Le Monde - A Poetic Travail » St. Gallen

Height of Stupidity

Cuckoo — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:44:33 +0000

How will you feel or react when in an unknown country all of a sudden you are singled out and with no fault of yours, asked to leave it ASAP. Seriously, when the local police speaking in a foreign language (to you, not to them silly ! ), looking at your passport which has a valid visa, discuss your deportation plan then I don’t think it’s a time to smile at them with fluttering eyelashes.

Also, I don’t think I am even remotely related to any elite group of Osama Bin Laden or those self claimed jihadis. But then why ? Why me ?

Damn ! Those merciless policemen didn’t even consider the fact that at stake is an innocent girl who was in that country not by choice but by compulsion .. .. sent by her employers.

Oh Cuckoo !! Stop running around the bush. Lets get to the facts.….

Oh well, to cut it short, it so happened that once upon a time there lived a girl who was sent to Geneva, Switzerland by her employers for three months on her first overseas assignment. It is another story that they loved her so much that she ended up staying there for close to two years.

Ok enough. Write in first person now.

Ok, let me begin from the beginning.
I was fortunate enough to visit St Gallen within a month of my landing in Switzerland and it became a memorable one.. not for anything else but for my stupidity. Sometimes I can also be stupid you know !

It so happened that three of my colleagues (working on different projects) were going for a one day tour to explore some places of Switzerland. I immediately expressed my wish to join them.

So, on a Sunday early morning, four of us took a train to Zurich. Zurich is a German speaking city in north of Switzerland.
After spending sometime in Zurich city we proceeded for St Gallen – a town further north-east. St Gallen is a small city and a canton, an hour’s train journey from Zurich. It is majorly famous for lake Constance, Abbey Library and the Cathedral besides the Ornate Oriel Windows and fascinating embroidery. Since it is further north to Zurich, not to mention the signboards are again in German.

Hold on ! This post is not about Zurich or St Gallen or German language. That will happen later.

In St Gallen after seeing the beautiful Cathedral and some tit-bits we went to the famous lake Constance. Wanted to have a small ferry ride before calling it a day.

So, at the lake we took a ferry. We had already bought the day-pass for our travel. That way it is convenient to pass your day .. arrr.. I mean it is better to buy a day-pass because it can be used for travel on train, bus, tram and ferry within Switzerland. We need not buy any other ticket. In India we don’t have such flexible system till now. Don’t tell me about Smart card, I know what it is.

The ferry was a huge one, I should call it a small ship. It had a drive-through for cars just like we see in movies. People were taking their cars, scooters, even the bicycles along to go to other places. I was told it was a common practice.

For me, everything was new and extremely exhilarating. It being my first-ever boat ride on a foreign land (ok, water), there I was, sipping coffee, completely mesmerized by the beautiful surroundings, green calm waters, cool evening breeze and the boat itself.

All my three travel companions were quite familiar with this kind of beauty since each one of them had been in Switzerland for more than two years and had seen the neighbouring countries as well. So, all the decisions were taken by them and I was just following them like a small kid.

After sometime they turned to me & said “We are getting off at the next stop”. Apparently after that point they wanted to explore the roads for going back.

But as soon as our feet touched the land, one of my colleagues asked us to stop !! I asked them the reason for not going further, they just smiled. Apparently, they did not want me to get anxious. So sweet of them.

Nonetheless, we turned back, reseated and continued our journey in the same ferry. I could see some custom people at a small check post checking everyone’s papers and I was wondering why not we can have such system in India as well. Terrorists will think twice before venturing out free. *Sigh*

We got down somewhere only to find another check post !! I looked at my colleagues; they were chewing Chiclets & were as cool as a cucumber. That reassured me to think it was a routine thing to check papers.
Wow ! Switzerland has check points at every stop ?? No wonder this is one of the safest countries in Europe.

And when my turn came, those people.. .. those stoooopid people in Swiss uniform stopped me !! Out of that ferry load of people they singled out only me !! They said something in German which obviously I could not understand but it was evident that they were not too happy with my papers. And then like a bomb everything fell on me. Do you know why ?

Oh well, since I was on a short trip to Switzerland, I had a single entry visa for it (which I had already utilized by virtue of my landing there a month back) & according to them (and to my surprise) at that moment of time I was coming from Germany, trying to get into Switzerland ‘illegally’ !!

Since Germany & Switzerland share the lake (which I did not tell you earlier), we had crossed over to German side without our knowledge and then we were coming back again to Switzerland. And the first check post where we had earlier thought of making our stop, was in Germany !!

There I stood like an illegal immigrant fool not knowing what to do and my companions cursing themselves for their brilliant idea of boat ride. The custom people were not allowing me to enter into Switzerland and since I didn’t have visa for Germany, according to them, I could not go back as well !! Does that mean I’ll have free boat ride for the rest of my life ? Yayyy !
Eh no !! One of them wanted to deport me ! And I want to think he was kidding.

My three companions had made Schengen visa for traveling within Europe. And for your information, Schengen visa is required to move within EU (European Union) countries and Switzerland is not a part of EU.
So, to enter only Switzerland (as my case was) one does not really need a Schengen visa & that’s what my company had done. It had applied for a single entry visa for me. I think we should blame them for this stupidity and not me.

Well, we had to request, plea for my ‘release’ by telling them that it was a grave mistake on our part, we did not have any bad intentions, showing them our other papers etc. etc. etc. Then after checking my colleagues’s papers to their satisfaction they let me go.

