Madrid, September 2014

Had a short trip to Madrid over the summer. Planned along with a work related travel.Hence did not have too many days to roam around but did a quick tour of the city covering some of the most interesting but still touristy aspects of the city. Below is the list of things that I found interesting and should be a good starting list for anyone doing a quick Madrid tour.

1. Temple of Debod : One of my favourite places in the city. It is in a lovely hilly park behind the Plaza Espana. The temple itself was shifted almost "as-is" from Egypt while the great dam of Aswan and built and many such precious treasures were going to be lost to flood waters. Supposedly, Spain helped save many of them and relocated within Egypt and as mark of thanks this was "gifted" to the Spanis. For an Egyptophile like me this was a wet dream right in the middle of a European city. Something which was bilt across the epochs  - starting from Adhikhalamani around 2 BC. Further worked on through the Ptolemaic periods and on until the Romans. It depicts various offerings from the King Adhikhalamani to gods like Amun, Isis etc. Fascinating, fascinating piece not to be missed. 

2. Puerta del Sol : Regarded as the centre of Madrid, this is where all trains originate from. Walkable distance from most of the major old city tourist attractions including plaza mayor and even the royal palace, this can be considered the most famous and central square in Madrid. Right outside the metro is the square which has the statue of King Carlos III. It also has, to a side, the famous bear and strawberry tree sculpture which is in the coat of arms of Madrid. And also the symbol for Atheltico Madrid football club (and not of Real Madrid interestingly)

3. Palacio Real or the Royal Palace  : Famous palace of the Kings of Spain - currently they don't stay here any more but still used for major state ceremonies. I think it is the largest Palace in Europe by floor area. Worth paying the 10 odd Euro entry free to see the royal armoury, rooms and dining areas etc. 

4. Plaza de Oriente : Towards the east side of the palace (and hence the name oriente) there is Plaza Oriente with a small garden with statues of Kings and lined with leafy trees. Worth sitting and relaxing while watching the side of the royal palace - also some good cafes around for the cervezas that you need especially during the hot Spanish summers. 

5. Cathedral de la Almudena : Arguably the most important church in Madrid, it has St Mary of Almudena the patron god of Madrid. Whatever be the religious significance, of which Im least bothered with, the architecture looks very pleasing and there is a silence inside the huge space which almost takes one to the big Roman churches. If you want quite peace in the city if pubs and nightlife, this is a good place to start. 

6. Plaza Mayor : The most important plaza in Madrid, its stone's throw from Sol metro station. Its a rectangular plaza and has the statue of King Philip III on a horse in the middle. Built in early 1600s, it has been reasonably intact and potentially looks very similar to how it was. Take a walk back to past.

7. Plaza Espana : Close to intersection into the bustling Gran Via, this is probably one of the most crowded plazas - for ever bustling with tourists. It has the monument of Cervantes, Spanish novelist. You can sit here on your walk back from Royal Palace to the Gran Via to get your breath before hitting the traffic !

An English Summer

As we were wondering where to take Aarav for his first proper vacation, I suggested Kruger (Surprise, surprise). Sandhya vetoed the idea saying 1 year and a bit is probably a bit too early for him to be camping with us in the bushes of Africa. Since neither of us wanted to vacation in a city, we finally agreed on the Scottish Highlands where neither of us had ever been. We also decided to use London as a stopover to meet some friends and relatives and then take train to Edinburgh.

And thus turned out a memorable Summer in UK - with rains of course !

The BA flight from DXB to LHR started of in a mini disaster with no AC functioning and held on bay without taxing for couple of hours. Aarav did not take too kindly to it and cried his heart out ! As someone who always got irritated with kids in flights crying, I think I got my reasons to be more understanding next time that happens ! Once the flight took off, all was well.

My school pal Sachit came to pick us up at LHR and drove to his well appointed home in Watford. Relaxed a day roaming the nearby parks and stocking up on baby food and nappies for the highland trip. (Normally I would be more worried about tripod tighteners, CF card speeds, standby batteries, filters etc - how times change !)

Megha and Aarav having fun in park

Next day early took our train from Kings Cross to Edinburgh. Got the little family seating with the mini table in middle so that Aarav could be reigned in without any major damage to properties. Between making sure he did not kick or otherwise harm the fourth passenger and playing Uno we reached Edinburgh.

After checking into the Sheraton Hotel and Spa with an enviable view of the famous Castle, we decided to walk around at the foothills of the castle. Covered the Parish Church of St Cuthbert at the Lothian road and 5 minute walk from Sheraton.

