okie..i am back in school since last night..'n i'll be going to italy tmr morning..will only be back nxt sun morning..hmm..has been out travelling since last sun..now i am gonna roughly blog about what i do 'n where i go for the whole last week..well, actually i am quite proud that we have completed the trip for last week..cos jia ning 'n me..two of us plan for the trip by ourselves, book the hotel 'n rely on a guide book to tour around the city..we are just like backpackers..it's quite satisfying, looking at the map , searching 'n found the place in the end..haha..anyway, the weather is very very cold..I've worn a lot of clothes but still very cold sia..yeah..the temperature is around -3 to 0 degree celcius..

Sunday, 17th December 2006

Went to Zurich Airport to send shu hua off..cos she goes back to taiwan for the whole x'mas break..after that, started our travelling plan..only jia ning 'n me travelling ard swiss..first of all, we went to look for the hotel that we have booked previous night..we first thought that the hotel was near the train station, but who knows that it isn't the case..haha..so two of us, looking at the map, walking 'n walking..trying to find where our hotel is..luckily halfway through, there is this nice couple who offer us help 'n show us the way..so we walked 'n walked ..walked for quite sometime before we decided to have our lunch first..the owner of the restaurant was quite nice, too..he is a cambodian chinese..yeah..so we bought lunch from him 'n he gave us a pot of chinese tea for free..after that, we continued walking 'n finally..after walking abt dunno how long, haha..we found our hotel..checked in, rest for a while 'n then set off for city tour..

the so-called city tour is actually a walking tour that we followed according our switzerland guide book..well, the guide book is so relevant for us for the whole last week..yeah..we took a lot of pictures..the churches 'n etc..took the night view as well..'n when it's time for dinner, we tried to look for a place to eat..'n we realised that it's so hard to find one..we searched for very long 'n finally decide to eat in a swiss restaurant..yeah..i think that's all for the first night..

Monday, 18 December 2006

We woke up 'n have breakfast in the hotel..'n set off again..we went to the largest departmental store in swiss, jelmoli..yeah..it is really supposed to be the largest departmental store in swiss but i think it's juz like takashimaya..lol...but true lar..it's hard to find such a big departmental store here..anyway..i've bought a bracelet 'n a necklace..as for lunch, we walked for quite a long time, searching for place to eat lunch..but i dunno why but it's really hard to find one..in the end, we found an italian restaurant 'n had our lunch there..yeah..after that, since we still have time, we decided to go to a small town nearby, rapperswil, 'city of rose' ...hmm..it's really a small town 'n we can hardly see anybody there..lol..but the scenery is nice..took lots of picture, too..'n we settled dinner at Mc'D ..cos again..hard to find place to eat..really..that's why at the end of the whole trip, I think that Mc'D is so customer friendly..cos we can find it anywhere..even in the smallest town we've been to..

When we came back to Zurich, cos the night was still early, so we wanna go to the casino..so we went..but it turned out that the casino is so old..not like the one written in the brochure..so we wondered why..we went back to the train station 'n asked around..but the people there all say that that is the casino..in the end we realised that the nice casino in the brochure is nt in Zurich but in other city..lol..

Tuesday, 19 December 2006

Woke up early in the morning, ate breakfast 'n checked out from the hotel...we've planned to go to Europe largest waterfall, Rhinefall...we took train to the town near there, Schaffhausen..'n went to a short city tour..didn't cover all..cos we plan to cover the rest after we came back from the waterfall..yeah..so we took bus 'n then walked to the waterfall..i was so excited when i first saw the waterfall..really very nice..took lots of pics again..yeah..'n then we went back to Schaffhausen..had our lunch at a small chinese restaurant there..

After lunch, we went to the Stein Am Rhein..the guide book described it as a place like the one in the story written by Christian Hans Andersen..it's a place like a fairytale..hmm..the place is nice..the building is very nice..painted one..like a story..maybe will post some pics here..yeah..'n then tour around the place..'n the place is nt very big also lar actually..so we managed to finish looking at everything in 2-3 hours? I can't really remember exactly..then we went back to Schaffhausen..walked 'n walked according to the guide..'n finished everything in no time..'n then went to eat dinner..went to a restaurant..had quite a gd dinner..'n went back..

at night, we took train to Lucerne, 'n then check into our hotel..yeah..i've chosen the hotel that is near to the train station so it's very convenient..that's the end of our tuesday..

