The GoldenPass Line

Route : It connects Central Switzerland and Lake Geneva with an attractive train ride, the is as follows and vice versa: (Zurich –) Lucerne – Brünig Pass – Interlaken – Zweisimmen – Montreux (– Geneva). The best part being from Interlaken to Montreux.

Zürich to Luzern: Standard trains, run by Swiss Rail (2/hr, 1 hr). Luzern to Interlaken Ost: Narrow-gauge panoramic trains run by Brünig Railway (5/day, 2 hrs); also standard trains by Swiss Rail (hourly, 2 hrs).
Interlaken Ost to Zweisimmen: Direct panoramic trains run by Golden Pass (2/day, 1 hr); also standard trains run by Swiss Rail (at least hrly, 1.25 hrs, requires change in Spiez).
Zweisimmen to Montreux: Direct, narrow-gauge panoramic trains run by Golden Pass (5/day, 2 hrs); also standard trains run by Swiss Rail (9/day, 2 hrs).
Montreux to Geneva: Standard trains, run by Swiss Rail (hourly, 1 hr).

Planning Your Time:

As the trip has so much to offer in terms of main Swiss destinations (Zürich, Luzern, Interlaken, and Lake Geneva) the Golden Pass should be spliced cleverly to suit individual needs. Try to focus on the best stretch connecting Lake Geneva and Interlaken (3 hrs total, including the best segment between Montreux and Zweisimmen ).
However check schedules along the way and plan your layovers strategically to maximize time on the panoramic cars. For example, if traveling from Luzern to Lake Geneva, consider taking the 8:55 panoramic train from Luzern to Interlaken Ost (arriving 10:45), then wander in Interlaken and have lunch before catching the 13:25 panoramic train to Montreux (change trains in Zweisimmen at 14:23, arrive Montreux at 16:13).

Montbovon is the place to change trains if you’re going to Bulle or Gruyères. After the first tunnel, an inscription on the barn to the right welcomes the traveler in the Gruyère region: La Gruyère vous salue.

Montreux has the only train station in Europe with three different rail gauges: regular, narrow (which you’re on), and very skinny (for the Rochers de Naye train

Eiffel Tower and Arc De Triomphe a birds Eye View

Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe stands at the end of the avenue des Champs Elysées at place Étoile - the huge roundabout where 12 tree-lined avenues converge. Napoléon commissioned the arch in 1806, 30 years later it was finished and ready for tourists to gawk at. The best access is from the underground passage on the northern side of avenue des Champs Elysées. You get a pretty good view from the top. You can get a very good view of the Eiffel tower and Basilique du Sacre-CoeurMontmartre
Admission to top: €6.45, under 26 €4 . Included in the Museum Pass
Timings : from April 1 - September 30: 10 a.m.-11 p.m. from October 1 to March 31: 10 a.m.-10:30 p.m.

Closed on January 1, May 1,May 8 (morning) July 14 (morning), November 11 (morning) Dec 25.
Métro/RER:Lines 1, 2 and 6, station Charles-de-Gaulle-Etoile
RER: line A, station Charles-de-Gaulle-Etoile

Eiffel Tower:

Originally built for the 1889 World Fair, the Eiffel Tower was the tallest building in the world until1930. Don't mind waiting in line for ages to get the lift you will be able to get a great a great view of the city from the top of Paris's most famous landmark. A cheaper option (without the queues) involved taking the stairs to the 1st or 2nd level.

Opening Hour:

The Eiffel Tower is open every day all year long, - from 9:30am to 11:00pm, January 1 to June 14 and September 2 to December 31, 2007- from 9:00am to midnight, June 15 to September 1, 2007

Métro: Bir Hakeim RER: Ligne-C Champs de Mars-Tour Eiffel;

Tips to Swiss Trips

Some of the most aggressively marketed Switzerland trips are definitely the Scenic train trips. Switzerland has one of the world’s best rail networks and many of its tracks run through some very scenic routes. Any train ride in Switzerland is photogenic but the following are the most aggressively marketed.

• The Golden Pass
• William Tell Express
• Bernina Express .
• Glacier Express.

But the Centovalli Express and The Mont Blanc express going to Chamonix is equally good. The best way of touring Switzerland is to take a Day Pass which comes in a lot ( carnet) 6 passes as an add on to the Half Fare Card. The half fare card entitles any person to travel Swiss travel System ( there is an unified travel system consisting of the Trains, boats, city buses and the Postal buses- the yellow coloured ones). With the day pass you can travel unhindered in the Swiss travel without bothering about the ques.

