Today was easily the best day thus far. It's going to be difficult to beat it for the sheer grandeur of nature and for the level of excitement that it generated. The kids had the time of their life which ensured that we didn't have one member (as is often the case) who spoils the party by being morose and disgruntled!
Scaling Mt Titlis has to rate better than even Mt Jungfrau. Once atop the peak, it is a humbling experience to look around and just take in the views- Row upon row of lofty, snow capped peaks against a clear, blue sky. At a height of 10,000 ft, Mt Titlis can surely rival the best in the Himalayas in the Uttaranchal sector. It is covered with snow through out the year and offers ample scope for enjoying the novelty of playing with ice.
Samyukta and Saankhya had looked forward to this. They made a snowman - three blobs of ice stacked one upon the other and Usha added a piece for the nose. The result was a cross between a snowman and a Ganpati! Evidently, the piece for the nose was not proportionate and resembled a trunk more! Anyway, it is fitting that Lord Vighneshwara is invoked at Mt. Titlis. Only some akshataa was missing to complete the puja!
They made some snow balls and hurled it at each other. This looked a good and open way to express sibling rivalry and parents need to encourage it.
Later, we went aboard the Ice Flyer. It is an "open car ropeway" which goes down the peak and back up the top. Initially, it did look unnerving, but we soon settled down to watch the canopy of snow and the occastional jagged rocks breaking through the ice. Children know no fear and take to the experience as fish to water.
For Bollywood lovers, Mt Titlis has a large cut-out of Shahrukh Khan and Kajol with Dilwale Dulhania le jaayenge written in bold. One sees absolutely no correlation between Mt. Titlis and this film. But then, it is Bollywood. Reasoning and connections are not exactly its strengths. While on Bollywood, I forgot to mention two other references in a different context: Atop Mt Jungfrau, there is a Bollywood Restaurant. We found the prices to be steep. Deepika Padukone figures in an advertisement for Tissot (Swiss watch) and it is displayed in the trains to Jungfrau. Bollywood has made its mark all right.
If the experience at Mt Titlis was fun, reaching it was equally fascinating. We took a train from Lucerne to Engelberg. At 9:45 am, we were still finishing up with breakfast at the hotel. Our train was at 10:06 am. We could board the train with ease and with minutes to spare. Contrast this with our most traumatic train experience till date: Started at 6:30 pm from Bannerghatta Road for a 9 pm train at Yeshwantpur station. The train started late by half hour. We still managed to miss the train! Though these two episodes cannot exactly be equated, it indicates how rail travel is so easy in this part of the world.
Engelberg is 50 min from Lucerne. The train passes through locales that we've got used to - picture perfect nature and towns laid out the way we create "parks" at home for the "kolu" (navratri) festival. At least the "kolu" park with the village sets, neat roads and miniature people will have some imperfection deliberately thrown in - like an oversized tiger or a pink colored elephant placed bang in the centre of the village scene simply because we cannot find a place for these elements elsewhere. Not so here, everything is just perfect. Sometimes, this kind of perfection irks us in strange way. We don't know how to respond to it. We come from a land which celebrates imperfection: an oversized dot is placed on a perfect baby face because the imperfection enhances its appeal; Shiva has a verse dedicated to him where the discoloration on his throat and the consequent imperfection is actually supposed to enhance his perfection!
From Engelberg station, a 10 min walk beside a mountain stream takes us to the base station. From here, we need to take four successive cable cars to reach the summit of Mt Titlis. Each cable car covers 2000 ft and given that Engelberg is itself at an altitude, it makes up for the total of 10000 ft. The points where we need to change cable cars are Gerschnialp, Trubsee and Wendereg.
It is interesting to see the topography changing dramatically in just 45 min. While the first two cable cars move over a canvas of green, the vegetation thins down after a point and is replaced with rock and patchy snow by the time we take the third cable car. The final ride in the "Rotair" cable car which rotates on its axis as it moves up is over a terrain which is entirely ice. We step out of the Rotair cable onto Mt Titlis.
A note about the Indian groups: As at Jungfrau, they are in large numbers even here. As the cable car dips down slightly, they let out a scream. They are obviously enjoying themselves. Some of them cannot contain their excitement and shout into the microphone placed within the cable car so that the entire vehicle reverberates with the noise. The car operator pulls them up and rightfully so. But like an errant student who waits for the teacher to turn the other way to play the next prank, the operator's adverse comment has no long term effect. Another cable car, another operator... and they continue to enjoy themselves, much the same way. Hum nahi sudrenge!
