D&D take on Switzerland!

My family and I have grown accustomed to go traveling every year for family vacations. Since then, I have always felt that travelling is a ‘therapy to a troubled mind’.

For the last three years, I was given the opportunity to study and complete my bachelor degree overseas in the land down under; Australia. Throughout my three years’ journey in Australia, I have travelled and explored every corner of the continent as much as I could and have enjoyed every second of it.

Moving forward, I am currently pursuing my professional studies in a totally different part of the globe; Birmingham, UK. Only this time, it’s different because I am doing it with my twin sister, Dania. Last summer, both of us decided to pay a visit to a mountainous country located in the heart of Europe none other than the famously beautiful Switzerland.

It didn’t take us long to notice that Switzerland is a multilingual country, and it can be quite a bewitching experience. The people of Switzerland predominantly speak four languages; Swiss German, which is spoken by over two thirds of their population, French, Italian and Romansh for the rest of them. None of us speak these languages, but communication is not much of an issue since most of them understand English.

In terms of commuting, tourists, typically would use train when they travel across the cities in Switzerland, and we are no different. Train serves as the most sought transportation mode in Switzerland for the tourists because not only it provides us opportunity to enjoy panoramic view, but it is also very convenient. Do you know that Switzerland’s railway system is ranked second after Japan’s bullet train? That is pretty impressive, wouldn’t you say?

For the entire 8 days we were in Switzerland, we managed to cover pretty much most of the major cities in Switzerland, including Zurich, Lucerne, Bern, Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen and Geneva. All of these cities were simply beautiful and colourful especially, Bern. However, true to its representation propagated in social media, the best part of Switzerland rests on its amazingly beautiful landscapes of nature. Here, I list my Top 4 favourite places to visit in Switzerland:

The Enchanting City of Bern

Bern, is the capital city of Switzerland. It is one of the world’s top ten cities voted for the best quality of life. According to Mercer, Bern is the second safest city in the world. However, most of the charm exudes by Bern is because of its medieval-old town, which has been recognised as a UNESCO’s World Heritage Site. This historic old city is surrounded by the crystal, clear blue of Aare river. The best part is that the Swiss really embracing this river. People are allowed to do loads of activities in the Aare river such as, river surfing, rafting, stand-up paddling, tubing, swimming or anything that floats your boat really. This is one of the many reasons both of my sister and I, fell in love with Bern. In fact, I officially list Bern as my top favourite cities in Europe.

(The pictures above were taken from the top of the church in the middle of Bern old town.)

Mt. Pilatus

The next memorable place is the Mt Pilatus, which require us to ride train from Lucerne. The trip started with the most relaxing and breath-taking one-hour cruise of the Lake of the Four Cantons; Lake Lucern. Along the cruise, I can still remember vividly, how we were bewitched by the beautiful sight of mountains around us. It was incredible! Our excursion ended at the pier in Alpnachstad and continued through one of the steepest cogwheel train to reach the top of Mt. Pilatus. As we climbed uphill, our eyes were again feasted by the scenic Alpine Meadows and amazing rock formations. It was a sight to behold. Once we reached the mountain top, we were once again blown away by the spectacular panoramic view of snowy white mountain peaks and the bluest colour of lakes.

Murren Village

The one trip I could not get over with, was our visit to little Murren village. Mürren is a Swiss mountain village, which is located at the foot of the Schilthorn peak, and is only accessible by the cable car. Murren is no ordinary village. This village is surrounded by the view of beautiful, majestic mountains and once I set eyes on these mountains, it is hard to imagine anyone would not wish to waking up to this view every day of their lives. My sister and I spent about half a day strolling and exploring the corners of Murren village. There are plenty of restaurants in Murren, and they serve variety of foods and drinks.  You can’t help, but sit down at these restaurants so that you are able to experience having meal at the most picturesque snowcapped mountains view.

Jungfraujoch

The last, but not least, the best memories from our trip would definitely be the visit to Jungfraujoch. Jungfraujoch tops our list of places to visit in Switzerland, and it is highly recommended for this mountain peak to be in everyone’s bucket list! We took a train from Interlaken, and another three train rides to reach Jungfraujoch. We also have waited nearly 1 hour for the last train at Kleine Scheidegg. Despite of the long transit and wait, we have no heart to complaint since we were well compensated by the breathtaking views of Kleine Scheidegg.  

By the time we reach Jungfraujoch, we felt like we’re at top of the world.  There was slight chill in the wind, but the sun kept us warm. The weather could not be more perfect. We took our time feasting, breathing the panoramic view from the top of Jungfraujoch. No pictures, or videos can do justice to its view. You just had to be there to witness yourself the stunning view from Jungfraujoch, the Top of Europe. I feel that there are so many words one can use to describe Jungfraujoch experience, but if I had to summarize it in one word, it would be just heavenly!