There is a 50% reduction on the mountain railways with half fare card, like the Jungfraubhan etc.

Checklist of items for Indian's Visiting CERN

The Personnel from the various DAE units, TIFR, ECIL Hyderabad may go through thefollowing checklist as a ready reckoner for items required to be carried, before coming to work for periods ranging from 3 to 12 months at CERN. This is basically a list of things that needs to be carried as some of them are not available or lot of efforts need to be taken to acquire them. This has also items required to tide over the initial settling period.

Items required at CERN , GENEVA
Clothes	Pants/Shirts	1 Jeans Preffered
	T shirts	Expensive here
	Shorts	Carry a few
	Socks/Undergarments/hankerchiefs	As per requirement
Wollens	Pure Wollen Sweaters	At least 2
	Jackets With Hood	Bring good quality one
	Woollen/ Leather gloves	One each
	Woollen Socks	2 pairs
	Pure Wollen Inner Wear	2 pairs
Shoes	Shoes for rain / Snow	Woodland Preferable
	Slippers	V imp, bring one
	Sandals	As per wish
Kitchen items	Pressure cooker(pressure pan) ,saucepan, non stick frying pan	-
	Glass, Spoons, spatula	-
	Roti Belan	-
	Plates( 2/3 of differant sizes)	-
	utensil to store food	-
	Rice / dal/Sugar/ maggi /salt	For first few days
	Haldi/Jeera/Mirchi/rai/Dhania/Garam masala	To last your stay
Sundry items	Toothbrush/ Toothpaste/ razor/ soap/ blades/nail cutter/Comb/duster	-
	Soapcase/Mug/Clothbrushing brush	-
	Passport/camera/waist pouch	-
	Needle/thread/spare buttons/hangers	-
	Shoe polish/laces	-
	Music CD's/Disc man/pliers/scissors/ screwdriver	-

To book a hotel in Paris

If you are on tight budget book your train/ flight in advance preferably two months for best rates. Travel on weekdays preferably Wednesday and come back on Sunday.
Do the hotel booking in advance if your schedule is perfect. In Paris living in the center is not a priority due to the superb Metro network.
Try to locate hotel booking portals/ sites which do not charge for booking, hence there will be no cancellation charges if you change your plans.

Try the following sites,

• Etaph hotels belonging to Accor group, the hotels are cheap, no frill hotels/child friendly/no cancellation charges/no curfew(limit on entry and exit times).
• Venere's site also gives some good offers.
• Hostelbookers is another site which has some good offers.
• Hostelworld is also a good site and has a price promise on its web page of offering the lowest Internet rates.

Geneva Parade

Had Heard a lot about the Geneva parade so went to geneva lakeside to have a first hand view. Lot of floaters with loud music and dancing people in fancy dresses( which they will other wise not wear). I think this is an oppurtunity for the people to vent their energies which is normally held in side the straight jacketed European Culture. The Orient has lots of such events in their culture in form of the various ritualistic festivals , like the various Poojas and Deepavali in India. The weather was good and the crowd was enormous by geneva standards.

The Louvre:

This huge (about a third of a kilometre long) art museum is home to some of the most important pieces of art in the western world including the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. The Louvre has recently received a billion dollar face-lift which has included the construction of a new entrance through a glass pyramid in the courtyard leading to an underground shopping mall and food court. During weekends and school holidays it can get very busy with very long queues, usually the easiest way to avoid some of the queues is by entering through the Carrousel du Louvre (shopping mall) - on rare occasions when there are queues in the Carrousel du Louvre you can try to jump the queue by telling the guard that you just want to get to the post office which is located near the entrance.

Tips : Try to cover louvre on Wednesdays and Fridays when it is open till 09:45pm.

Have a proper plan before getting into Louvre.

Admission:
€8.50, €6 (6pm to 0945 pm) and all day Sun,
Free admission for visitors

Official Web site: http://www.louvre.fr/. Rue du Rivoli, 75001 Paris.
Métro stop: Palais-Royal - Musée du Louvre;
Bus : 21,24, 27, 39, 48, 68, 69, 72, 81 & 95.

The layout of Louvre: