Backpacker’s Diaries – Wandering in Lucerne

10^th September 2018

Another lazy morning in Garmisch followed a nice night of sleep. My cousin and I checked out of the cozy room after our breakfast. Reluctant to waste food and too lazy to drive for breakfast, we decided to have the leftovers from the past couple of meals.

Common area at Hostel der Athleten, Garmisch

This was my fourth consecutive meal comprising only of pizzas – essentially ensuring that I would avoid pizzas altogether at least for the following month. Craving the blueberry cream for dessert we walked to Sport Quartier again only to realize that it was closed on Sundays. Well, although slightly disappointed, I was glad that we got the opportunity to taste blueberry cream the day before.

Beginning of our drive from Garmisch

Akshay and I began our picturesque drive to Lucerne (Switzerland) at about 11am. Although more or less used to travelling on smooth roads along the hills, I was captivated by the European countryside every single time. I learnt quite a few things on this leg of our journey. The first one being that Europeans really enjoy exploring. We saw cars from a number of places at both Garmisch and the intermediate stops that we took en route.

Another factoid I found out about was about the vignette or the road tax that drivers are supposed to pay while entering a few of the countries. It is essentially a tamper-proof sticker that has to be affixed to the car windshield, purchasable from any gas station within about 5km of the international border. The baffling thing about crossing international borders is that one doesn’t really get to know when they crossed it – on most occasions there is a board welcoming the travellers to the new country, other times there isn’t. The drivers have to be extra cautious as not having the vignette sticker affixed attracts heavy penalties at times.

Drive to Lucerne

Our 4 hour long drive through Austria and Liechtenstein was eventful to say the least. Listening to music, we chatted about different aspects of European culture. Listening to a German radio station, we heard a child requesting the RJ to play Shape of You by Ed Sheeran. It was then that I realized the kind of relationship much of Europe shares with English as a language. They enjoy the music and everything but don’t want to speak it. The experience reminded me of my days in Chennai – where almost everyone could comprehend Hindi but just chose to avoid speaking in it on most occasions.

Tunnels!

Lucerne, here we come!

The other thing which fascinated me was the number of tunnels as we neared the Swiss border and Lucerne. Several kilometres long tunnel punctuated our ride, at times making me wonder at times if it was night time already.

We had intended to visit either Mt. Titlis or Pilatus. However, considering that we reached Lucerne only a couple of hours before their scheduled closing for the day, we decided to give both of them a miss and explore the city instead.

First look at Lucerne… and I was in awe!

“Where was this place when I was here the last time?” Akshay exclaimed as we drove through the city. He had driven to Interlaken (which was supposed to be my next stop after Lucerne) a couple months earlier, and was completely unaware that the beautiful town lay on the way.

Near Luzern Bahnhof

Our first evening in Lucerne was something that will certainly be etched in my memory for a while. After checking into our hostel Backpackers Luzern, we set out to explore the town. We ditched Akshay’s BMW at one of the public parking lots, relying on Google Maps to guide us to the McDonald’s near Luzern Bahnhof (railway station). Having a quick lunch at McD, we proceeded with our sightseeing agenda on foot. There were only a few places I really wanted to explore in Lucerne – a couple of bridges, Lake Lucerne and the old town were on my list (obviously in addition to Mt. Titlis).

Wandering through the town, Lake Lucerne was the first one that caught our eye. It was a marvellous sight really – crystal clear water in the lake, allowing us to clearly see the lake bed. The other obvious sight that had me thinking was the bright blue hue of the water. I couldn’t help but wonder if everything I witnessed was actually real or if I was just enjoying my sleep in Garmisch and all of Lucerne was just something that my mind concocted. I have to commend Akshay’s planning skills – he had ensured that each place on my itinerary was more eventful and scenic than the previous one. Among all the places I had visited, Lucerne certainly topped the list.

Kapellbrucke!

We really enjoyed walking across the Kapellbrucke, which is a long wooden bridge built diagonally across the Lake Lucerne.

Kapellbrucke

Walking across it while admiring the paintings was an experience in itself.

Paintings on the Kapellbrucke… definitely a sight worth mentioning

We sat for a bit gazing at the old wooden bridge enjoying the sight of the flower beds that adorned the side of the bridge. The simple red flowers elevated the beauty of the old bridge to a new level altogether.

