Zürich
20th June 2007
rushed the powerpoint presentation for my group. didn't know what i was doing was right or not. but just did it. was super tired. look at my face. hah. but anyways, i'm am going to switzerland! yay! i took the early bus and reached the station super early. checked out the train and realised that it's a super clean and cheery train. whoa~ so different from the freaking italian trains. the partitions were actually clear glass and inside there was usage of yellow. the whole space looked brighter and more spacious. i think that made travelling in it much more enjoyable. good.
sixiu and cindy joined me shortly after. it's been a while since i last saw cindy in venice (ha. i haven't blogged about venice and rome. soon soon... :P )
as the train proceeded to switzerland, it was very interesting to see that the train stations also start to get cleaner and cleaner. LOL. zurich has been voted the city with the highest standard of living. i guess that really true. at the train station, there is this enclosed shelter which i thought was very thoughtful of the swiss! when waiting for the train, the people can stay inside and be away from the wind or cold.
the scenery in switzerland is superb and breathtaking. like a miracle. how can there be sth so beautiful on earth? is this earth? the towns are so peaceful. the mountains are so amazing. from the train, the towns look like the toy sets children play.
reached zurich after approximately 4hours ride from Milano Centrale.
at the big square inside the train station, there was a market.
wah. this is zurich. everything is so well maintained and orderly. the streets are clean and the people are friendly. on top of that, they speak english. cindy was saying we need not be afraid we'll be robbed cuz the people are richer than us. haha.
the zurich zurich town itself is next to the narrower part of the lake. the lake is actually very clean and clear. there are many swans and ducks in the lake. some people soaking their legs in the water. the whole pace of the town is slow. there is nothing to be worried about it seems.
sixiu told me that in zurich you can go for a bicycle tour. rent a bike to get around the town. so there was quite a number of cyclist i noticed. oh and on top of that, i also noticed that the pigeons in zurich are much thinner! remember the fat italian pigeons? the swiss ones look malnutrition in comparison. haha.
we were early for hostel check-in. after we were done, we went for a walk around the town. went to the Kunsthaus Zurich museum which is one of the largest collections in Classic Modern Art in the world (Munch, Picasso, Braque, Giacometti, etc.)
sixiu was telling us how great monet's paintings are. from up close, you only see swirls of colours. but from far, you realise that the swirls make so much sense. and the painting are so huge.
we went to the older town district where the expensive boutiques are. the street ended at the train station where we bought a day pass for 23 (!!) francs. freaking expensive. on our way, we noticed sth funny. in front of the restaurants, the people sit facing the streets instead of each other. so there was this two restaurants at the side of a centre main road. and the scene looked like there was two gangs. very comical!
after we got our day pass for the next day, we had a macs dinner and went back to the hotel for a short break. we came out again to see the town. we walked down the narrow alley to the main road and heard a band playing. it's something i like in europe. super nice when it's peaceful and there is some music. i think the band we saw was a military band or sth...
we loitered at the bridge where the band was playing for a while. then we took a walk to one of the parks in the town which opened out to the wider part of the lake. on our way, there was this woman standing at the very top window of this fairytale like castlehouse. wah. i was so captivated. like fairy tale princess leh. she must be damn rich. then, we passed by an outdoor dining place. it reminded me very much of bugis hawker centre.
finally we reached the park. there, we saw a lot of swans and ducks again! it was nice to see the sun setting and people canoeing/rowing boats. we chat in front of the nice view. happy and relaxed. weather in switzerland is really unpredictable. one moment it's bright and scorching, the next moment it threatens to rain. and yah, it did start to drizzle. so we all went back. it was late anyway. our pace back was fairly quick.
21st June 2007
this is the day we go to Rhine/Rhein Falls and Rose city - Rapperswil! Rhine falls is the largest (not necessarily tallest or steepest) waterfall in Europe. so we're excited. we have to take a train from zurich to winterthur then transfer to another train towards Schaffhausen. we were already on our way when activity in the town hasn't started. at the station, they have many shops underground just like citylink. (i just keep seeing bits of singapore in zurich.) the clocks in the stations are cute. they have this red second hand with a big circle at the tip. come to think of it, i've never seen train station clocks with second hands(or have i?)! does that show that when it come to clocks, they're the experts? hahaha..
the three of us were in the train busy taking photos cuz it so clean! wah lau. the freaking italiani treni. tsk tsk. the woman beside us laughed at us. we looked like we've never seen a train.
