Picture - postcard Gstaad

 Bronze Statue of Rosie the Cow at the Promenade

What should I say about Switzerland that would do justice to this beautiful land? We had been there for over a couple of weeks and each place from Lucerne to Lausanne to Zermatt was an experience that left us totally enchanted by its unparalleled beauty. 

Switzerland was perfect and so were its systems. The trains ran with clockwork precision-you could set your watch. The public utilities were squeaky clean. Everything was very tourist friendly. The signage on the stations was so simple that you didn't need any assistance in locating your train or the platform. As for their transport system it's definitely one of the best in the world. We covered a fair distance in our fifteen day sojourn and were amazed by its efficiency-no running late and no cancellations. Many a times we had to change trains with just a couple of minutes for that transfer  and everyone would be scampering from one platform to another but they waited till everyone got in and only then the train pulled off.

One of the places that we visited here was Gstaad. We took the panoramic Golden Pass from Zweisimmen. The train journey was an experience in itself. The train has huge glass windows so one could see some spectacular views of the countryside. Till now we had been quite taken in by the beauty of Interlaken but this area surpassed that in its natural prettiness. All throughout the way I saw lush green meadows dotted with cows. I was by now feeling very envious of the people living here who enjoy this every day.

Gstaad is an exclusive ski resort and a car free village. There is a main street here which runs through the village called the Promenade. It is for pedestrians only and chic shops flank both sides of the street. We went around indulging in some retail therapy of the window shopping kind. There was - Prada, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Ralph Lauren, Cartier -you  name it -a shopper’s paradise, but so fancily priced that my shopaholic daughter  decided that maybe! she should restrain herself for just this one time.

Despite being the playground of the rich and famous this ski resort has developed in such a way that its villageseque character has remained intact. Cow bells could be heard tinkling in the distance and we saw a lot of quaint wooden chalets, typically Swiss with alpine style roofs. Gstaad has stayed small and beautiful and thankfully has not been overbuilt like say Zermatt which is a bit of an over kill.  It has also been able to keep a fine balance between being an uber luxurious resort and maintaining its pastoral roots. The centuries old tradition of making Alpine cheese is still being carried on. We tasted the regions famous cheese Hobelkase, which is cut in wafer thin slices, almost transparent and then its rolled up and served. It was a hard cheese and had a spicy flavor and it went very well with white wine.

The crowd here is ultra chic and classy. I didn’t see any normal tourists like ourselves here ... and backpackers ... you must be kidding! The people who have lived here and some of them still do reads like a who's who ... Valentino, Elizabeth Taylor, Julie Andrews to Sean Connery, so we were definitely in exalted company. Our very own Kareena Kapoor calls it her favorite place in the world. The feel here is definitely upscale and you see a very well heeled crowd frequenting this place

There were charming little cafes and restaurants on both sides of the main street and it was great  fun to sit there, out in the sun, and lunch on a typical Swiss meal of rosti, potato soup, cheese platter and chocolate fondue and, watch the beautiful people passing by and of them ... there was no dearth. Later in the day we savored warm Belgian waffles with nutella, which were melt in the mouth and the son had hot dogs which he said were very fresh and delish.

Gstaad was a very surreal experience for me and for all its glitz and glamour what has stayed in my mind is its understated charm and its achingly beautiful vistas. If I could, the one thing that I would like to take back from here- its fresh mountainous air which definitely needs to be bottled and sold. Gstaad looks as if it's a landscape painting ... with such lovely colors and hues ... and everything so perfectly natural and divine ... with not a thing out of place ... an urban village which charmed me then and gets a smile on my face whenever I think of it now. A must see jewel of the Bernese Oberland.