Wednesday, 20 December 2006

We went to the famous Transport Museum ..spend almost the whole day there..cos it's quite big 'n there are a lot of things to see..yeah..it's actually a museum featuring the means of transport like cars, trains, planes, ships 'n etc..from the old till the recent one...'n there are some things that we can played, too..especially the plane simulator..haha..where we get to control the 'plane' by ourselves..we controlled it until it turned 360 degree sia..'n the funny thing is that there is a camera in it..'n we didn't know abt it until we came out from the simulator..the camera will link to the tv outside the simulator..that means ppl outside can see the expressions of the ppl inside the simulator..very clearly..omg..haha..dunno how i look like sia..i was sceaming ' n laughing at the same time inside lor..

For dinner, we went to a korean restaurant..we saw the ad in the brochure..'n went to look for it..the food quite nice sia..yeah..another nice dinner..

At night, 2 of us went to the casino..yeah..when we step in, the guard keep looking at us..especially jia ning..cos she looks really young..lol..then he spoke to us..he told us that we need to have our passport 'n we had to be 18 years old 'n above..then we said yes we know..then they said that coat is not allowed..we had to put our coat at a place where the people will help us keep 'n we had to pay 2 francs for that..what is this sia..lol..make money lor..okie..'n we had to pay 10 francs for the entrance fee..although we will be given either chips or cashcard which worth 5 francs..we get to choose which one we want..

hmm..now we think that the casino in Montreux is much better..much more grand 'n bigger...yeah..cos casino in Montreux is quite famous..

so we played inside..the machine version of American Roulette..we only have 5 francs given in the cashcard as our capital..well, we dun want to add more money or what..cos that's our limit..we only bet small..anyway, actually i can win 5 francs one..but i keep playing until all the original value inside the card is lost..lol..so it's okie lor..juz ltreat it like paying 5 francs for playing arcade game..

Thursday, 21 December 2006

Cos we wanna try the boat ride, so in the morning we went to buy the tix at the tourist office..'n take the boat..it lasted for 1 hour ..quite nice..after that, we went to tour ard the city..yeah..our guide book 'n brochures gotten from the tourist office come into a gd use..took pics again..ate budget lunch in the train station..'n continue our city tour..at night, went to the what they say largest shopping mall..lol..yeah..in swiss, it is really the largest one i've ever seen..but in asia..i think that size is normal..

at night, we went to look for the seafood restaurant that had its ads in the tourist brochures..they said that is provide the best seafood in town..it has won many awards before..so we went to try lor..not bad lar..a little bit ex..but i think it's worth it..cos the food really nice..i love seafood..yummy..haha..

after that, we went back to our hotel, rest a while 'n then walked to casino again..this time round our luck nt very gd lar..cos i juz sat in front of the machine for like 10 minutes 'n i lost the 5 francs inside the card liao..lol..so we stayed in the casino..looked at others playing at the table..

Friday, 22 December 2006

This day, we basically spend the whole day taking train..lol..yeah..in the morning, woke up early, check out of the hotel, 'n took train to Interlaken..'n from there we took train back to Montreux..but we didn't took the normal train..We took the Golden Pass Panoramic Train, whereby the train will take the track that can see lots of panorama..'n the windows are bigger, too..even the top of the train, near the ceiling there..is also transparant..so that we can have a nice view ...yeah..after we reached Montreux, we put our luggage in the locker at the train station..'n took train to Geneva..cos I need to take my Schengen Visa..the visa for European country..it is out..after we took it, we had our lunch in Burger King..'n then..took train back to Montreux..

actually we are not supposed to go back to school..cos we didn't pay for the accomodation during the x'mas break..I only paid for the last week of holiday..so we came into the school secretly..jia ning's roommate..also my classmate, jemma..she paid for the accomodation for the whole x'mas break..so she has the key to the room..so we stayed inside the room for these 2 days lor..'n this night was so funny sia..cos jemma is not in the room at night..till quite late..so me 'n jia ning have to pretend that no one is in the room..cos heard from jemma that the duty manager will check the room every night..yeah..so we dun want to get caught mah..everytime we heard some noise from outside, we straight away hide in the toilet..yeah..their toilet is very big...we dun even dare to on the light sia..yeah..damn funny lar last night..stayed in the dark..for dunno how many hours...lol.

Saturday, 23 December 2006

That is today..we spend the whole day preparing for our italy trip..from buying the train tix..booking the hotels..'n packing..we will be going to Milan, Venice, Florence 'n Rome..actually I am a little bit worried..cos we are not familiar with Italy..'n Italy is quite dangerous..not safe at all..lots of pickpockets, ....juz pray hard that everything will goes smoothly..