The Boleh Blahhhh!!! Blog

my second day in Switzerland , we’ve decided to go to Braunwald. A
small town high up on the hills about 1 hours 20 mins south of Zurich.

Atiza admiring the view overlooking the famous Swiss snow covered mountains (taken with Nikon F100 and some cheap Kodak film)

Braunwald as you can see is about 60km from Zurich.
From the Zurich main station called Zurich HB, the train will take
about 1 hr 20 min to reach the Braunwaldbahn station . This should set
you back around 60 CHF (RM180) for a return ticket.

Malaysian tourist who’ve just arrived from Zurich being all touristy taking pictures and what not

From the station at the base of the hill ,
take another special train that goes up the hill to reach Braunwald
town itself. This will cost around 12 CHF (36 RM) for a return ticket.
The train ride up the hill is about 15 minutes going up about one mile.

typical village house set on the backdrop of the imposing Todi peak which is abit hard to miss once you’re up there

one of the junctions at Braunwald , detailing where to go for skiing , restaurant , hiking , hotel and etc

apart from skiing ( there’s a 28 km downhill
skiing route suitable for beginner and intermediates), there are
numerous hiking opportunites from regular paved road to small hillside
path. Unfortunately we did not plan anytime for winter sports but
decided to just enjoy the postcard scenery of the small town.

another typical Swiss village house in Braunwald

Minotel hotel - a family run business since around 1880s

we’ve decided to go to Minotel
hotel for lunch. The hotel has an amazing porch where you get a
complete view of the mountains surrounding the area. Here’s a photo
panaromic I’ve shot with my cheap Sony phone cam (which I had an Xpan
II or something!)

Atiza and Lisa enjoying the view from the Minotal hotel

spinach and ricotta cheese ravioli with il pomodoro sauce (tomato sauce) for lunch at Minotel

one thing amazes me is that Switzerland is
right smack in the middle of three countries that is Germany on the
north , France to the west and Italy on the south. So you’ll see how
this influence their cuisine abit - usually for breakfast you’ll have
crossaint with coffee (French influence) , lunch you can have some
pasta dish (italian influence) and if you’re adventurous finish the day
off with loads of cheese by having a Swiss fondue. It is quite a
gastranomic affair

looking out to the mountains from the Minotel

After saying goodbye to the owner of the hotel
and took a polaroid photos of them ( i gave the polaroid to them so
they can remember me next time and give me discounts if I want to stay
there!, also it is a good ice breaker really) we headed back to Zurich
with a heavy heart…I’m not really a fan of winter and snow because I
used to study in Michigan USA for 6 years and trust me you’ll be
cursing snow after few years living there but Braunwald is everything
typical of Swiss small quaint village and the weather was just nice. It
wasn’t too cold , there’s plenty of snow but yet there’s some sunshine
(weather was nice that day) and with the breathtaking view of Swiss
mountains I know I’ve fallen in love with Switzerland - would
definitely come back and explore the other Alps region again…

Atiza and Lisa

Hope you guys enjoyed the series

camera geek details: all color photos are mostly taken with Nikon F100
and 50mm F1.8 AF with cheap Kodak film except for the polaroid and
phone cam panaromic of course

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 7:03 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.