Day 11 : Mountains of Liechtenstein , on our way to Lucerne

Our path takes us toward the towering Alps and the vast serene lakes of Switzerland.

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Mountains of Liechtenstein and Confoederatio Helvetica .(CH) .....

We were up again at 6:15 for breakfast, and the bust left at 7:30. We left Italy and headed for more snow-capped mountains in Switzerland.

Right before we crossed over the Swiss border, Dave told us to keep an eye out for Lake Como. Shortly before we got there, Dave told us to all get our cameras ready because it was really beautiful and we didn't want to miss it. Any minute now, he promised. Everyone leaned eagerly to the right side of the bus waiting for this view (was it ever going to come?), cameras at the ready.

After three solid minutes of waiting (everyone growing restless), the spectacular view came and went in less than ten seconds. That's the definition of a Contiki "see". If it says in the Contiki brochure, "See spectacular Lake Como on your way to Lucerne" all you get is a ten second blur. Kind of like the windmill in Holland.

That's okay, I got a great shot, I didn't need to spend any additional time in Italy. I was ready for some Germanic cleanliness and hospitality again. Switzerland, here we come!

As we entered Switzerland Dave gave us a brief history of Switzerland. Switzerland is known for several things: chocolate, cheese, timepieces, the Swiss Army (their knives being quite popular worldwide), Swiss bank accounts, and the pride in being neutral for the past 500 years.

If you ask me, the Swiss are a bunch of shady folks who are up to no good. If the Swiss pride themselves on being neutral, why is it that they have a Swiss army that they can call up in 48 hours?

Anyway lets not talk about politics over here ...

We went through the Swiss border without incident, though Dave warned us there might be a Swiss border patrol officer who might board our bus and check all of our passports. I hoped that if this should happen, at least I'd get another stamp in my passport. I had already been to five countries and only got one stinking stamp at Hamburg.

No luck, the Swiss border patrol trusted us. This have been a major disappointment , I have only my photos to prove that I visited Switzerland there is no chop on passport . Actually Switzerland was not covered under our Schengen Visa , so I visited Swiss embassy in Singapore twice to get a VISA . The Swiss embassy in Singapore is totally out of the way . I spent 40 SGD on cab and 200 SGD to get the Swiss visa just for one and 1/2 day stay in Switzerland . I wished I could have got a stamp in my passport , but it didn't happened .

After EU there is not passport control and it's really free flow of traffic from one country to another .

Switzerland was like God's paintbox. The hills were green, capped with white snow.

You could hear the tinkering of hundreds of cowbells echoing up from the valley below, mixed with the wind of the Alps, and it was like hearing the music of the gods.

Throughout our European discover we got best of the weather and were able to enjoy all the attractions mentioned in the itinerary . Switzerland was an exception , due to some road blockage we couldn't got to Lucerne using the shortest path . We have to drove through the Mountains of Liechtenstein , though we didn't visited the city of Vaduz .

The Austrian Liechtenstein family acquired the fiefs of Vaduz and Schellenberg in 1699 and 1713 respectively, and they became an independent principality under the Holy Roman Empire in 1719 under the name Liechtenstein. The French under Napoleon came unasked and stayed for a few years, but Liechtenstein regained its independence in 1815 within the new German Confederation. In 1868, after the Confederation dissolved, Liechtenstein disbanded its army (of 80 men!) and declared its permanent neutrality.

Liechtenstein's neutrality was respected during both world wars. In 1919 it entrusted its external relations to neutral Switzerland. After WWII, Liechtenstein became increasingly important as a financial center, and the country became more prosperous and achieved one of the world's highest per capita incomes.

According to our itinerary we were suppose to reach Lucerne in the afternoon and then go to Mt. Stanserhorn .But due to the road blockage we missed the opportunity to travel 1,920m (6,300 ft) to the top of Mt. Stanserhorn.

It was quite a boring day except the magnificent view of Mountains of Liechtenstein and Swiss Apls . We also got more time to learn about the History of Switzerland . Apart from Swiss History , Dave also started taking quiz sessions . He asked us about the significance of CH . Well we all know that Switzerland is associated with CH , but we didn't know the details .

For historical reasons, Switzerland's official name is still the "Helvetic Confederation" (in Latin: Confoederatio Helvetica) from which the country's international abbreviation, CH, is derived. However, this is in fact a misnomer: a confederation is an alliance of autonomous entities. Since 1848 Switzerland has been a federation: a grouping of entities with a central authority.

