14th July

Switzerland is so beautiful but the crappy weather is spoiling everything. Again I got up and it was raining. I decided to brave the rain to see Lucerne city. Well I spent 10 francs on an umbrella and still got soaking wet , not to mention it’s so difficult to take pictures when you’re holding an umbrella and trying hard not to wet your camera at the same time.




Basically I did a big and I mean big city walk. I refuse to pay for transportation so I did everything by feet. Started of with the Chapel bridge, which is basically a 14th century wooden roofed bridge which is decorated with Swiss historical scenes. However it was burnt down later on and had to be reconstructed, although not all the painting were recovered. Further down from there was the Spreuebruke bridge which is also decorated with eerie scenes Totentanz (Dame of Death) paintings. I like the old town with it’s cobblestones pavements and nice paintings on the walls of the buildings. Eventually I reached the main city walls, climbing up to the top of the tower to get a better view. By now, the weather was beginning to clear and the sun was coming out again so that was good. I headed to see the famous Lion of Lucerne monument before heading back.



Now when I got back, I bumped into Mimi, remember my Korean roommate whom I met in Montreux? What a coincidence! Met her other 2 roommates and spent the evening with them. Later on the 4 of us and another Italian guy went for a walk and we got lost. Our short walk lasted for at least 2 hours I think but it was fun, despite the fact that it started raining again.

13th July

(12 pm)

It’s raining in Lucerne. This is not good.


(9 pm)



I said, hell with the rain I have to so something. So I went up Mt Titlis, which apparently is covered with snow all year through. It was freezing cold, it was so cloudy I couldn’t see the beautiful glaciers which is the main attraction there. On the bright side I sat on the world’s first rotating aerial cable car and I have not seen so much snow before. I made some snow balls and wanted to throw them at some people, but the only people up there were this elderly Chinese people on a tour. I don’t think they’ll be very happy with some random stranger throwing snowballs at them. Gosh in times like this I wished I was traveling with someone.

12th July

Bad bad weather. My plans for Jungfrau must be cancelled. Instead I slept in late, went to town to do some souvenir shopping, bought some groceries and just stayed in the hostel, reading and writing in my journal. I’m so disappointed but things like this cant be helped. Although I think the rest is good after 2 weeks of non stop travel.

Will leave for Lucerne tomorrow and am hoping the weather will be good, so at least I can go hiking up Mt Pilatus.

11th July

Interlaken



Interlaken is breathtaking. I walked out from the train station and the Swiss Alps were there to greet me, still covered in snow at the peak. I was so excited I couldn’t wait to go to the Jungfrau region, the highest peak in Europe. So I quickly rushed to get my stuff sorted but just then, the dark clouds came in and it started to pour. Well no point in going now so I decided to do some outdoor activity.

First choice, sky diving. Where other place better to do then overlooking the Swiss Alps right? But saw the price and said no way, maybe when I’m richer. The cheaper options were canyoning and white water rafting. Thought I can always do rafting in Malaysia so opted for canyoning. Mind you at that time I didn’t know what that was, the pictures looked good the video looked exciting and the receptionist highly recommended it. So in canyoning, you basically do bits of everything like abseiling down cliffs, sliding down natural slides (in the waterfalls) and jumping off rocks into the water. I met Brandon who was also from my hostel and was also traveling alone. That was good, because everyone else was in a big group so I had a buddy to help me along the way. The highlight of this adventure for me at least was jumping off a 20 feet high cliff into the waterfalls. I was so scared I tell you, I thought I would hit the rocks by the side. But I just stood at the edge and did something I shouldn’t have; I looked down. But I still jumped, more because I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of all those people…hahaha. After that, Brandon told me that he thought I wouldn’t jump because my face changed immediately when I looked down, but hey I still did it. After me was a Korean girl, and you know what she didn’t do it!! Anyway after I jumped in, the guide came straight towards me and asked me if I was alright, and I was like yeap. Apparently I landed so close to the rocks that everyone thought I hit against it. Can you imagine that? My biggest fear was hitting that rock and of all people, I was the only one that missed the rock by inches.


In the evening, I went to Schuh Chocolatier, it’a basically a chocolate heaven for chocoholics like myself. Basically it was a tour to show us how they make their chocolates and of course, we get to taste and sample the chocolates. How cool it that . There were all sorts on the table, dark, milk, white, truffles with raspberry filling, peanut butter filling caramelized almonds and all sorts and we got to eat to our hearts delight. I loved it. And then, the chef asked me if I would like to help him make some truffles. Can you imagine that, of all the 30 something people he asked me, ME to be his personal assistant. He probably could see the glint of excitement in my eyes when I was looking at all the chocolate display.

Anyway I hope the weather will be good tomorrow so I can go to the peak of the Jungfrau mountain and admire the beautiful view from up there.

10th July

Montreux


After a nice hearty breakfast, Mimi and I took a stroll by the lake to Chateau le Challion, an old fortress that was previously used as a prison. The view was spectacular, reminded me of one of those jigsaw puzzle I used to do as a kid. Mimi was so sweet, she accompanied me to train station, and even helped me with my baggage.

Bern

Bern is a UNESCO Heritage City, with the Aare river running through the city. As soon as a reached, I did sort of a city tour because I only had 1 day here. The river is freaking clean man, people actually jump into it from the bridge on hot summer days for a swim. Can you imagine that? People only jump into the Klang river to commit suicide!! Well I’m excited for Interlaken, heard so many good things hope I don’t get disappointed.

9th July

Montreux

Montreux is lovely lovely. Switzerland is just getting better and better. My hostel is just beside the lake overlooking the majestic mountains in the distance. Since it was the Montreux Jazz Festival, there was a carnival with loads of international food stalls (Thai, Indian, Vietnamese etc), games booth and stalls selling handicrafts, clothes and all kinds of funky stuff. There were locations by the lake where free jazz concerts were going on. Spent the whole afternoon at the carnival and jazz concerts with my Korean roommate, Mimi. Mimi is studying music and came all the way from Seoul just for this festival. The whole atmosphere of the carnival with the feet tapping jazz beat in the background was so awesome. Later that night, there were more rock concerts one from Holland (with a really cute keyboardist) and another one from France, and they sang in French. I was really amused with the crowd here, there were dancing up front during the concerts and seemed like they were having a blast.




Just an observation I have so far, Swiss people are really helpful and friendly. I have not gotten lost so far because random strangers would come up to me and offer help when they see me looking so clusless. Like in Montreux, when I got of the bus a lady walking pass asked me if I was looking fort the Youth Hostel and she even walked with me half way there. She also told me we can get free transportation