on our way. there were ominous dark clouds plus factory chimney emitting black smoke. scary. then it poured. but nonetheless, we still get to see good view. there was even a sunflower field!! super happy even though the flowers were facing the wrong side. ha. cows in switzerland must be in abundance and everywhere. but i like. moo moo. the train stations on the way were small and in the end, we missed our stop without knowing it was a stop. haha. overshot but it's good cuz cindy and i could get a chocolate drink for ourselves :)
got back to the station and climbed our way to the medival castle. at the back of the castle, there was a souvenir shop and that's where the entrance of the rhine falls is if you want to get a good view. entrance fee is cheap. just 1 swiss franc.
the waterfall was great and the journey down was so well designed. we started from the top overview of the waterfall where we could see where it was coming and where it was going. already, we could hear the loud gushing of the water. then we proceed down and went through some caves and steps and got closer and closer to the water. at one point in time, we were just right in front of it. the water was splashing over us and i really felt the power and impact of the waterfall. the water was so loud that we were raising our voices. my camera was getting wet together with my clothes. there was pearls of water on our hairs (head and hand) when we finally finished with phototaking!
i bought a cute littel cuckoo clock at the souvenir shop there :)
the weather turned good again. (see? weird weather) the field are ssssuper pretty! wah. i really don't know how to describe. these are the times i am irritated that my english sucks. our train went back to winterthur before we got onto another train to rapperswil. more good scenary :) and we reached.
spotted the first 2 roses in rose city at its medival castle.
we went up the hill and we could see from there the zurich lake and the longest wooden bridge in switzerland. in switzerland, you can see far and wide. there is space and depth in the scenary. there i also saw deers! they live in the small wooden house down the slope. i was so excited. first time, real and in a park.
as we descend, we went to the rose garden in rose city. the colour of the roses were so saturated. they are ravishing.
by the lake, a group of people were feeing the swans and ducks. we joined them. ah. there was this swan who was so aggressive it attack any duck that came nearby. it wanted all the food to itself. damn fierce. then as we threw bread into the lake, it came over to get all the ducks away from its sygnet. the sygnets were very greedy too. they swarm towards the bread and they stuck their heads out and tumbled over the large stones.
took a boat ride back to zurich town. it was included in our day pass. it was cold and the second class seats were outside. we decided to get something to drink so that we could stay in the cafe. i drank the coffee and i thought " har. this is capuccino meh?" so not the same as italiano capuccino. slow 2 hours ride. haha. when we went outside the wind was so strong that our hairs were parallel to the ground!
back at the town, we took a stroll along the shopping district again. saw the swiss national bank on our way. there seems to be an event. i thought about how movies always mention swiss bank. switzerland must be very wealthy. we bought something from a toy store then we went to eat at the restaurants. wanted to try their swiss cheese fondue. we also tried some assorted meat and escagot! escargot was really nice! i like the texture and the sauce. cheese fondue took some time for me to adjust too. it was a little strong but i soon like it. photos are still with cindy and sixiu.
after dinner, we went for a romantic walk in the park. we sat by the lake and ate apples :) a group of youngster came by and teased us by looking as if they wanted to take our bags. but they were just joking and walked away fast. it reminded us to be more careful. the sunset was purple and magenta. beautiful. because yian didn't go, i helped her do her characteristic jump. haha. not bad right?
it turned dark and we decided to find the pub where dadaism started. it was supposed to be near our hotel. it was exciting for me to walk through dark alleys. some of these places are cool. i feel transported back in time and maybe there was a secret discussion going on through the windows where the orange candescent light penetrated. we walked to the street mention on the tourist map but couldn't find a pub. walked around and around. aiyoh. ended up back at our hotel when we went through this narrow alley. i decided since we're back, just ask the counter guy. it turned out that the pub was really just like 100m/2 shops away from our hotel! it looks new to me...
22th June 2007
the next morning before we left for lucern, we went up the Grossmünster Church. so privelleged. we were the first that morning.
outside the church, there was a group of children with function reflector vests. the two women looked like they're in trouble as the children were all over the place doing funny stunts.
we went over to Fraumünster Church to take pictures of the famous marc chagall stainglass. when we were there, it started to rain. we stayed in and suddenly some guy from the church started singing in the middle aisle. his voice was beautiful and the acoustic of the church was excellent. his voice just echoed and resonated. it was very melodious.
we couldn't afford to wait for the rain to stop, so we dashed across the bridge back to the hotel. dropped by teddy's souvenir stall (swiss souvenir stall) to see if we could get something but no. and yeah. to luzern!