Phew !! I had learnt a lesson again. Cuckoo !! Beware !

Technorati Tags:- St Gallen visa Lake Constance

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St Gallen – II

Cuckoo — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 09:41:00 +0000

So, at the lake we took a ferry. We had bought the day-pass for our travel; it is convenient because it can be used for travel on train, bus, tram and ferry within Switzerland. We need not buy any other ticket. The ferry was a huge one, I should call it a small ship. It had a drive-through for cars. People were taking their cars, scooters, even the bicycles along to go to other places. I was told it was a common practice. All the notices, instructions were in German language.

For me, everything was new and extremely exhilarating. It being my first-ever boat ride in life, there I was, sipping coffee, mesmerized by the beautiful surroundings, green calm waters, cool breeze and the boat itself.

All my three travel companions were quite familiar with this kind of beauty as each one of them had been in Switzerland for more than two years and had seen the neighbouring countries as well. So, all the decisions of where’s & how’s were taken by them and I was just following them like a small kid. After sometime they turned to me & said “We are getting off at the next stop”. After that point they wanted to explore the roads to go back.

Again, all the boards, notices etc were in German. But as soon as we touched the land and started getting off, one of them asked us to stop !! We could see some custom people at a small check post checking everyone’s papers and I was wondering why the hell they have to check within a country. I was confused. I asked my colleagues the reason to stop, they just smiled. Apparently, they did not want me to get anxious.

Nonetheless, we came back, reseated and continued our journey in the same ferry and got down somewhere only to find another check post !! I looked at my colleagues; they were chewing Chiclets & were as cool as a cucumber. That reassured me to think it was a routine thing to check papers.

And when my turn came, those people in uniform stopped me !! Out of that ferry load of people they singled out only me !! They said something in German which obviously I could not understand but it was evident that they were not happy with my papers. And then like a bomb everything fell on me. Do you know why ?

Since I was on a short trip to Switzerland, I had a single entry visa for it (which I had already utilized by virtue of my landing there a month back) & according to them (and to my surprise) at that moment of time I was coming from Germany, trying to get into Switzerland ‘illegally’ !!

Since Germany & Switzerland share the lake, we had crossed over to German side without our knowledge and then we were coming back again to Switzerland. And the first check post where we had earlier thought of getting down, was in Germany !!

There I stood like an illegal immigrant fool not knowing what to do and my companions cursing themselves for their brilliant idea of boat ride. The custom people were not allowing me to enter into Switzerland and since I didn’t have visa for Germany, according to them, I could not go back as well !! One of them even wanted to deport me ! I want to think that he was kidding.

Well, we had to request, plea for my ‘release’ by telling them that it was a grave mistake on our part, we did not have any bad intentions, showing them our other papers etc. etc. Then after checking everyone’s papers to their satisfaction they let me go.

Phew !!

I had learnt a lesson again.

Note:- All the photos are from analogue camera.

Technorati Tags: Day Trip Lake Switzerland St. Gallen

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St. Gallen – I

Cuckoo — Fri, 11 May 2007 17:39:00 +0000

St Gallen was the first place that I visited outside Geneva. I was fortunate enough to visit this place within a month of my landing in Switzerland and it became a memorable one.. not for anything else but for my stupidity.

It so happened that three Indians (including two from my company working on different projects) were going for a one day tour to explore some places of Switzerland. I immediately expressed my wish to join them.
So, on a Sunday early morning, four of us took a train to Zurich. Zurich is a German speaking city in north of CH. From now on I’ll refer to Switzerland as CH.

After spending sometime in Zurich city, pictures of which will come later, we proceeded for St Gallen – a town further north-east. Please refer to the map. It is in right upper corner of CH, very near to German border.
St Gallen is a small city and a canton, an hour’s train journey from Zurich. Again there is a story behind its name.

There was a careless monk by the name of St. Gallus who was forging his way through the valley of the river Steinach. He fell into a briar patch, considered it a sign from God, and built a hermitage there with the help of a bear. The place became St. Gallen and the bear is still found in the city’s standard. Later on a Benedictine abbey was founded. With the addition of a library, it became a center of learning.

Over the period of time, St. Gallen developed into a thriving cultural center, grew into a major producer of linen and embroidered cotton fabric and today is Switzerland’s seventh largest city. The signboards are in German as in Zurich.

To its north is the Lake Constance which also runs through some parts of Germany and had a hand in my silliness.

St Gallen is famous for Lake Constance, Abbey Library and the Cathedral. Also for Ornate Oriel Windows and the embroidery.

First we saw the beautiful Cathedral. No words can describe the beauty of this Cathedral. Please note the difference between scanned photo and the one taken from digicam.

After the cathedral we roamed around for sometime and came across shops for quality embroidered goods at a handful of Broderie shops, some of them have retail outlets as well. Not bought anything, just window shopped. Reason is known to all of us.

We also saw the famous Oriel windows of St. Gallen. An Oriel window projects from the side of a building but doesn’t touch the ground and are supported by the wooden “L” shaped supporting brackets called ‘the corbels’. However, St. Gallen corbels have evolved into a whole other art form with carved and painted facades. A bay window of US when it projects from an upper story and is supported by corbels, is the closest cousin to it.

Then we went to the famous lake Constance. Wanted to have a small ferry ride before calling it a day. Read the next part what happened there.

Technorati Tags: Day Trip Switzerland St. Gallen