St Cuthbert at Lothian Road

Took a few shots of the castle in night, fire works and late night streets of Edinburgh

Edinburgh castle at night

Next day was dedicated to Calton hill (probably the best place from a photography point of view) and then in afternoon relaxing in the amazing Princess Garden. I can imagine it being a lovely place outside of the peak tourist season of July-August. Even with all the lavish crowd it still felt good to walk amongst the huge trees and gulls and squirrels.

View of Edinburgh from atop the photogenic Calton Hill

Many of the paintings of city is of or from the Hill. It has the National Monument (almost Roman in its edifice), Dugald Stewart monument (the centrepiece of above photograph) and the Nelson Monument.

Democracy cairn, Nelson Monument and National monument

The national monument is a war memorial for the Scotts who fought Napoleonic wars. Funnily enough it was not fully constructed due to paucity of funds and hence some call it the Disgrace of Scotland. For me though, due to its very nature of feeling of incompleteness it almost gives a dejavu of a bygone Roman era - something which fell apart under the hardships of time rather than one that never was !

Princess garden was as usual for a summer day without rains, full of people - both from the city and outside, thronging the lungs of Edinburgh taking a break from the multitudes of festivals and shows in the city.

Princess Garden

Early next day, we took our car booked with Avis and went up the highlands leaving the city and the crowds behind. This is when the vacation really started - fresh air, cool wind, green mountains, fresh water lakes and a welcome respite from thronging human populace. Miles and miles of serene land without many people was indeed a welcome break especially since I had spent the first part of my vacation in India !

We used a B&B in Argyll, very close to Kilchurn castle at Dalmally village as our base. The drive to Dalmally through the Loch Lomond & Trossachs national park and forest was one of my most memorable.
Enroute we took a break to have a few sandwiches and tea in the cool weather, sitting idly next to Loch Lomond. Aarav was super thrilled to be let to play in dirt, stones and the cold water !

Loch Lomond

 After reaching our B&B, we trekked to the Kilchurn castle and took some interesting shots. Also let Aarav go on his first trail walk :)

Kilchurn Castle, Dalmally

The remainder of the time in Scotland was excitingly similar : drive, stop, shoot, relax, drive ! Such pure bliss.

Another amazing stop in Loch Lomond National park

We were both sad to leave Scottish highlands and go back to the bustle of London. However, as one final heavenly drive, we took the Glen Orchy route to Sterling and then connecting on to the highway to Edinburgh. This was suggested by the housekeeper at the B&B and we could not be more thankful to her for the suggestion (Rebecca from Craig Villa). It was a single lane route but with enough parking / passing bays.

Single lane road down Glen Orchy through Caledonian forest

Road adjacent to Glen Orchy B8074 is a must drive

After visiting Doune castle and some other memorials at Sterling we hit Edinburgh. Back in London met with my schoolmates Sachit and Girish and had a rollicking time with lot of good ol ales.

The Dudes !

Did a quick deviation to Essex to meet up with a cousin at Southend on Sea to see the largest pleasure pier of the world.
This was followed by the cursory central London stay for a couple of days. This time I chose the Sheraton Park Lane close to the Greenpark Tube station and walking distance from most areas that Sandy wanted to visit including St James Park, Palace, Picaddilly, Leicester square and Hyde Park. After the usual touristy things including the London eye, Big ben etc it was back to Dubai ! Central London, especially South Bank looks the worst I ever remember. New glass facade buildings allowed next to traditional Gothic architecture coupled with loads and loads of people kind of balanced out a good weather with reasonably sunny days.
The highpoint clearly was time spent with friends and the amazing Scottish highlands. Next time I will most likely fly direct to Edinburg and fly out from Aberdeen covering the middle ground driving on road. That would be an awesome vacation - a road trip of a lifetime ! Well nothing to beat Kruger, but still....

Some wins, some fun

Recently, couple of my photographs won a few awards / recognitions. After a barren 2013, it was a nice start to 2014. One got selected for 2014 WWF Calendar in India and the second was in Al Ain WLP calendar shoot for 2015.

 

WWF Calendar selection : Asiatic lion (Young male) in Gir forest, Gujarat, India





Al Ain WLP calendar shoot win for a flamingo

I personally love both the shots for different reasons.
First because I just love big cats and the story of successful conservation of Asiatic lions from the brink of extinction is a rare ray of hope in an otherwise bleak future for many of our most enigmatic top of the food-chain predators. And it is always nice to shoot a young successful specimen of the species royally resting in its habitat.

