Basel, Bern, Zurich, Geneva & Interlarken, Switzerland

Being is Switzerland for a summer is a special experience, especially for someone from a developing country. The rich country which has never once seen a major war is an example of development and discipline that most others can learn from. Of course it’s also been blessed with some of the most beautiful sights and most of the places that I visited took my breath away.

Basel, my home for the summer is a small industrial city in the north of the country. Shadowed by the Alps in the north, it is situated on the river Rhine and is host to a number of pharma, chemical and agricultural companies (one of which was my employer). The predominant language is German, though many people speak English as well. In the beginning the signs on the streets and the shops were completely incomprehensible to me, or even worse I could not even pronounce most of them, but I guess I am getting a little better now (it’s amazing how fast the human ear adapts to foreign sounds). I actually drove from Paris, and the six hour, 550km drive was probably one of the best drives that I taken in my life (in the same league with my San Diego to Vancouver ride or my ride from Puno to Cusco). Driving through the snow capped Alps, its hard not to feel really small and insignificant and I had to stop often as the beauty around me was very distracting. But all this stopping and enjoying the ride ensured that I reached Switzerland really late at night and after paying the driving tax (no wonder they are so rich!), I was completely lost without being able to remotely identify any of the signs. After about an hour of aimless driving and asking about five people at different corners of the city, I finally made it to the hostel.