Engelberg Mt Titlus

After having seen lakes, green mountains, and being on hill tops and slopes,  it was time to finally see snow. There are many beautiful places to visit in the Swiss alps. We chose Engelberg to go atop Mt Titlus. This is at a peak altitude of 8000 meters (10,000 feet). We took a train to Engelberg from Lucerne. Once we reached, just as we were getting out of the train station, we could see beautiful snow-capped peaks . A total of three cable cars (gondolas) would take us up and the ascent was broken into 3 parts. Engelberg to Trubsee, then Trubsee to Jochpass and finally Jochpass to Mt Titlus.

Ascending Mt Titlus in a cable car

The first two cable cars were small and enough to seat four people. It was Jay’s turn to face his fears this time as he is afraid of heights. He was a little weary when we sat in. He tried not to look down and instead kept looking up at how much farther the destination was. The third of our cable cars up was a unique experience in that it is the world’s only rotating gondola. It is a cylindrical cable car and what they’ve done is made the base of the cylinder(the foot of our cable car) to rotate. This provides everyone in the gondola a full panoramic view. Barring having to constantly keep moving our hand for support on the railing J because our foot board was moving,  it was fun ride up.

From the top, everything in the valley below seemed to be atomic. The sun reflecting off the snow glares in your eyes and that’s when I understood  why people wear sunglasses on snowy mountains. It wasn’t very cold but walking on the snow provided an interesting challenge in itself. The views from the top are sensational. We were at such a height that we could touch the clouds, in fact the clouds were passing through us. That added to the experience, because the views from the peak were changing every 5 minutes. At one moment you can’t see a thing , being completely covered in  a cloudy fog, after a few minutes the entire cloud passes through giving stunning views of the valley below. It is a little scary but mostly fun.

Treading the snowy trail

Titlus also has the highest suspension bridge. We even had our portrait picture taken in a traditional setting. With the attire, background, musical instrument, flowers purse and hat and ell. I love the picture. The shop owner had also displayed family portraits of famous Indians who had visited there including Shaan , Nana Patekar and Virendra Shewag. I think if at all there is a person Jay is afraid of in this world, it has to be that lady who took our picture. She was really strict and a stickler for getting things to look perfect in that picture.

On our way down, we stopped at a small lake in Jochpass. The environs were really relaxing and it puts your mind at ease. You feel so calm and rejuvenated that the world begins to look like a better place. That small lake was one of the most beautiful I have seen in Switzerland. Flanked on all sides by green mountains, the water was itself a lovely green , some water melting from the snow caps in little streams, There was a unique peddle boat on that lake and Jay was strong enough to peddle it. It was a unique boat in that it was square in shape like a floating raft and the peddle was like a bicycle. So to peddle it was literally like bicycling on the water. Of course the raft was lined at the bottom by a rope so that it wouldn't go astray. So technically all we did was move along a straight line. The view from the middle of the lake was completely worth the childish joy of jumping on it and peddling on.

Pedal to the metal

On our way out, we were greeted by a Gourm India stall and snacked on hot hot lip smacking samosas and vada pav. Really authentic stuff down to the chutney pudi they serve with vada pav. Brilliant spicy end to our snowy experience of the day.