Cheese.. Chocolates .. Alpines

We arrived about 7pm local time and the briefing for our Switzerland Cosmos tour had already started. We introduced ourselves and the group was quite big. We had 8 Singaporeans including us 2. A Malaysian couple and some others are from America. 4 of the Singaporeans will be leaving halfway to join in the other tour. We had a group dinner at the hotel. There’s nothing much around the Hotel and it’s quite quiet. The room was big and clean.

We were up early next morning to start our adventure in Switzerland; we stopped in Appenzell to see the old town centre with its Town Hall. Then we traveled further east to the minute principality of Liechtenstein where it’s really a country on its own. You can even have a “stamp” on your passport for souvenir sake.










Later, we took a scenic drive through "Heidiland" to the Rhine Valley before starting the ascent of the mighty Julier Pass. It was snowing when we were there but we didn’t feel cold instead we felt comfortable. We stayed for the night in St. Moritz, the place is beautiful. It’s at the top of the mountain and we need to walk a long way down to the lake, beautiful and quiet lake.



We had dinner at one of the restaurant and guess what we had? White asparagus, yum yum. But that meal cost us quite a bit.

We began the next day with one of Europe's most spectacular train rides beginning in St. Moritz and it took us across the lofty Bernina Pass via the Swiss Poschiavo area to Tirano in the Italian Valtellina. Look at the Bernina Pass we went past, looks like a winter wonderland and the heavy snow.










And yes, we were back on Italy again. Interestingly that we were so near to Italy that the border is just a train away. After some time in Tirano, we rejoined our coach for the journey to the shores of Lake Lugano. Lake Lugano is very very nice, the lake is wonderfully quiet and the whole place just seemed so peaceful.

We started our next morning in the town of Lake Lugano which was small but you can find big labels there such as Louis Vuitton.

After that, we drove to a chocolate factory in nearby Caslano. When you are in Swiss, must definitely try swiss chocolate right? Afterwards we returned to Italy again to visit the luminous atmosphere of Lake Maggiore. Another beautiful lake again but this time is in Italy. Then we traveled back into Switzerland via the scenic Simplon Pass and spent the night in the village of Täsch. We had a room just overlooking the magnificent Matterhorn.










The next morning we started with an excursion by train to Zermatt, the famous resort beneath the Matterhorn. We ascended the gornegrat and there we had pictures taken with Tina, the St. Bernard. A very lazy dog but huge and cute. I built myself a snowman too.

In the afternoon, we motored through the vineyards and apricot groves of the lower Rhône Valley to Lake Geneva before arriving in Lausanne on its northern shore. The hotel in Lausanne was very nice. It’s a very expensive hotel and the rate was 450 swiss francs a night.






The next day we visited a local cheese factory in Gruyère, where we learned about the various types of cheese and of course we bought some cheese and cheese fondue as well. We visited the Gruyere castle and found out that the creator of Alien used to live there and there was an alien museum there as well.




Then on to Switzerland's beautiful capital, Berne, a charming town with arcaded shops, carved fountains, and towers. They said that it’s a sight when the clock striked every hour and we were sitting there waiting for something to happen and none. We found the Albert Einstein museum as well but we didn’t go in. We stopped by the Bear Pit and the poor bears were just inside walking around and letting tourists take photos.

Then we traveled by way of the shores of Lake Thun to Interlaken. We dropped off 4 of our members who will be joining another tour that had about 7 days in Interlaken. After that, we continued over Brünig Pass to Lake Lucerne.
The hotel in Lake Lucerne was situated in a small village and we walked to a great waterfall we past by while on the bus. The waterfall was magnificent. The air was fresh and it felt good to be staying in a swiss village. You can see goats grazing etc.


Lucerne - One of Switzerland's finest cities nestled amid its snow-capped Alps, surrounded by its lake, and embellished by the clear mountain waters of the River Reuss. We climbed the towers that used to guard intruders to the city, and believe me, it's tiring to climb up narrow stairways. You wondered how people managed to do it last time.

We took an excursion to the Stanserhorn and took their traditional swiss food for lunch which turned out to be cheese macaroni with potatoes. In the late afternoon we took an easy drive back to Zurich but stopping at the Lion Monument before returning back to Zurich.




We explored the Zurich city when we reached there and found some nice stuff on sale but the watches here are not much cheaper than back home.

We woke up the next morning and wanted to explore the city of Zurich and guessed what? It’s a public holiday - Labour day and not even the trains were working. So we walked all the way to the city centre. We walked around the place, nothing much in the city centre. Some of the shops were closed. Had cheese fondue,the liquor taste was so strong that I can’t really finish everything.

We walked towards the Lake and found that there were demonstrations going on, think it’s labour-related stuff. Riot police were there as well. We stopped at the lake and just sat around and enjoyed the breeze before taking the long walk back to the hotel. Last night of my whole honeymoon and everytime that happened, you feel so sad. Have to go back to reality again.

We were at the airport the next morning and the feeling was just so sad. Well, it was a good trip and we both really enjoyed it tremendously. So its goodbye Switzerland and Europe and Singapore here I come.