Story of Snowy Switzerland at Xmas & Weeping Wallet

2021 was a dark year. Light dark. Covid waves were abundant along with lockdowns. We were holed up at home, with nothing to do, nowhere to go, nowhere to spend. The bank balance was dangerously rising. We were not prepared to see so much money in our account.

Then, slowly by 2nd half of the year, vaccinations picked up speed, and countries started welcoming back tourists. We saw an opportunity to bring back our bank balance to pre-covid levels. Knowing we hold pennies in the account once again, would result in peaceful nights.

The thing about travel bills is that it depends largely on 2 factors, i.e. Where you go (destination) & When you go (month). By some sadistic cosmic intervention, we were booked for Switzerland in winter. Christmas AND New Year’s.

Pre Trip Prep

The beauty of planning Switzerland in winters is that you start punching holes in your wallet much in advance from the fear of stuff getting sold out

• Flights, of course, are to be booked well in advance.
• Hotels, chalets et cetera to be booked much in advance. Booking.com was showing 96% of properties being sold out 2 months before our visit.
• Swiss rail pass. Swiss rail network works like clockwork, and the cost pinches like a heartache. But they are worth it.
• Warm clothing- The conspiracy retail stores collectively run is that winter clothes are on sale in summer and vice versa. So of course, we were invested in Jackets and warmers much in advance of our trip. It is part of the smart financial planning course we studied.
• The wise sales lady at the jacket outlet also made us buy snow shoes, as she was very concerned about our safety and well-being. She extended her nicety by offering us a 10% discount on snow shoes, in Dubai, in summer.
• And then came the matter of buying luggage as winter clothes need more space, winter clothes of fat people like us need even larger space, hence luggage buying became a must do.
• I am not sure if it is relevant presently, but the Vaccine certificate and locator forms had to be filled and kept ready. The vaccine certificate was quite extensively checked.
• SIM card sellers are a rare species in Switzerland. Chasing northern lights in Iceland was easier than getting hold of a SIM card. We finally managed to buy one on Day 4 of a 10-day trip. Suggest buying one at the airport only. I know it is more expensive, but so is the entire trip, so just give up and buy it at the airport itself.

Trip

Day 1–3: Zermatt

Zermatt is a mountain town on the foothills of the famous Matterhorn (The peak on Toblerone chocolates). It is popular for skiing, hiking et cetera. It is a small, snow-covered town full of boutique shops, hotels, and tourists.

Day 1: Took the train up to Gornergrat for snowshoe hiking from the top station to the next. It was a wonderful experience hiking in the snow with all the gear. We came across an old gentleman casually walking in normal shoes in opposite direction. We stopped to say Hi. He informed me he is going back to the top station since he forgot his phone. We continued in our paid professional gear. About 3/4th of the hike, we met him again. We were surprised to see him at the top station and come back, in his normal shoes, so fast. He was surprised to see us again, in our professional gear, so slow.

Day 2: Took the cable car up to Klein Matterhorn. Schwarzee station was an extremely serene place. Open flat land full of snow, mountains around, people skiing at a faraway mountain. Came down to Fury station and did the famous fury hike (without the professional gear) to the town.

Both, train and cable cars are a part of swiss rail but are not a part of the swiss rail pass. “Why?” I asked at the ticket counter. The stern look of the old lady behind the counter told me to shut up and pay.

Day 3: Had kept Day 3 for shopping and town seeing. Skiing as a concept is a rich man’s game. Zermatt is a ski town, thereby making it a rich man’s destination. This naturally meant, that all the shopping options were keeping in mind a rich man. And woman. Our shopping quest died a quick painless death, leaving us a good amount of time for sightseeing.

However, we were there on Christmas eve. And Switzerland (Western Europe as a whole actually) has this funny notion of treating retail people as humans. This meant by 6 pm everything (affordable) was closed, including Mcdonald’s and Chemists! We were about to give up for the night when we saw an overcrowded place. Asians to the rescue! With a belly full of overpriced average Chinese food curtains were drawn on Zermatt.

Day 4–6: Montreux, Geneva & Gruyeres

We based ourselves in Montreux for 3 days and covered Geneva and Gruyeres from there. Montreux and Geneva went into shopping (we were ecstatic to afford stuff again) and typical sightseeing and Casinos!

The highlight of this sub-segment was Gruyeres because of

a) The ride to the town of Gruyeres was painfully beautiful. Small single manned stations, snow-clad villages, beautifully adorned chalets.

b) Cobble-stoned path leads to this medieval-looking town center. On both sides are small boutique hotels with hot cocoa shops and restaurants.

c) Most delicious hot cocoa ever tasted

d) Most authentic fondue (Gruyeres is the origin of cheese that goes into fondue)

e) Snowfall made points c and d more memorable

Day 7–9: Interlaken, Grindelwald & Lauterbrunnen

Off we went back to the lap of snowy mountains. We stationed ourselves at Interlaken. Won back some money from Switzerland in Casino.

Went on a day trip to Grindelwald town. Roamed around the town aimlessly, waiting and hoping for a light snowfall (there was snow everywhere as it had snowed last night). One of the cafe owners laughed and dismissed the possibility of snowfall saying it is too ‘hot’ for snowfall today. It was -5 degrees outside.

Took a combination of train and cable cars to reach Jungfraujoch. Finally, we were treated to snowfall at the top! But it was angry for some reason, felt like a baby continuously slapping our faces. Stopped for lunch at Kleine Scheidegg for a hot meal after the snowy experience of the top. It is a nice small spot to see rich people ski.

Lauterbrunnen turned out to be the smallest and the quietest of the 3 towns. We covered all the key spots on foot. In between the Trummelbach waterfalls and Staubbach waterfalls, something crazy was happening. Water droplets were playing with sunlight to create epic scenes. Clouds were settling and were lower than our height. Spectacular scenes around!

Day 10–11: Lucerne & Zurich

By the time we reached Lucerne, it was 31st December. New year’s eve. We observed, in Lucerne & Zurich also, retail employees were being considered human. Everything was closed, including many restaurants. But what made it so special was that RT PCR centers were also closed and we needed one to board our flight to Dubai.

We at location 1: You do RT PCR? They: Yes, but not today.

We at location 2: You do RT PCR? They: Yes, however result will be in after 84 hours We: You mean 48 hours? They: No, 84 hours.

We at location 3: You do RT PCR? They: Yes, but since it is new year’s we cannot guarantee the result time. We: But we have a flight to board. They: Shrugged We: Any express RT PCR service? They: Yes, go to Zurich (2 hours away). Go to the airport, they do express RT PCR. We: Great, Thanks! They: Errrr…. it is 400 swiss francs (400 Euros approx) per person. We: Errrr…

Finally managed to get the test done, where they guaranteed the result in 48 hours. 36 hours since the test and 5 hours to flight and we had not received the result.

No one picked up at the call center as all the call center humans were partying. We googled and got an email and wrote to that email id saying we were assured of the result in 48 hours. They reverted within a minute with our test results, stating the result came in assured 48 hours, we just did not send it to you in 48 hours. How foolish of us to presume.

Flight back to Dubai brought the end of this beautiful trip to Switzerland.

Few learning in hindsight:

• Zermatt taught us money is only problematic if you have just about enough to afford stuff. If you do not have enough to even afford stuff at offer, life becomes much simpler.
• Closed stores at Christmas and new year’s taught us people in retail are human too. We did not like that one bit, as this kind of behavior can set precedents which can make life very uncomfortable for our sorts.
• Go to the loo one last time before you wear thermals, or else the entire process becomes too complicated.
• Everything is cheaper outside Switzerland, including Toblerones!