The old town of Lucerne felt exactly like Regensburg. Walking through the lanes, Akshay remarked that everything felt just the same.

We grabbed a couple of souvenirs and snacks en route. I realized that I really liked the dreamy town.

Near Spreuerbrucke

I would have certainly extended my stay by a couple more days if I had the luxury of time – I could spend hours just walking around the town exploring the architecture and the statues.

Spreuerbrucke!

The next place on our itinerary was the Spreuerbrucke Bridge, which was more or less on similar lines of the Kapellbrucke.

 

Well, it is the bumps in the road that people tend to remember and laugh about later. Same was the case here – Akshay and I share a laugh every time the evening at Lucerne pops up into our conversations.

Something really satisfying about this sight – the way the water falls like thin sheets and then suddenly changes its hue to bright blue!

After having a hearty time exploring the town, we decided to head back to the hostel for the evening. As we began to trace our way back to his BMW, both of us forgot where we had exactly parked it. After a little bit of racking our brains, we did the only logical thing we could think of – used the Maps to reach McDonald’s again and then trace the route we took back to the car. We spent a good amount of time just wandering around different streets looking for the car. We decided not to split up and look for the car, as we would end up spend more time tracking each other down in case either of us lost our way. We finally found the car after a good 30-minute search, making a mental note of marking the location on the Maps next time we were to do such a thing.

My bro had no idea I was capturing him on my camera… probably shouldn’t have walked in front of me if he didn’t want his pic clicked!

The rest of the evening was comparatively uneventful – we chilled in the dorm room for a bit while chatting up with our South Korean roomie and munching on the snacks we bought at the old town. I was pretty excited about the following morning as we tucked in that night, wondering about the experiences that awaited us in Mt. Titlis the following day.

Backpacker’s Diaries – The Gorge-ous Lake

9^th September 2018

My eyes opened to a bright morning outside – most of my roommates had already left to explore. The warmth of the cozy room was complimented by the cool breeze – I caught a glimpse of the beautiful green lawn outside the window as I woke up to celebrate another day in paradise.

The view from my hostel dorm in Garmisch (with a backdrop of the Olympic Ski Jumping Hill)

The tiny town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen had been Akshay’s idea – he had been here a couple months earlier with his parents and they seemed to really enjoy it. Speaking of which, there are quite a few places in and around the town that are certainly worth a visit – the main attraction being the Partnachklamm (or should I call it the Partnach Gorge?) and a lovely lake called Eibsee in addition to the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany.

Grosse Olympiaschanze, or the Olympic Ski Jumping Hill – I learnt more about it after I saw the movie Eddie the Eagle.

In a sharp contrast to the past week, I felt laziness overpower my frenzy for visiting every attraction in every place I visited. I struggled to understand the real cause – whether it was my brother’s laziness rubbing off on me, or if the time actually passed a little slow in the tiny ski-town. After taking our own sweet time to get ready, we finally began to walk to the Partnachklamm. We passed by the Olympic Ski-Jumping stadium on our way (I didn’t know what it was – I understood about the sport when I saw the movie Eddie the Eagle weeks later).

Welcomed by the wonderful aroma of freshly brewed coffee at the café Sport Quartier, we decided to stop for a quick slice of pizza and our morning cuppa joe. Being a pizza lover, I didn’t mind having it for a couple of consecutive meals. To be honest, I really enjoyed it – they prepared vegetarian pizza just for me J

Walk to Partnachklamm. With beginnings as picturesque as this, I wondered how gorge-ous the actual attraction would turn out to be…

The Partnach gorge is not too far from the Olympic stadium – one can either choose to walk or take a horse carriage to the attraction. Having loaded ourselves up with calories over the past couple of meals, we decided to walk it off.

First glance at the gorge – I was hooked.

As we neared to the entrance, memories from Geography class in 9^th grade flooded my head. The gushing sound of the river as the water navigated through the rocks was seriously invigorating.

The river cutting through the rocks

And the sight of the Partnachklamm filled me with a weird sense of joy – call it cliché, but my heart cheered for the river’s strength and resilience that helped her overcome the obstacles in her way. To be honest, it was surreally like the picture I had painted in my head all those years ago – just infinitely more majestic.

