Golden Pass - Montreux

Today is the last day of our trip. We had already reserved for boarding

another panoramic train “Golden Express” which will take us to Lausanne

where we started our journey one week ago. By now I was so used to that

after waking up my first thing was to peer out the window to check

weather. And like every time it was bright sunny morning at our last day

of vacation. After having heavy breakfast we headed towards railway

station of Interlaken with our luggage.

From our previous experience with glacier express where we missed the

window seats we made sure that get the same while booking in

advance.This special train is broken into two main parts. In the first

part it is almost like any other Swiss railway train but it is only

written “Golden Pass” on the outside.And there are no special panoramic

windows; which is a blessing for the camera.

Traveling by train to Zweisimmen on the Golden Pass BSL train, offers

panoramic views of the Swiss Alps, mountain slopes and valleys with

picturesque chalets which is something different to experience. Train

snakes through the Simme Valley passing through the rural Simmertal

where one can see Swiss cows grazing on the Alpine meadows. Listening to

the distant sound of cowbells tickling on the pastures is very amusing.

At Zweisimmen, we changed to the Golden Pass MOB Train to Montreux. This

is the only line in Switzerland that offers VIP seat at the front of the

train giving a river’s eye view. This ultra-modern train gives the

traveler the unique sensation of being totally at one with the grandeur

of the unfolding landscape. While passing through the region of

“Châteaux d’Oex” we saw beautiful Swiss villages for one more time.

There are lots of hiking or other outdoor activities around this region.

Admiring the view of Lake Geneva on one hand and the sprawling vineyards

alongside on other hand we descended to Montreux. We enjoyed magnificent

views of alpine beauty on our unforgettable rail journey of Switzerland.

We came to Montreux from Lausanne after keeping our luggage. We took a

relaxing promenade on lakeshore to go to Chateau de Chillon. This 13th

century castle has lots of history to tell in itself. Lord Byron’s

famous poem “The Prisoner of Chillon” was set on prison which is at the

cellar of the castle. We spent almost 2 hours there and at the same time

it was raining heavily outside.

We wanted to go to Geneva to see “Jet d’eau” (water fountain) but it

looked like it might be a better idea to be at Montreux as we would be

running out of time. Later in the evening we boarded TGV back to Paris –

and this time it was in First Class: D