Second one is more for the planning and execution part. I was having a minimalistic shot of these wonderful birds in my mind for sometime now. Had to get a vantage points where a mix of foreground and background when blurred would create an interesting enough canvass for minimalism. Had to wait for ages before the bird appeared at the exact location. As icing on the cake, just at the right moment it also opened its beak to call out, completing a nice portrait.

Western Ghats in Wayanad

For Aarav's first birthday we decided to go to India and expose him to some forest fragments in Western Ghats at a place called Wayanad. We stayed at Vythiri Meadows which we absolutely enjoyed - great location where you can sit in the balcony early in the morning with a hot tea and see the clouds descending from over the Chembra peak.

I'd definitely love to return at peak of monsoon or winter to better enjoy the weather. We also went to the amazing BanasuraSagar Dam  -the largest earthen dam in India and one of the largest in Asia

We also, as usual, visited and did a bit of gardening at a small land plot we had bought from a builder who had fully deforested it. We are planning to bring it back to past glory by planting mostly indigenous trees. (To build our own little farm:-), but more importantly hopefully instil a sense of ecological awareness and love for nature within Aarav - which is a daunting task for a kid growing up in Dubai.

This photo below shows the difference between how we got the land and how its getting back in shape !

 

Would be back for the next monsoons !

Predators Part I - Cheetahs

For many of us, one of the most fascinating aspects of this year’s Summer in Mara was tracking down 3 Dumas (Cheetah in Swahili) – 2 brothers and a sister, all of them young, ambitious daredevils. They were super-efficient in hunting with almost a 100% success rate whenever they hunted Tomy’s gazelles. Of course they were bold enough to try the same feat with bigger game like Topi or Warthog and failed. They do remind me of Honey’s boys – 3 brothers who were legendary till one of them was killed potentially by lions in 2011 fall. They used to hunt pretty much as a unit, super successful most of the times and beating success statistics for cheetah hunts time and time again. I hope these 3 stick together a bit more though the sister might move off sometime soon. Even the 2 brothers alone could become a formidable hunting pair by the looks of it.

The most fascinating aspect to see was their planning and formation for hunts – reminding one of large lion prides- in bringing down prey.

As typical of many cheetah hunts, they spot a gazelle or impala from afar typically from an ant / termite mount.

The gang then splits and one of them stalks prey close. 

While the others move ahead and flank escape routes.

The stalking cheetah then charges the prey.  I felt in group hunts the cheetah stalking charges earlier than I would have expected in a solitary hunt – maybe smug in the knowledge that it is team work and he is not a solitary cheetah hunter.

A confident gazelle bets itself to outrun the first attacker given the distance and most of the times it might do so. Alas with the killer machines it only manages to run into their well woven trap. Within seconds, the second hidden cheetah joins the race with fresh legs.

If the gazelle manages to maintain stamina to outrun the second one, it then faces the daunting task of 3^rd pair of fresh legs up ahead in its trajectory. You almost feel as if at that point when the third one comes into the frame, the Gazelle gives up its hope.

The last seconds of the chase and kill is amongst the most difficult things to shoot in the field even with the latest superfast bodies and lenses. There is speed, there is zig zag motion and there are grass blades which takes focus tracking off the subjects.  Add to it vehicle position, lighting condition, other photographers / movie makers in frame, trees and bushes, and it’s most often than not a mix of extreme luck and some reasonable skill to get shots. During such a chase a cheetah’s legs touches the ground only for ~50% of the time. You can almost see the fear in the eyes of the Gazelle if you ever get a focus lock!

In the final moments, the cheetah trips the prey even while in full speed of close to 60-70 mph.

Once the prey is on the ground, the cheetah home in to get a strong hold on its windpipe suffocating it to death.

They eat quickly and warily with at least one of them keeping an eye for dangers like Hyena or Lions which could easily dislodge them from a well-deserved meal but also kill them if it comes down to a combat.

Masai Mara 2013

It was tough leaving Aarav and Sandhya at home in Dubai as I took my Kenya flight to Nairobi. The whole trip was in a bit of jeopardy with the arrival terminal in JKIA Nairobi having burnt down in a fire 5 days ago. Checked with Aditya Dicky Singh on latest update and he said things seem to have been resolved.

