I just have to talk about Vals....
It was one of the best experience I had, ever!
This is a place I definitely want to take Balu to amidst all the other places I visited w/o him this October.
Picture this scene from your patio - morning mist clearing just enough to give a peek of the absolute GREEN mountains!


Well, things were not this simple...it so happened that my room mate Jenna,( I got along so well with her) and me decided to get up at about 7 ish to hit the "Therme"
http://www.therme-vals.ch/bad/index_en.html
we didnt have an alarm so we decided to rely on my instinct/built in alarm that had been working like...what do I say? CLOCK WORK!
So, the morning came and my alarm went off! I checked my watch and I saw 8:30! wow, so my alarm didnt go off right after all! anyway, I woke up Jenna and we were a little sad about the time as at 10:30, the therme opened to public and the ambience wasnt just the same!

It was only after long long soaks in the waters and then some more after that and then some more, did we realize that it was 8:30?? so what time did we get in? and what time did we get up? how we laughed after that, anyway we having had an advantage of an early start and extra time at the spa, felt so rejuvenated ( I finally know what it feels like)

The spa itself can bring you back to life; grey walls of stone, naturally varied temperatures of spring water; all the way from HOT to pretty HOT to WARM to COLD!
Personal favorite being the hot water which opened to nature, a large pool of hot water that had openings framing the mystical green mountains of Switzerland.
The skies, the air, the views almost everything about the place screamed of purity.
This pool was shallow enough for non-swimmers like me to wade in and rest my back on the walls and stare eternally at the beauty around.
Everybody in the Therme respected silence voluntarily, somehow as if noise would disrupt the beauty we were a part of. I now knew what "Tranquility" meant.

A hearty breakfast at the spa, then I set off on my own, I walked along the river, stopped so very often to sigh at whatever I saw.


I walked through the village, catching my breath now and then, reminding myself to write about everything I saw. The fact is no matter what I say, what adjectives I use, I just cant even get close to describe what I felt or what I saw.

I knew that Switzerland is beautiful, thanks to the umpteen Bollywood songs and movies showing it, but nothing, absolutely nothing can do justice to the beauty you can feel there. It hits you like a sledge hammer, makes you want to just keep going on. The beauty pulls the ground beneath your feet, and yes you do fall, fall into some abyss that is still breathtakingly beautiful.

I kind of feel like Ive eaten too many sweets after reading the above said...so now I stop and let the photographs do some talking, lest I make the whole experience overwhelming for everyone!

Break time!

Technically, this was my first semester as a full time student!
and boy, was I a full timer or what! the schedule I had was tight and the subjects in hand were phew, tiring...but worth every sweat and tear ( many of the latter)

I kept complaining to Balu how I wanted to quit, how I missed the Law & order marathons, the re-runs of all my favorite sitcoms I had watched a zillion times already! and the non-stop snacking at whatever I laid eyes on!
Well his reaction, as you can imagine was "whats wrong with her?"

But now, having done with them all, and when I get my marathons and reruns for as long as I want....all I can say is "I am loving it"
I love getting up as late as I want, eat anything for breakfast, for as long as I want, not having to cook lunch, eat leftovers ( Oh that's another long topic to discuss) junk, junk and more junk...and hot tea on a snowy afternoon with Parle-G. I hope I dont get used to this for long for my next semester starts in 2 weeks!