Entry into Swiss - A yearned dream earned..!!

Switzerland, the name throws flashes of those snow-clapped mountains, where the hero and the heroine would be celebrating their mutually expressed feelings, the scene then changing to the beautiful landscapes and gardens, where one would wonder if such flowers ever grew on this planet, the wooden cottages that match so well with scenery, that one would feel if this is a natural phenomenon or did someone create this country. Evidently, it is one of the best places one would ever expect to be at and right from my childhood, after being exposed to our 'bollywood-style' movies, Swiss has been a yearning place, and for anyone I have come across, even for a visit. One tends to think the unfair scenario in films, where the actors are present in the hot-humid climate for once and the next scene, they are in this beautiful landscape which is a perfect compensation for time spent amidst the humidity. I remember the countless number of times I have closed my eyes and wished only in vain, opening then only to face the harsh reality, as if being there was not sufficient. Well for once, I had the last laugh, with the success of my plan to come to Ulm, which is a great place to study (the reality, not form the previous line!) and which is 2 hours from the Swiss border.

So on a particular weekend, which was just 2 days before an exam, Vamsi happens to ask me about a plan to visit Rhinefalls (Rheinfalls), one of the largest waterfalls in Europe, and I was like, what a timing, 2 days before my exam! I was thinking about that, when it struck me that, I was going to Swiss, whats wrong with me, what was there to think about! Immediately, with a conscious effort not to think about the exam, I make a call back to Vamsi asking him the itenary. Luckily, the trip turned out just as a perfect plan, with one day trip, giving me enough time for my exam preparation in the later part of the day.

We were a group of 8 people, 3 Indians, 4 Pakistanis and an African (talking about being multi-cutural!). One of the advantages in our State (Baden-Wuttemberg), is for the weekends, we have something called BW-ticket which is generally bought for a group of 5 people for 27 euros. That made our expense lesser. So we started our journey towards Rhinefalls and one I reached there, with all the thoughts of exam and the bits and pieces which I had prepared, creeping in my mind, I realized it was worth to give it a break. The beauty of the river flowing all-along the road, that we took to reach the falls was simply amazing and Vamsi and I stopped at almost every opportunity to sneak a snap. I was not surprised to see the count of pics on my mobile to 200, from 8 in the morning. I would love to give an entire description of the journey, but then it would take an eternity for the post to get over and the words never bring out the true picture.

On the way back to Ulm, we had a beautiful view of a lake, that we crossed, and decided to give it a shot. The Lake Konstanz, as if giving a perfect finale to our trip, turned out to be a stunner. It was unusually hot then and just sitting beside the lake was so soothing, that one would wish for the time to stop. The lake does attract attention during the summers and being a weekend, it was pretty crowded and just before leaving we thought of a small trip on the paddle boat. The water with the greenish tinge and the beautiful birds (damn, I dont know the breed!) just ascended its beauty. Only if I knew swimming, wouldn't have hesitated to jump in the water. When I returned home, I was thoroughly satisfied that day couldn't have gone better. Thinking so and smiling, I light up my table lamp and open the book to start my preparation. The album on the right pane shows all the pics.