Seventh day at Swiss

14/9/08

Today is the last day of our trip. We were holding the Euro pass for going to Rhine water falls about 44km north of Zurich close to German border.

We were asked to report by 9.30 a.m in the bus depo close to the hotel. Morning the weather was still cloudy with light drizzle. We got ready by 8.10 p.m and went for breaker down. At hotel Montana this was the first break fast . But the menu was same.
The menu of cereals and bread with fruit juices had started tiring us. Such kind of breakfast can be arranged for any number of people with out hassle as all items are pre prepared. There are no items like in India freshly prepared. Having the breakfast we picked the camera & other things from hotel room and rushed to the bus stand. The bus was waiting readily there with a lady guide but with very few passengers. There were in all only 6 couples out of which 3 pair were Indians. ( The outside temp was 14`c.) In fact we were told in Switzerland presently max. tourist are from India. It is we who are boosting their economy further! I suppose Indians have a fascination for Switzerland & it is well worth it as the place have really a lot to offer in sight seeing & learning experience, especially the management of the hill country and engineering skills are something to marvel about.

There natural resources are very little. With the milk they produce they have become world leaders in chees and chocolates.In watch making and selling again they lead the world. Their ingenuity of developing banking which gives them access to all the worlds money is also to be understood.

The Rhine trip started in time at 9.35 a.m inspite of lack of passengers .The lady guide Rhinata ( an elderly lady ) chose to speak in English as that was the common language in the bus. We found the trip costs 42 Francs. In an hrs time by 10.35 a.m we were at Rhine falls. As we were moving north the weather cleared up giving us hope to have a good weather near the water fall. The way from Zurich to the town Schaffausen near Rhine falls was beautiful. Our bus was routed through the airport to pick up any passengers there but there were none. The lady guide was telling us many information about Swiss life.

Some economic information of interest are
Most of the working people in Zurich stay out of the town as rentals are costly in Zurich town.
The people in service end up paying 18% of their income for rent, 14% for income tax 22% for insurance.
A decent apartment in country site costs 1500 to 2500 francs. Hence you can find out an avg. income re for good living ( about 9 to 10,000 francs per month) ( about 4 lakh Rs)
About 10% of the population are below poverty line
About 150 yrs back the place had 60% farmers. Now only 5% are farmers still they produce 60% req of food for the people. Rest is imported
The old farm houses did not have any heating. The stable and cow shed is to be in the ground floor helping in heating the place.
The total population of Switzerland is 7.6 million (76 lakhs) with the land area of 40,000 sq.km with its borders traversing 5 countries. Though all these countries were involved in world wars Switzerland remained neutral and thrived. This political neutrality and stability made it mecca of banking.

The Rhine falls were a great sight indeed. It is actually twin falls divided by a small mound in the Rhine river not at a very great height, one of 23m ht. & another of 13m. In fact they are more like rapids. But the force of water is so high that it comes down in cascades foaming and frothing.

Our guide told us for 6 francs each we can opt for a boat ride which will take us to the mouth of the waterfall. From where we can climb up the small mound/hillock and get closer view and feel of the water fall. As the weather had spruced up becoming more sunny we decided to take the boat ride along with the Bengali couple with whom we became friendly by then.

We took the boat ride which is just a 10 minutes ride to the water fall. Now we were adjacent to the fall & what a good feeling. Everybody were thrilled and happy to get the water spray on themselves & see the gushing waters in close quarters. It was a photo session for every one especially after climbing up the hillock where we could get a good view of the entire scenery. We were given just one hr for our rounds to the water fall. We hence returned back by 10.30 after taking some time to shop in the sounier shops as Zurich shops were closed on Sunday.

Returning back to hotel ,had our lunch & rest. Again at 4.00 p.m went for enquires and shopping to the station near by which alone is operating in full swing through the week .We found next day we had to leave early to catch the train to airport with a reporting time 2hrs before flight.

So we returned back to hotel with India in our minds. As a thanks giving told Rudram & all suthams in the hotel room. Venkat had his dinner ( Bisibelabath) while for me it was a fasting evening being Sunday.

Then we packed our things & found it had become pretty light with most of the food packets having been consumed.