Beyond Beautiful Switzerland Chapter 1: Train ride to Montreux

Travelogue: 12th June 2015

We were up early this morning because we were leaving for Montreux. Our time in Austria has been absolutely lovely, and while I do feel slightly sad to leave, I was also excited to explore the beautiful Switzerland.

This would be my second time in Switzerland. I was here about 2 years ago during winter. The visit then was such a wonderful experience that we decided to go back to explore again, this time during summer.

Frankly, I love the train rides. It allows me to see the real side of the country. I also love how my views were coloured in greens and blues.

Greenery, mountains, white clouds and little cottages, I envy the simplicity of life in these places.

In our train rides, my travel mates, me included, were constantly trying to capture that perfect ‘window selfie’. In fact, we have been trying to do that since we arrived in Europe. It may seemed easy, but it is not. The photo may be blur, bad lighting, we may get ‘photobombed’ by lamposts or dingy buildings, our faces were not at a right angle or wearing a pretty expression, the list goes on. Bon and me took numerous selfies yet were still unsuccessful in capturing that perfect emo window selfie. Lol.

When everything else turned out perfect, the beautiful nature background could not be seen, such as above. Lol. Oh well.

We transited in Zurich for a few hours. Since we had a few hours, we wanted to grab some lunch and walked over to the lake. Just a tip, if you desperately need to pee and you need to go to the restroom, you MUST have coins to enter. I had no coins in francs and was stumbling throughout the train station searching for a shopkeeper who was willing to help me exchange my big note. It was traumatic.

I did not expect to be running around and holding my pee the minute I arrived in Switzerland.

So we left our luggage in lockers and went out to explore beyond the train station. Most of us had already experience that while searching for coins to enter the sacred restrooms.

Hello Zurich!

I saw some familiar looking friends!

We decided to sit down for a quick bite at Honold.

I love the little biscuit that was served together with the coffee. It reminded me of this pineapple jam biscuit I used to eat during childhood days.

Here at Lake Zurich and the warm weather makes this photo perfect.

Can you spot the beautiful art next to the guys? If you walk too quickly, you may miss it or interpret it as part of construction.

We were back on the train a few hours later. I was really sleepy even after the coffee that I kept asking AK if we have arrived at almost every train stop. I am sure he was annoyed by this lol.

Our apartment was booked through AirBnB. A few weeks before we left for our trip, we found out that the apartment was on the fourth floor and there was no lift! Imagine our horror.

After what it felt like we hiked Everest, with our heavy luggage, we finally arrived in the apartment.

Our kitchen.

The view from the kitchen window.

While everything may seem like it was nice, the entire apartment did not give me a good feeling. It felt like the owners simply dropped whatever they were doing and left the apartment so as to let us stay. They had clothes, shoes, perfumes all still in the wardrobes and drawers. Yup, even the undergarments.

Furthermore, the items in the apartment seemed old and I particularly did not want to use any of the pots and pans in the kitchen. I also had issues with the little statues around the house because I am not a fan of statues.

It was bizarre. We have had experienced renting apartments via AirBnB before and it has always been a pleasant experience.

The toilet.

The apartment did not have a direct view of the lake but I thought it was still a lovely thanks to the mountains.

Oh well, we are here only for a few nights and I shall try my best to not let it bother me.

Hello Switzerland!