Remember I had once written about Mont Blanc and I had promised that I would one day write about our own little ski experience? R, who’d been in Bern longer, suggested why not go to Switzerland’s own ski resorts and suggested we go to Zermatt.

Zermatt boasts of being one of the nearest towns to Matterhorn, the highest mountain peak in Switzerland (one side of the ridge is Italy). It is a small town where you can access it by train but are fined if you use your own vehicles. It is one of the few mountain towns which has banned petrol/diesel vehicles and only battery operated vehicles are allowed in addition to horse carts. It reminded me of our own Matheran where vehicles are not allowed. There of course, the similarity ends

The question was did we have enough days to take this ski holiday in Switzerland? The answer was, we will do it on our own. We decided against the use of travel agents, even though R suggested one.

White expanse of Alps.

We arrived there duly on the appointed day and got off our train expectantly. We wanted to hit the slopes straight away. When we got on to the streets, there was only one view. That of the breath taking Matterhorn . We asked around and were offered choices amongst 4 skiing locations. Not knowing enough we randomly picked Gornergrat and travelled via a small train and the omnipresent cable car to the slopes.

The view was breath taking. The place was crowded with skiers of all ages. … and the slopes…. looked frightening! There was no way anyone was going to persuade me to slide down these. Except for one, all of us were green behind the ears. (Greenhorns in Matterhorn Ha ha).
The regular amongst us went off and we were trying to locate a suitable learner slope which did not appear to be there at all. We were to know later beginners normally did not go these slopes. We sat around at the restaurant shamefacedly drinking vin chaud. We were already making plans to go to Crans-Montana the following week end as we were assured by the good folks at Zermatt that was the place for beginners.
We arrived at Montana the next weekend, which is also, like Zermatt, located in the canton of Valais. Probably not very popular, it was not much crowded.

When we took the cable car to the first level we could see a lot of easy slopes, man, this was the place. They had earmarked place for learners as well. My colleague who could ski well, took to teaching us the basics.

Initially I had a tough time balancing but later the problem was how to stop.

It took a while for us to master the basics. A great enjoyable week end came to an end. This was one of the very few times when I have visited a place but not explored it properly.
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Gambling probably is as old as civilization itself. My Indian friends may remember the events that lead to the Kurukshetra War (as per Mahabharata).
I do believe that gambling and games are quite related. In fact any activity that has the tendency to have an uncertainty in their result is a potential candidate for gambling. These days we have people betting on results of any game or sport.

First time I entered a casino was in Nepal. Back then, rules were strange there. Locals were not allowed inside ! Anyway, we made some money and lost some, all in all we were in plus! It was enjoyable and we were amused to see a lot of people enjoying losing money.

Second time it was even more enjoyable since I lost much money ! It was in Lugano, Switzerland.
No, I wasn’t at fault. I distinctly remember it was because of the location, by the side of the lake overseen by full moon and booze flowing by the barrels.
And after that a few more names were added to my list of having fun in losing money.
Casino industry is still nascent in India. The law prohibits gambling. I know of one that operates aboard a yacht, in Goa, India! I surely don’t know what loophole in the law was exploited.

World over different countries have different view on gambling and casino. From prohibition to controlled to less-controlled. Most casinos in terms of number and revenues are located in the USA. And Most in a single city is Macau in China and followed closely by Las Vegas, USA.
So next time you want to lose money, book cheap flights to Las Vegas or Macau or France etc.

Hey Dealer, here is the double.
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P.S.-This article belongs to Le Monde-A Poetic Travail. If you are viewing this on a website instead of your RSS feed reader, then that website is guilty of stealing my content. Kindly do me a favour. Please visit my site and help me taking action by letting me know against this theft.
Thank you.
If you like this blog, I suggest you to connect with me through Facebook fan page and Twitter.

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Matterhorn… standing gloriously… in the month of August

The Matterhorn is a classic peak, a sharp, isolated rock pyramid with steep narrow ridges jutting from surrounding glaciers. One of the most frequently climbed mountains in the world, the Matterhorn’s every ridge and face have been scaled. And the small quiet town of Zermatt in north Switzerland from where one has to proceed for it, is called Mecca of mountaineering.

For not so adventurous ones (like me), the cable car is fixed to take upto a level.

And while coming back, from a distance.

It welcomes you irrespective of any season. Both of us liked this mountain more than Mt Titlis or Montana which have become more commercialized.

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Look up, don’t be so shy, ma’am.

So brave ! Went up the roof…

Let me cross this road first.

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