Loved the bright blue hue of the river

The rock carved caves added another dimension of coolness to the place – both figuratively and literally. I didn’t want to blink my eyes at all, lest I miss out on the beauty of the Partnachklamm. Navigating through the narrow paths was a little bit of a challenge on a couple of occasions.

I could just keep staring at this for hours, lost in the memories of the amazing afternoon…

We couldn’t stop too long to click photos either, as there was just enough room for one person to walk comfortably. Holding on to the railings for support on the slippery spots I wondered how the place would be in the winters. It was pleasantly surprising to hear that the place is much more of an adventure once the river freezes and the icicles dangle from the roof of the rock caves. Turns out, the path is pretty comfortable initially as the explorers enthusiastically clear the way near the main entrance. However as one goes deeper into the caves, the paths get narrower as the enthusiasm fades into tiredness.

10-hour hike to Zugspitze? I wish I had the time…

I was rather amazed by the Partnachklamm and the adventurous spirit of the Europeans in general. People are one with nature and take out time exploring its beauty– be it an elder and his canine buddy enjoying a hike that lasts for hours, parents experiencing the gorge with their infants, or charged-up toddlers leading their parents on the trail. Probably that’s why many of them maintain an amazing health.

Now this practically invites you to sit at the riverbank and aim rocks in it!

Finding a nice spot, Akshay and I sat down to relax and unwind a bit. Laughing over the most random memories growing up (and wondering how the years flew by), we had a mini rock-throwing competition to see who could throw the rocks farther.

The mini rock-throwing competition – an afternoon well spent!

The warm sun, the cool breeze and the amazing weather added to the fun quotient of the afternoon. Having traversed almost 6km on foot, we decided to treat ourselves to some blueberry cream at Sport Quartier before retiring to the dorm for the remainder of the afternoon. It was more creamily delicious than I could have possibly imagined. We made a mental note to grab one the following morning too, before we continued our road trip.

Blueberry Cream @ Sport Quartier… Yummy end to the afternoon outing!

 

Still left with 4km on my daily walking quota, we decided to visit Eibsee in the evening. It’s a lake with an amazing view.

Evening trip to Eibsee!

One can go for a LONG walk around the lake, rent a boat or just sit at one of the benches and just lose themselves admiring the splendid view of the sunset. We took the opportunity to enjoy a nice walk and catch up with our parents.

And that’s the snap I took of my cousin when he had no idea… 

My thoughts wandered to how spectacular the place would look in the winters – with snow-capped pine trees and the frozen lake.

Marvelling in the beauty of the lake, I couldn’t help but be a little envious of Akshay – he joked that he was a bit bored of the lake having seen so many like that over the past few years. Nevertheless, the evening had been a lot better than I hoped.

How can one not fall in love with this! 

With growing hunger pangs, we found ourselves at Pizza Hut again late in the evening. I was slightly bored of having pizza for the third consecutive meal. I could suddenly understand why Akshay was bored of the lake – he had enjoyed the lakes for four straight years (and here I was, bored of pizza after just a couple of meals). “Let’s have mac and cheese for a change” I finally said after a staring at the menu for a while. “Sure,” he said with a smile, placing the order in swift German. Fifteen minutes later we found ourselves facing a pizza topped with mac and cheese. Well, he wanted pizza and I wanted pasta – he came up with an innovative solution. It was just ironic that although we both got what we wanted, neither of us enjoyed it very much. The rest of the evening was more or less uneventful, as we decided to go grab some sleep before our long drive to the next stop – Switzerland.

Backpacker’s Diaries – The Castle and the Town

8^th September 2018

Akshay: *passionately discusses the features of his BMW for 10 minutes* Which feature of my car did you like the most?

Me: *can’t think of anything else because of the cold* Without a doubt – seat warmers!

Akshay: *facepalm*

The most interesting things happen when two people as similar as chalk and cheese go on a road trip together. With completely contrasting opinions on almost everything, the trip can be a real hit or an utter disaster. Either way, memories (fond ones or otherwise) are guaranteed. My trip with my cousin Akshay was pretty special for me, as it was my first week-long journey on the road (and that too in his comfy BMW :D).

