Chapter 2: Switzerland: Bluche (Les Roches)

A tiny mini village called Bluche in where I spent my first semester of college life! It is located five minutes away by car or funiculaire  from the heart of Crans-Montana, one of Switzerland’s most renowned ski and summer resorts. The area has absolutely a congenial climate and pristine air there.

To reach Bluche, you need to arrive to the city called Sierre at first. It is around 15 minutes away from the capital of Canton Valais and around an hour far from Lausanne by train. If you are a traveller, so you could take a bus going up the mountain, but it takes a long time, as it will stop over and over and over. The time efficient yet sophisticated way is to take the funiculaire. What is funiculaire? Well, it is something likes a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other. People said that the funiculaire connecting Sierre and Crans Montana is the best and newest one in Switzerland (Maybe it's true, I have tried the one in Montreux and it's very scarious!) 

The ticket fare! In Switzerland, there's such thing named Demi-Tariff and After-7 Card. Demi tariff will give you a half fare of the public transportation ticket (bus, train, tram, funiculaire, even boat, i think?!) After 7 will give you a benefit of a free ticket (Yes, FREE!) only after 7pm though until the end of the day. If you consider yourself a traveler, I would truly recommend you to buy these cards. It is indeed pricy, but this card would valid for one year. For demi tariff, I think you should pay arond 165 CHF valid for one year and for both demi tariff and after 7, you would spend 100 CHF more (265 CHF). Well it worked very well for me as I travelled quite a lot. For example, to reach Geneva from Sierre, the ticket fare costs 25 CHF. If I don't have those cards, I will spend 50 CHF for roundtrips which is the same price ticket to get me to London by EasyJet.  From Sierre to Bluche, it costs 4,90 CHF one way (full price)

By the way, the view is stunning along the way up or down the funiculaire with all the vineyards, city and mountain view. You can see the video that I have uploaded below.

Well back to our business, Bluche! There is not much you will find here except some local houses, Edo-a famous Japanese restaurant, a nice and warm Swiss restaurant and inn called Petit Paradis, dormitory buildings, and our lovely school Les Roches! (but I heard the bank has been removed and there is a little shop right in front of the funi stop).  I think pictures will give you a greater idea how does Bluche look like!
 

That is my school and the playground covered with snow!

Pretty.... How I miss this place!

As it is mentioned above, there is a small restaurant and inn in Bluche, called Petit Paradis (Small Heaven). For me, this place has a very nice ambience and great food to offer. To be honest, I have been there for 2 -3 times only for special occasions like Valentine or birthday dinner. My favorite here is absolutely their cheese fondue, it's very Swiss and awesome, especially the interior of the restaurant is woody and the weather is chill- so you may imagine the feeling you'll have there! The owner is an old Swiss lady, I think. She looks scarious at the first time but she's actually quite warm.

That is the lady I was talking about!

Voila! and that's the Cheese Fondue! Bon Appetit..

Oh and for those who are wondering about my accommodation, voila - I will upload you the picture of my room there in Bluche. I stayed in the building, named St.Francois - just 2 minutes away from the school's main building. The building itself has a kitchen, laundry room, and a gym facility downstairs! My first roomate was from Thailand, Steve- he was a very cool and funny guy. 

Which one is ma bed?

When I was there around April which was during our midterm break, the weather went very crazy. The morning I woke up and walked out the building, the snow was madly high covering all the road. It was more than a meter high I believe! But the fun thing is always you know what to do with the snow! Snowman!!! Yeay.. I never thought that makin' a snowman would be difficult, but it was. You have to collect amount of snow, then roll it up and up like you're makin a pastry dough maybe. lol. Then it's heavy and cold at the same time but it is absolutely fun! I still remember the first day of my midterm break I spent with my precious friends there. Miss them so much. 

It was absolutely crazy with the weather but seeing the picture it looks pretty though

Our new friend, Mr. Snowy!

SmartTips: to avoid missing train, bus, or funiculaire - you can always check it online. Go online and access www.sbb.ch/en/home.html . You will receive all the information from the ticket fare, train number, the schedule, etc. Give it a try.. Another  interesting thing is when you go to the restaurant, instrad of ordering a mineral water (bottled one), I think it's more economical to ask for a tap water, since the water is free and in Switzerland,  the water is very drinkable (in most places)

Chapter 1: Jakarta - Abu Dhabi - Sierre (Switzerland)

Studying hotel management has brought me to a completely different world! I got a chance to meet many people, live in many different countries and cities, and also a great opportunity to travel around the world! So this is where the story begun...

I got myself enroll into Les Roches International School of Hotel Management, Bluche - Switzerland in January, 2008! At that time I was only 18 years old, very young and thin - I guess. I still remember that I had my flight on 12th January, leaving all my family and friends back there in Jakarta, I was feelin' excited for the first time though!

To reach Switzerland, I had to travel around 16-hour of flight excluding the transit period that I hate it now. At that time, I flew with Etihad Airlines, costs me quite pricey for one way (around US$800) and I transit myself in Abu Dhabi! The only thing I remembered was the airport was ridiculously small and had not many option for dining, however I was impressed but the uniqueness interior design of the transit hall. Oh, and it was really crowded of all passangers throughout countries, just name it! They were all there. :)

Tada! Myself and Valen at the Abu Dhabi Int'l Airport - UAE

Then after waited for quite some times at the airport, we flew again to Geneva, Switzerland! Finally we have arrived there around 7 in the morning. I still remember, my best friend Audrey, whose studied also in Switzerland, picked me up at the airport even though we just met for like half an hour because she needs to work at that time (also with Robby 'Monyet'). We took a train off Geneva heading to Sierre which took us around 2,5 hours to get there. The weather? Don't mention it, it was truly freezing. However, the view along our way there was stunning, with all the mountains, lakes, and all the Swiss people on the train, it really made my first spending morning there in Switzerland.

The view from the train took us to Sierre from Geneva - Lovely!

Arrived in Sierre, we took the school bus that brought us to the top of the mountain village, called with Bluche! It is indeed like a very tiny village up in the mountain which has very few of local population and mostly conquered by the Les Roches students itself, since the school has over than 600 students on campus at that time.

So that's the little village called Sierre (see the school is very small from this view)

Well, within my next post, probably I will share you my trips during my stay there in lovely Switzerland! I was thinking to start up with the place where I used to live, BLUCHE. So stay up folks.

Smart Tips:  when I transit myself last time in Abu Dhabi, the airport was pretty small and crowded, I found quite hard time to find somewhere to relax and eat a good food at least after a long-haul flight. Therefore, I would recommend the travelers to go to the transit hotel that is integrated with the transit terminal, just follow the sign board to the hotel and there is a restaurant of the hotel. They have a good food, nice ambience, and friendly waiter. Quite worth to spend a few dollars there for a couple hour of stretching out and filling our tummy up before catching up the next flight!