Took a 2 odd am flight from Dubai and arrived in Jomo Kenyatta early morning on time at around 630 am. Full marks to Kenya Airways and all the ground staff at JKIA to get the airport up and running so soon after the fire. I can imagine the technical and administrative challenges in ensuring a full suite of immigration and other systems linked up to servers in a makeshift tent. Even the smell of the burnt ashes was in the air as we alighted and walked over to the visa on arrival tents.  I got some good sleep for 4 odd hours and was pretty fresh on arrival. Visa and immigration was super-efficient – in fact the most efficient I remember Nairobi to be!

Outside the makeshift terminal, met up with Ken from Sunworld safaris. Chatted up with him and he knew that the KQ from Mumbai in which Dicky and team was arriving was a bit delayed. I waited in one of the open tented areas reading a Wilbur Smith and enjoying the amazing Nairobi morning – a cool 18 degs.

Once the gang from India arrived, we all got into our respective landcruisers after getting local SIM cards. The hardiness of the landys were to be tested to the brim during the week – especially the last day when we were caught sliding across the cotton soil of Mara in a thunder storm.

We took off towards Nairobi CBD and then off to rift valley and Narok. Took the usual break at the top, before descending into the valley and first timers to Mara got the first glimpse of the magic land from afar. Stopped at Narok to have lunch at around 2 and we all inaugurated the first of many Tusker “cheers”. Tusker is my favorite lager and probably one of the best kept secrets of Kenya! More than the Nairobi weather, traffic, rift valley view it is the Tusker at Narok for first lunch enroute to Mara that gets me to the Mara mood! That’s also when it finally sinks that I’m back in Mara for sure – no more worries on missing flights, getting bumped off flights, losing luggage, forgetting lens or camera bodies and all other such fears that I have before every  Africa shooting trip.

Drove right through Mara into our camp. This year we were tenting in Matira Bush Camp, in central Mara, close to both Mara and Talek rivers. It was a nice wooded area where we could listen to Hyenas through the nights and a male Lion that starts roaring at around 430 am – pretty early riser! Waking up to the sounds of hyenas and lions – that is something which I always look forward to in the bushes.

We were there for a week – tents were good, bucket showers were nice, food was ok, cold Tuskers were plenty, charging points worked, no dangerous encounters of any sort – overall a pretty good homecoming into the bush for us city dwellers! We knew that crossings had started pretty early and hence might miss on seeing wildebeest crossings at the Mara. I was quite ok with that since I had all required images of crossings from the summer of 2011. This year my focus was predator action and as usual Mara over delivered! From a photography perspective, as usual for Africa, I just had two bodies and 17-40 and 100-400, apart from a 50 mm prime. Most of the equipment worked without mishaps but for the 40 D which gave err99 two days making my heart skip a beat. Also the Sandisk 16 GBs did miss reading few shots during RAW bursts (even while buffer was not full) while the cheaper Transcend worked like a dream. Thing to keep in mind for future.

We did get some rains during the night and a wonderful thunderstorm the last evening during our drive back. That for me was one of the most beautiful evenings in memory with the land cruiser sliding and bursting through the incessant water curtain including 3-4 360 degree spins throwing us around. We had just seen a Leopard mom and her two cute cubs and the throwing around increased the adrenaline rush even further. The trip overall was one of my best ever and the best to Mara. Could not have asked for more as the write up below and the images with it would testify.

Predators were the focus and hence Ill share some predator stories than a full-fledged trip report.  Starting with Cheetahs, then Lions, then leopards and finally others. 

A Swiss Safari !

Day 1: Our train from Venice stopped at the lovely quaint Swiss town of Spiez pretty late in the night (By swiss standards). It was around 9 pm and the last of shops were closing down and the watering holes closing their beer taps. View as we came out of the station was breathtaking to say the least with the Lake Thun and towering mountains.

The summer night was still bright enough to provide us with this breathtaking invitation. We first figured out our motel (attached to a theatre) was pretty close to the station. Quickly kept luggage, and came out for dinner ;very few diners or rather locals enjoying a drink post dinner. After some cold sandwiches washed down with Rugenbrau special, a dark brown, medium bodied local beer which kind of tastes as close to herbal as the brew can get! (Or maybe it was the greenery all around ;)

Day 2: Woke up to a cloudy day; had breakfast at 8 am with the wonderful view of misty mountains, lake and Spiez’s old castle. Thankfully our motel had a nice terrace restaurant offering a splendid view of the sleepy town in the wee hours of the morning directly overlooking the Lake.