With my mind in full-on Explore Europe mode, I would be awake without an alarm by 6.30am on most days and would be ready in the next half-hour eager to venture out. Akshay on the other hand would wake up relatively late, believing that vacations are meant to be spent resting and lazing around (in his defence he already spent the past 4 years exploring the delights of Europe).

Needless to say, my morning in Regensburg had begun on a rather lazy note – we kept on pushing our departure time ahead and ultimately decided to skip Berchtesgaden altogether as we were running pretty late. Checking out the Google Maps looking for alternate places to visit en route to Garmisch, I was surprised to find that the Neuschwanstein Castle (which had been on my bucket list for the past eight years) was on the way. Well Akshay, if you are reading this, a not-so-gentle reminder from my side – you owe me a nice long road trip to Rhein Falls and Berchtesgaden the next time I am there!

The day was filled with tiny surprises – I got to experience a drive-through carwash, and we did have a quick visit to the Ikea store before we began our journey.

The drive was probably the most eventful I had had in a while – gliding on the Autobahn while touching a speed of 200km/hr for a couple of minutes felt more than glorious. I loved the colourful and bright German countryside – and could understand why Akshay enjoys driving on German roads so much.

Enchanted by the vista around us, we made a wrong turn and lost some time in the process. We ended up reaching the Neuschwanstein castle less than an hour before its closing for the day.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We realized that cars weren’t allowed all the way up to the castle, and that one had to either take a horse driven carriage or hike up to the castle. Although slightly disappointed by our timing (and slightly underwhelmed by the castle as it looked pretty small from a distance) we decided to continue our journey after a little bit of walking around.

The dinner in the tiny town of Garmisch was probably the most eventful part of the day – after spending the better part of half an hour discussing about our dinner plans we ended up at Pizza Hut, sharing a couple of smoking personal pizzas in the contrasting chilly weather. Little did we know in that moment about the pizza mania that would follow in the couple of days (we ended up having only pizza for almost all our subsequent meals in Garmisch).

Having stayed in cities for most of the past week, I was able to better appreciate the beauty of the German countryside. Fresh air and green surroundings gave me a much needed break from the hustle and bustle of the urban landscape. I enjoyed my stay at Hostel der Athleten – even though the dorm rooms were on the cozier side, the common areas were really spacious and well planned with a pretty decent kitchen and a lot of open space to socialize.

The backyard was simple yet exceptional – a lone pine tree adorned the centre of a large open space, while a couple of lazy loungers stood in a corner of the grassy lawn.

 

 “As we lie beneath the stars we realize how small we are,” Nickelback’s lyrics filled my mind as we relaxed on the loungers gazing at the melee of a million twinkling stars after dinner. Gazing at the stars had become a luxury that evaded the ever-lit Mumbai. The experience was humbling bewitching to say the least – I felt like a tiny speck gazing at the infiniteness of the universe, soaking in all the love and serenity it had to offer. Rather obviously, my mind was utterly mesmerised by the starry night and refused to acknowledge the dropping temperatures. Slightly tired, I reluctantly retired to my dorm for the night after almost an hour, wondering about the surprises that the perfect little town of Garmisch held in store.

Backpacker’s Diaries – An Idyllic Town

7^th September 2018

After the dinner adventure the previous night I couldn’t really sleep (and the fact that I had a road journey coming up in a few hours didn’t help my case either). My brain went into hyperactive mode as the morning neared, and I jumped out of bed an entire hour before my scheduled alarm. As I checked the room to see if there was anything I had forgotten to pack, a million thoughts occupied my mind. Staromestska had been a real delight in the past couple of days, and the thought of leaving so soon made me a little sad. There were so many things I wanted to do and places that I wanted to visit – the tiny medieval town of Cesky Krumlov, the Terezin Concentration Camp or Kutna Hora would have definitely been on my list had I the luxury of even a day more. That being said, I was more than happy I explored Prague to my heart’s content and made some crazy yet amazing memories.

Pushing myself to be as early as I could, I grabbed a satisfying goat cheese panini sandwich (which happened to be one of the only vegetarian options) at the Caffe Milani downstairs. The solo leg of my journey was coming to an end, and my excitement for what lay ahead in store was climbing by the second. Having had a taste two vibrant countries – Hungary and Czech Republic, by myself, I was more than excited to meet up with my cousin Akshay at Regensburg. The plan ahead was to go for a week-long road trip together.

