montmartre instead. Breakfast is Egg McMuffin. Mmmm, I am loving it.

The small street leading to the Sacre Coeur.

10:40 am. At the base of Sacre Coeur.

That is one beautiful church.

From far off it looks like Taj Mahal. It really looks more like a temple than a church. There’s many people (immigrants from Africa) selling their wares at the bottom of the hill.

11.00 am. We take the Funiculaire to the top of hill. Not only can one see Montmartre from here, you can see pretty much all of Paris. It’s a different view to the Eiffel Tower and from the Arc De Triomphe.

11.30 am. The church is as beautiful inside as it was from outside. Photography was not allowed inside the church and we noticed the difference from Notre Dame immediately. There was silence, and tourists just milled about, observing, and then leaving.

Spent some time walking around Montmartre and observing all the artists at work here. It’s still Paris, but a different flair to it.

12.07 pm. Moulin Rouge!

Made famous by the movie, the night club gets its name from a red mill at the club, which translated into French means Moulin Rouge. At night this is one busy area. It’s mostly cabaret and somewhat adult themed (which to the French means PG-13). Even if I could convince the wife to come I wouldn’t have – the ticket prices for a show were a whopping 130 euros. Per ticket. And those were the cheap ones.

3 pm. After taking the subway and then walking for what seemed like miles but was closer to in fact fifteen minutes of walking, we reach the Paris Statue of Liberty.

I know the French gave the Americans their statue, so I don’t know which one is original, but now I have seen both.

We have pretty much covered our Paris list, so now we are in a relaxed mode. We decide to head back to Champ de Elysees for lunch.

It’s great weather now, and our stop is near the Arc de Triomphe, so we get some great pictures of the Arch in day light. After dinner it’s back to the hotel for some rest.

9.30 pm. Anyone who visits Paris has to see the Eiffel Tower at night.

We walked from our hotel to the top of the Palais de Chaillot, and it was a great vantage point to see the Eiffel Tower lit up, first with shimmering lights and then the multi colored light show they put up.

One can spend a couple of hours here easily (we did!) – it’s very romantic and they have music, dance and food.