June 17, 2007
Back from my trip! ^^ Haha, overall, quite ok la, but then very disappointed in super travels (the travel agency that i joined for the tour) cos their service really sux and the tour guide is so not professional, even though he is a nice guy. He doesn't even know the national flower of switzerland, nor does he knows that the capital of Belgium is Antwerpen instead of Brussels, bleah! And for the airline, dunno why so many people think so highly of Emirates and say that it is on par with SQ. True, the plane and the amount of leg space is the same as SQ, but the service is quite under expectations. And the food not very nice =(
On a happy note, Switzerland really has beautiful landscapes. Although the air in New Zealand is fresher, Switzerland brings people much closer to the mountains, and always gives people the feeling of being surrounded by mountain ranges, unlike New Zealand where mountain ranges are further and on one side instead. Anyway, when we reached Zurich, we immediately crossed borders to go to the Black Forest in Germany. The cuckoo clocks there are really a lot and of all shapes and sizes, but the best thing was that i ate black forest cake at the Black Forest! =) Haha, it was really yummy, but didn't really like the taste of wine in it, and the apple strudel was even better. After that went off to the Rhine Falls, and it was really majestic, cos we were actually in close proximity with the waterfall. Actually, it wasn't really a waterfall, but a series of rapids, haha, and the velocity of the water is really fast and the force that it generates is quite scary.
After that stayed in Lucerne, but there isn't much stuff. Went to Engelberg the next day to go up to Mount Titlis. I'm going to learn German and emigrate to Engelberg next time and get a house halfway on the mountain! The place is really breathtaking, plus i can take cable car up to Trubsee or even Mount Titlis for leisure =P. Anyway, Mount Titlis was quite ok, mainly we are just going up the mountain top, but there is only ice instead of snow for me to play, so quite sad. Haha, but tried to climb up and slide down the snow, but kept getting stuck and had to always move my butt along. My dad tried to come to my rescue and in the end his leg got stuck in the ice and we had to dig the ice out to get his foot out. And i nearly got frostbite for my fingers, cos didn't wear gloves and the ice is so cold (like duh..) Was planning to go back into the building with my mum cos both of us needed to go toilet desperately, haha but suddenly we realised that it was snowing! So i pulled my mum out, and for the first time i experienced snowing ^^ Haha, sounds quite mountain tortoise, but nvm. Anyway, ate a snowflake cos the wind blew it into my mouth, but not that there is any taste..
Went to Interlaken, a nice small town surrounded by mountain ranges again. Haha, but i prefer Engelberg cos Interlaken seems very commercialised to suit tourism. Was planning to go to Jungfrau, which is known as 'Top of Europe', but in the end couldn't go cos not enough people, so ended up shopping in Interlaken instead. Saw this really nice pair of flip-flops, but my parents didn't allow me to buy cos it cost 20 euros =(. Went to this swiss restaurant that serves traditional swiss meals and the boss of the restaurant was really funny. Tried to blow a super big horn, those kind that are used on pastures, but in the end could only hear my breath, haha! But it really sounded like the french horn when the boss blowed it. Ate cheese fondue there too, and it was fabulous! The cheese is not our usual refined cheese, instead it is the natural cheese which has a bitter taste. Too bad the rest of my family didn't know how to enjoy it, so i was happily dipping most of the bread into the cheese =P
The macs in Bern (capital of Switzerland) is so much more high class than Singapore's. It was decorated a bit like a bar, with nice comfy chairs, and there was a circle of sofas in the middle. They even got PS2 and XBox in macs la! Geneva was quite boring, cos there was this local tour guide who was like explaining some reformation movement in swiss history and i can only remember the year 1536 and 1602, basically it is some conversion of the religion from catholic to protestant cos the catholic pope asked for too much money for the construction of some church. After that she just showed us the various UN buildings, which is like so unnecessary. Haha, but she provided enough entertainment for the whole bus with her domineering ways, and we were like thinking what kind of husband does she have.
Paris was really messy, all the small roads and continuous traffic jams, but the monuments were really exquisite, especially the Notre Dame cathedral and Arc de Triumph. The view from the top of Eiffel Tower was breathtaking too, with a 360 degrees view of the city of Paris. And there were lots of statues here and there. The Lourve Museum was the grandest of all the musuems in Paris, and the glass pyramid in front of it too. Haha, but i didn't go in cos it is not worth the 50 euros to go in to just see Mona Lisa and cannot take photographs too. Went to see the moulin rouge too, but then quite disappointing cos it didn't look like from the movie, just that still got that windmill la. Quite disappointed that i couldn't go the Versailles Palace or the Palais du Luxembourg, since they are out of the way. Anyway, saw a pair of slippers that i really liked! But dun have my size =( At least i bought some nice classical cds, haha, i think i got nearly the whole collection of debussy's piano works, except images ba. And quite sad that i couldn't find the pascal roge cd that i wanted. My family nearly wanted to go brussels in belgium to go and see the grand square and buy belgian chocolates during our free day in paris, but too bad not enough people wanted to go for that trip and it was too expensive to go on our own. But the best part of the trip to Paris is that the hotel that we checked in was kind of like a China hotel, so there was actually a mahjong set in the recreation room. So for the three nights that we stayed there, we played four rounds each night! =P
Nearly couldn't return to Singapore cos I only realised that the swiss customs didn't chop my passport when i was queuing up to enter the departure gates in Paris airport. Plus my dad kept adding oil and vinegar at the side, saying i in deep shit etc etc etc, and my mother was like kept telling me what to do when i go to the customs officer, like must stay calm and insist that i dunno that must chop etc. In the end, the customs officer just see my photograph and let me go through -_-". All the worrying for nothing..
Anyway, this trip wasn't that enjoyable cos of the numerous conflicts that our family had, esp between my mum and dad. Seems like they can just spark off a conflict easily and my brother and i will get headache again cos we are caught in the middle. In fact, sometimes i just think that they really lack propriety in public, and they may be unreasonable and never ever practise what they preach too. Sigh, whatever, i just learn that the best solution is just agree with whatever they say when they come to talk to me cos they will never admit that they are wrong, even when they are complaining that others always think that they are right and they themselves feel victimised.