The word Helvetic refers to the Helvetians, one of the many Celtic tribes living in what is now Switzerland at the time of the Roman conquest.

Celtic tribes colonized Europe from the east. Around 500 B.C. they had reached Switzerland and eastern France. Their culture is known as the La Tène period (450 - 50 B.C.) of the Iron Age. This name comes from an excavation in western Switzerland (Lake of Neuchâtel). At this time, Switzerland's relatively flat midlands from Lake Geneva to Zürich were the territory of a Celtic tribe named Helvetians.

The name of the Helvetians lives on as a keyword for everything that needs a short name not depending on one of the four official languages spoken in different parts of Switzerland. The label "HELVETIA" can be found on coins and postal stamps. while the Swiss top level Internet domain ".ch" stands for "Confoederatio Helvetica", the Latin version of "Swiss Confederation".

A widely accepted theory assumes, that most European peoples have a common origin somewhere in Central Asia. Their languages (Greek, Latin, Old German/Old English, Slavonian) are quite similar to each other and even to Persian (Iran) and Sanskrit (India!).

The southern Germanic tribe called Alamannen settled in southern Germany and northern Switzerland. The Burgundians settled along the Jura mountain chain in France (Burgundy) and western (French speaking) Switzerland. Todays border between German and French language in Switzerland is more or less the border between Burgundians and Alamannen.

Since the 1815 Vienna conference on international affairs after Napoleons defeat, Switzerland is obliged to be neutral in any conflicts between other nations. During World War I (1914-1918), it was relatively clear, what this obligation meant. In World War II (1939-1945), Switzerland was surrounded by troops of or loyal to the German Nazi regime disregarding any international rules. From today's point of view, it seems that Switzerland could and should have done more in favor of jewish refugees. It is also clear that accepting gold from the Nazis while knowing they stole it from murdered jews was a big mistake.

In 1920 all major nations confirmed, that Switzerland's neutrality towards war faring nations as fixed on the 1815 Vienna Conference on post-Napoleon international relations would still be respected.

Switzerland may be neutral but it is certainly not flavorless. The fusion of German, French and Italian ingredients has formed a robust national culture, and the country's alpine landscapes have enough zing to reinvigorate the most jaded traveler.

Our most notable service stop in Switzerland was , Marche in Heidi land , Maienfeld. If you’ve read Heidi, then you know that Maienfeld is not only the picturesque town in which Johanna Spyri wrote Heidi, but it features in the book from the very first sentence. The pretty little Swiss town of Maienfeld lies at the foot of a mountain range, whose grim rugged peaks tower high above the valley below.

Johanna Spyri's Heidi-story tries to give orientation in a world shaken by rapid social change, a world in disorder that makes people feel insecure - and this is exactly what makes the story attractive today in view of neoliberalism and globalization.

Johanna Spyri's story of Heidi, the girl from the Alps, became a world-wide success story already towards the end of the 19th century and children do still like it today - as a book, as a radio play and as a movie. Heidi is by far the most popular work of Swiss literature and has been translated from German into 50 languages, been filmed more than a dozen times, and more than 50 million copies of Heidi books have been sold world-wide .

In Marche in Heidiland , the stopover was more than scheduled . As Jezza made some damage on some local car , while parking . At one point we thought that may Dave will be our tour manager and driver for rest of the trip . But fingers crossed the dispute was settled and Jezza survived .

Apart from Johanna Spyri's story of Heidi , I will remember Marche in Heidiland for a different reason . I bought a souvenir t-shirt , which was kind of Indian kamusutra in shape of a swiss flag .

Lots of tourists who arrive in Switzerland aren't aware that Switzerland isn't an EU member and, therefore, doesn't use Euro. Somehow in big hotels and department stores, you can usually pay in Euro, but they only accept banknotes and you will get your change in Swiss francs and the exchange rate is bad. Euro coins are worthless in Switzerland (except for the two-euro ones which you can use for making calls in some public telephone booths, but, then again, it's bad value).

You should change all your Euro coins into notes before arriving in Switzerland and then change them into Swiss Francs at a bank as soon as you arrive in the country (since smaller shops, rest aunts, taxis, buses and cinemas accept only Swiss francs).

Goethe summed up Switzerland succinctly as a combination of 'the colossal and the well-ordered'. You can be sure that your trains and letters will be on time. The tidy, just-so precision of Swiss towns is tempered by the lofty splendor of the landscapes that surround them.

I like Switzerland. Wish I could stay here for a while. I am so coming back.