My ride to Regensburg was a Flixbus. Interesting story how I came across the pocket-friendly travel service – while checking out the various activities to try out in Budapest, I had happened to see discount vouchers at the hostel reception. Although a discovery by accident, keeping an eye out for the pamphlets and vouchers in the hostel reception turned out to be a valuable backpacking life-hack. Speaking of my impending journey, I managed to reach the Florenc UAN bus station well before the scheduled departure.

The Flixbus experience turned out to be more impressive than I thought – with comfortable seats, charging ports and a pretty decent toilet. I had more than enough room as the bus was running almost empty (there must have been barely 10 passengers in a bus meant for 40!). The two-hour ride from Prague was soothing to say the least – although I tried my level best to not take my eyes off the breathtaking scenery outside, I ended up dozing a bit. I woke up refreshed as the bus stopped at Regensburg Central Station. Picking my stuff from the luggage hold I called Akshay to come pick me up. He did so in a bit, and we reached his home after a ten minute drive.

I loved Akshay’s apartment. It was a lovely place – bright and airy with lots of open space outside. Well, he and his flatmate Ankith are pretty cool – they had made the house a perfect bachelor pad, complete with a PS4 and mini-fridge in the living room just to chill “beverages”. We shared a nice long laugh about how crazy the planning phase of my trip had been – the 3-hour-long discussions on an almost daily basis, unending confusion about the itinerary, and my desire to visit every single place he suggested in my rather limited 17-day tour. We ended up discussing almost everything under the sun over a bowl of hot Maggi noodles.

As the blazing afternoon faded into a sunkissed evening I decided to go for a nice long walk, realizing that I might not get the opportunity to visit the tiny town again (Akshay and I were about to commence our trip the following morning). Another strong motivating factor for the exploration was that I was averaging 10km walk for the past week and didn’t want to break my streak. I was mesmerised by the glorious evening and struggled to listen as Akshay gave me directions to the riverbank. “Never mind – Google to the rescue” I thought as I pulled out my phone and navigated to the Danube.

The evening turned out to be a lot more than I had imagined – probably the most light and relaxing evening I had had in a while. I ended up walking quite a lot, crossing a large bridge and reaching a small riverine island. Although appearing a little secluded at first, it turned out to be a real delight.

The quiet and nearly still Danube with a backdrop of the setting sun was certainly a sight to behold. The tree leaves donned the autumnal hues of golden, red and brown, complementing the beauty of the evening.

The tiny park was filled with people of all age groups and walks of life – children enjoying a sunset football match, youths on a cycling trip, young parents enjoying a picnic with their toddlers, and the health conscious individuals on their evening jog. The moment was picture perfect – like something straight out of a movie.

The journey back to Akshay and Ankith’s place turned out to be a hilarious experience. It’s rather interesting how “Villsstrasse” became “Villastrasse” (courtesy of the autocorrect feature of the GBoard), and I ended up walking a lot farther than I intended.

I am not complaining though, as I got to enjoy the beautiful town and surpassed my 10km target at the same time. The best part of the evening walk was that I got to enjoy Regensburg. It looked straight out of one of a watercolour painting – idyllic and vibrant, yet peacefully balanced. I felt a tiny bit bad though, as my 3-hour disappearance had Akshay slightly worried.

Perhaps the most eventful part of my evening walk was wandering through the city. The idyllic town of Regensburg reminded me that the beauty lies in the simplest of things, most often in the places we tend to overlook.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The rest of the evening was pretty cool. Ankith, Akshay and I chatted for a bit before heading to an Indian restaurant named Namaste for dinner. The restaurant was an interesting one, although far too “Indianized.” Every aspect about the place literally screamed India, right from the Madhubani paintings adorning the walls to the Taj Mahal like décor and the old Hindi music that played in the background. The food was pretty good and filling – the mango lassi they served tasted almost like the one mom prepares back home. We ended up getting most of the main course packed, as we were stuffed with the entrée. The light yet eventful day ended with several rounds of Gang Beasts on the PS4, aiming to throw each other’s respective characters off the roof, while slurping on the piping hot masala tea that Ankith prepared. The day certainly had its own lovely charm – I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it and wondered what all treasures the following week held