Since the day was cloudy, we decided against the mountains and planned to do a city today and took off to Lucerne. The tourist friendly trains offered a breathtaking view of the nature all around….that’s one of the best ways to move and do sightseeing in Switzerland…the trains pass through unbelievably beautiful villages and towns offering an awesome view of tranquil lakes, lush green mountains, quaint little houses with painstakingly maintained beautiful flower gardens offering raging splashes of color in the misty drizzle.



It took us a day to just get used to the beauty around and not get awed by nature especially since were coming in from peak Summer in Dubai ! In contrast to India where nature is wild and grows in any damp patch of water and earth, nature in Switzerland seems awfully well-behaved or probably well-manicured by the residents. But its really spectacular to see just the right length of grass on mountains or the harmony amongst trees and plants growing beside each other

The journey was broken by some work on the railway line – hence we had to take a bus through couple of villages that involuntarily added even more to our sightseeing in quant Swiss villages. Interacting with locals on the bus made us realize that they do not take the beauty of the place for granted, in fact they make the best use of the summer with everybody pouring out on sunny days for sports, trekking, boating, swimming and many other exciting outdoors activities.

We reached Lucerne by lunch time and went to an Indian place for food – 8 days of pasta n pizza was enough to make us crave for some chilli and spice ! So we just got in Lucerne and without any further delay or sightseeing made a beeline for an Indian restaurant. Though the food was good; a family in India could have lived for a month for the money we spend on breads and curries there!

Post lunch, we did the usual touristy things, visited the two famous Chapel bridges on lake Lucerne and went on a trail across the Nine Towers and a walk across the town. Then we went on a 2.5 hours boat ride on Lake Lucerne which was the best time of the day. Offered a spectacular view of the lake and city surrounding it amidst cloud and rain. Since we had taken the pass (which is highly recommended if you stay around for 2-3 days) it was covered within that.

On our return we passed several stations by the lake Brienz offering splendid views and light for photography. With a decision to come back to these places, we returned to Interlaken, took a walk there, had dinner in one of the Pakistani places and headed back to our motel

Day 3: Still cloudy, so we decided to trek to the famous Reichenbach falls – a series of waterfalls on the River Aar near Meiringen in the Canton of Bern in central Switzerland - where Sherlock holmes and Moriarty fight against each other ending in demise of the famous detective (only to be  revived after the readers hue n cry).

Since we are both fans of Holmes it was a no brainer! The train journey was interesting with part of the journey in a narrow gauge train and  the journey up in a furnicular (similar to a trolley on wooden tracks). A short ride from the furnicular station brought us to the viewing platform which offers an amazing view of the rushing falls. A fall down is definite way to straight heaven, no wonder Doyle chose this place to finish off Holmes ! Its impossible to not get drenched on the platform , thankfully earlier reading had prepared us for the eventuality and armed with windcheaters n umbrellas, we passed the platform and started the trek to the top of the falls. Was not unduly worried about my cameras since I was using only 7D with 17-40, which meant it could take a bit of wetness with elan.


The trek passes through quite thick n dense woods offering a calm and tranquil environment with only the sound of gushing water as company. Slight off track from the trail offers breathtaking views of the nature and town downstairs. We trekked through the woods to the top – a fairly easy trek of under an hour – whereby we enjoyed the views with some nice Swiss brewed light lager.

Trekking back, we decided to walk all the way to nearby Aare Gorge (Aareschlucht) after resting a bit for energy. This walk through the town made us realize how much importance is placed by Swiss families on keeping fit. Backyard of each house looked like a mini Ace / Adventure HQ shop filled with boats, cycles, hiking and trekking gear and other sports materials. A family of four running, with the father pushing the child trolley, another couple of kids keeping pace with mom leading the pack, made us realize that it’s a way of life for them and its ingrained in the kids right from an early age.

At Aare Gorge, we started at the west end and walked till the east end. It’s a nice walk through a deep canyon …as we walk the canyon keeps getting narrower till a point where we can touch both sides of the canyon with the river flowing below. It’s a nice 1 hour walk with some portion of the walkway inside the canyon and some of it outside in the open air.

The east end station is wonderfully built inside the mountains. If it wasn’t for the couple of locals waiting there, we would have totally missed the station. The ride back was wonderful. We hopped from one station to another stopping to admire the lake and views and then taking the next train to proceed. (Again advantage of having the Swiss pass)

Evening saw us head back to Interlaken for D&D (including a smooth as butter cognac which I forgot to take the name of) and then back to Spiez for a flat out sleep.