Scaling Mt Titlis has to rate better than even Mt Jungfrau. Once atop the peak, it is a humbling experience to look around and just take in the views- Row upon row of lofty, snow capped peaks against a clear, blue sky. At a height of 10,000 ft, Mt Titlis can surely rival the best in the Himalayas in the Uttaranchal sector. It is covered with snow through out the year and offers ample scope for enjoying the novelty of playing with ice.
Samyukta and Saankhya had looked forward to this. They made a snowman - three blobs of ice stacked one upon the other and Usha added a piece for the nose. The result was a cross between a snowman and a Ganpati! Evidently, the piece for the nose was not proportionate and resembled a trunk more! Anyway, it is fitting that Lord Vighneshwara is invoked at Mt. Titlis. Only some akshataa was missing to complete the puja!
They made some snow balls and hurled it at each other. This looked a good and open way to express sibling rivalry and parents need to encourage it.
Later, we went aboard the Ice Flyer. It is an "open car ropeway" which goes down the peak and back up the top. Initially, it did look unnerving, but we soon settled down to watch the canopy of snow and the occastional jagged rocks breaking through the ice. Children know no fear and take to the experience as fish to water.
For Bollywood lovers, Mt Titlis has a large cut-out of Shahrukh Khan and Kajol with Dilwale Dulhania le jaayenge written in bold. One sees absolutely no correlation between Mt. Titlis and this film. But then, it is Bollywood. Reasoning and connections are not exactly its strengths. While on Bollywood, I forgot to mention two other references in a different context: Atop Mt Jungfrau, there is a Bollywood Restaurant. We found the prices to be steep. Deepika Padukone figures in an advertisement for Tissot (Swiss watch) and it is displayed in the trains to Jungfrau. Bollywood has made its mark all right.
If the experience at Mt Titlis was fun, reaching it was equally fascinating. We took a train from Lucerne to Engelberg. At 9:45 am, we were still finishing up with breakfast at the hotel. Our train was at 10:06 am. We could board the train with ease and with minutes to spare. Contrast this with our most traumatic train experience till date: Started at 6:30 pm from Bannerghatta Road for a 9 pm train at Yeshwantpur station. The train started late by half hour. We still managed to miss the train! Though these two episodes cannot exactly be equated, it indicates how rail travel is so easy in this part of the world.
Engelberg is 50 min from Lucerne. The train passes through locales that we've got used to - picture perfect nature and towns laid out the way we create "parks" at home for the "kolu" (navratri) festival. At least the "kolu" park with the village sets, neat roads and miniature people will have some imperfection deliberately thrown in - like an oversized tiger or a pink colored elephant placed bang in the centre of the village scene simply because we cannot find a place for these elements elsewhere. Not so here, everything is just perfect. Sometimes, this kind of perfection irks us in strange way. We don't know how to respond to it. We come from a land which celebrates imperfection: an oversized dot is placed on a perfect baby face because the imperfection enhances its appeal; Shiva has a verse dedicated to him where the discoloration on his throat and the consequent imperfection is actually supposed to enhance his perfection!
From Engelberg station, a 10 min walk beside a mountain stream takes us to the base station. From here, we need to take four successive cable cars to reach the summit of Mt Titlis. Each cable car covers 2000 ft and given that Engelberg is itself at an altitude, it makes up for the total of 10000 ft. The points where we need to change cable cars are Gerschnialp, Trubsee and Wendereg.
It is interesting to see the topography changing dramatically in just 45 min. While the first two cable cars move over a canvas of green, the vegetation thins down after a point and is replaced with rock and patchy snow by the time we take the third cable car. The final ride in the "Rotair" cable car which rotates on its axis as it moves up is over a terrain which is entirely ice. We step out of the Rotair cable onto Mt Titlis.
A note about the Indian groups: As at Jungfrau, they are in large numbers even here. As the cable car dips down slightly, they let out a scream. They are obviously enjoying themselves. Some of them cannot contain their excitement and shout into the microphone placed within the cable car so that the entire vehicle reverberates with the noise. The car operator pulls them up and rightfully so. But like an errant student who waits for the teacher to turn the other way to play the next prank, the operator's adverse comment has no long term effect. Another cable car, another operator... and they continue to enjoy themselves, much the same way. Hum nahi sudrenge!
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