Date of Travel: June 4 2006 - June 11, 2006

Tour Organizers: Orbit Tours and Travels Ltd (highly recommended)

Travelers: Parvathi Parasuram, Usha Balakrishnan, V. Balaraman, Shanti Balaraman, P. Balasubramanian, Jayanthi Balasubramanian, G.K. Raghunandhanan, Anandhi Raghu, Karthik Raja, Shwetha Shrivatsa, Janani Raghu, Harini Raghu and Thomas Roetzel


Our week long wedding bonanza seems to have set the tone for all future celebrations so our first anniversary was celebrated in Switzerland. Snow capped mountains, picturesque scenery, green meadows, chiming cowbells, shimmering lakes and pretty towns make Switzerland 'Paradise on Earth'. We started our dream trip aboard a Zurich bound Air Canada flight from Delhi and reached Zurich on the 4th of June 2006.


Day 1 – Sunday, June 4, 2006

We had booked ourselves into the Welcome Inn at Kloten, very close to the airport. We spent the first day pretty much on our own learning the sights and sounds of Zurich. This city has been voted one of the world's best cities to live in and one can easily understand why. It is a quaint city with just the right mix of modern buildings, with excellent transportation and a beautiful lake front. We got a 24 hour pass train/tram/bus pass for 11 francs which was not a bad deal, and explored the main city. In the evening we went to Lake Zurich and ambled along the water's edge. The restaurants in the main station are reasonably priced so we ate lunch and dinner there.


Day 2 – Monday, June 5, 2006

The day started early and our official Orbit package began with our introduction to Thomas our tour guide, chauffeur, comedian and companion. We then bundled into a FIAT van and drove to Lucerne. The main motorway was closed in parts due to landslides so Thomas took us through the country side. We saw a lot of quaint little houses. Some of the houses were narrow at the base and grew wider at the top, this is apparently because the land tax is really high in Switzerland. We stopped for breakfast at this department store where the friendly chef made us yummy vegetable sandwiches. The home made cheese just melted in your mouth and the croissants were soft and buttery. All in all, a yummy breakfast for a foodie family who’s thought jumped from one meal to the next.


We reached Burgenstock resorts (CH-6363 Bürgenstock, Tel: 0041-41-612 90 10) around noon. This is a group of privately owned luxury business-resorts which provide an excellent view of the Alps and also of Lake Lucerne. We were initially allotted rooms in the Palace hotels but since they were over booked we were given rooms in the Grand. This was probably the most unpleasant experience we had on this entire tour and we all felt like some kind of a discriminatory treatment was being meted out to us, the last thing one needs on a vacation. But the location, the views, the facilities made up for all this and one cannot stay upset for too long on a vacation. Check in time is around 3:00 pm so be prepared to wait everywhere in Switzerland.


We spent most of the afternoon and evening exploring the city of Lucerne which is about an hour’s ride downhill. The city is really quaint and pretty with beautiful monuments - the Lion monument, the old Hofkriche Church, the cobbled streets, and the Chapel bridge. The street side cafes along the bridge provide an idyllic spot to take in Lucerne charm in one cup of coffee or one glass of wine. Take a trip on the toy train or a boat ride on the lake to experience the old charm of Lucerne. We ended the day with an Indian dinner at Restaurant Kanchi.


Day 3 – Tuesday, June 6, 2006

We took a trip to Mount Titlus to experience the Alps and the glacier paradise. It is a picturesque ride from