Day 4: Niderhorn – the day being slightly sunny, we decided to risk the mountains and started towards Niederhorn. We thought we would take the boat from Spiez instead of the train. Had a nice morning walk to Schloss Spiez castle admiring the quiet roads and houses amidst all the greenery and proceeded towards the boat yards. This was one day where we experienced everything that Swiss transport system had to offer, including, boats, buses, trains, and cable cars. A short boat ride brought us to a small, beautiful village called Beatenberg which form the base of the cable car towards Niederhorn.



We took the cable car and went straight to the top which offers a spectacular view of all the major mountain peaks in Switzerland – the main 3 of them being Eiger (Ogre), Monch (Monk) and Jungfraujoch (the Virgin).


Though not overtly sunny with puffs of clouds blocking our view, we got a good view of the 3 snow capped mountain peaks from the top. A nice cup of coffee in the cold weather (we were yet to visit Jungfraujoch, so were not aware how much colder it could get) was close to heaven. You could probably spend a lifetime doing that !

This place also provided a lovely view of the typical “Swiss cow grazing in the field” view with the peaceful sound of their bells clinging. Another feature of this place is the introduction we got to the wild flowers in Switzerland. Shot many of the interesting wild flowes and orchids.

After a good 2-3 hours of basking in the sun and snow filled mountains, we headed down to Beatenberg.  The sight of many elderly people with hiking sticks going up and down the mountain did not really inspire us to trek down instead of taking the cable car !

From Beatenberg, we headed towards Interlaken via bus. After a delayed lunch, we went towards the sleepy town of Thun. Had a short walk there in the city and post a nice beer and snack at a waterfront, headed back to Spiez. Before turning in to the motel we took a nice night walk towards the castle, though lack of people made us turn back early. (It was indeed eerie!!)

Sat in our balcony till late enjoying the moonlit sky over the lake and mountains. Serenity and peace of the mountain nights are (anywhere in the world) something which one cannot be recreated in plains for some reason!

Day 5: Finally a bright sunny day….with the authorities accurately predicting the forecast weather, we had intentionally kept the best for a sunny day. Post a nice breakfast in the sun overlooking the Spiez castle and lake, we started towards Jungfrau. The train journey is split into 2-3 stops – we took the route via Grindelwald and Wengen and did Lauterbrunnen on the way back. A brief lunch in a Swiss bar in Grindelwald  gave a glimpse of local life there, where locals just sauntered in for a drink, said hi to strangers like us and wished us a good journey and settled down to gossip amongst themselves J. We were quite floored by helpful nature of the Swiss folks- people just came forward on their own and asked if we needed help with directions or anything. A small trek in Grindelwald introduced us to more wild flowers and quaint houses with beautiful gardens.

From there we went towards Wengen, which offered one of the best views of snow capped Jungfraujoch. Of course the immediate attraction was the beautiful mooing cows with their pretty doe-shaped eyes and jingling bells

This along with the Swiss train in the background provided the best photographs of the journey. We spent a lot of time with the cows and again encountered lot of Swiss elderly people with hiking sticks. Guess the sunny weather, being a rarity, had brought everybody out of their homes. We proceeded towards the last leg of the train journey towards Jungfraujoch which stops in between offering glimpses of the snow and time to the travelers to acclimatize to the change in altitude.

When the train became suddenly quiet and conversations died down, we realized that lack of oxygen had made most sleepy especially those travelling alone. Moving higher up also made us realize the drop in temperature and we suited up. -5 degrees on the top! Wow! This was freaking freezing! The first viewing deck offered a splendid view of the snow up close. Sandy’s first snow, so she went crazy playing in the snow – and she was dressed for it with woolens while I was wearing my Nike tracksuit. I realized pretty soon how inappropriate is a track suit at -3 degs !

 Inside offered great views through the Ice palace and snow decks. Today being the 100 year anniversary of the train system to Jungraujoch, lot was covered on history on the construction on the train system and the people who helped build it. After taking loads of pictures in the snow, with the carved animals in the ice palace and the playing in the snow, we headed back to the Wengen and then towards Lauterbrunnen. A short trek over there as well offered us more beautiful views of the amazing contrast of the snow peaks and the greenery below.

After an energetic and exhilarating day, we headed back to Interlaken where we had good food and drinks before heading to Spiez.

Day 6: The last breakfast in Spiez and then onto Paris J - leaving the most amazing landscapes was sad but fact that we were going to probably the most romantic city in the world helped tide over it!