How long has it been already? Actually, I returned yesterday, but did not have the mood to blog. So, here comes the post 24 hours late. Although I don't know where I should start with, or how the thing should go, or when the post will end. But let's be random.

And anyway, blog quiz (stolen from sherry) at the end of the post, so you may skip the (probably) long chunk of words and go on right to the quiz!

So, two countries I visited actually, but if counting a country that I went for just less than one day, it'd be three. Switzerland, France, Germany.

On the flight from Singapore to Switzerland, realised 12 hours was hard to pass. Although on the plane you could do lots of stuff - watch movies, listen to songs, play games - all on one computer screen controlled by you on the controller. Other than that...sleep, eat, sleep and eat. And then you realised you've arrived (at long last!).

Starting from Switzerland, visited a few cantons (or states). Firstly, arrived there at the Zurich airport. Had not much an impression of Zurich, because we just stayed there a night (we arrived in the night) and leaved the next morning. Firstly, Zurich airport (and many other airports) are never as good as Singapore's. Looks very empty. And a very long wait there before the bus arrives, so we headed over to McDonalds! Menu is very different from Singapore's, so is the price (much higher). So left the airport when the bus arrived, and headed over to the hotel called Movenpick, and stayed there a night. Scenery's nice. Breakfast's a typical bread, butter, ham, cheese, juice, milk menu (and this goes on for all of the other breakfasts, so when I say 'breakfast' you'd know what to expect).

The second day a short trip to Germany for just a day, crossing Switzerland-Germany borders through the Black Forest, although it doesn't look black to me. And, really Switzerland's scenery is super nice. Great scenery everywhere. And in Germany we went to a place selling cuckoo clocks? And see how cuckoo clocks are made, and I can't remember the process! But anyways, my mum bought a cuckoo clock which is currently hanging in her room right now! And then *I think* we went for lunch, Chinese food! And walked around shops and such, and got back to the bus. Crossed back to Switzerland, and went to the Rhine Falls, which again, real great scenery (like always in Switzerland)! Not used to weather yet, and the temperature is super low. Your whole face gets numb!

Next morning to Lucerne, seen the Lion Monument, which apparently is created to commemorate something about the Swiss warriors in the French Revolution? Was nice too. The whole monument looked very real, very large, and it must have taken much effort to create a monument with such intricate designs. And go on to the Chapel Bridge, was not the original as it has been destroyed by a fire years ago. And actually, in Switzerland, there is a watch shop called 'Bucherer', which apparently you could get free spoons! So, guess what, every state which we went to, we had spoons to collect. To Interlaken we moved, and it was great scenery too!

Haha, can't remember much about that place, but basically, it was surrounded totally by mountains. Went up to the top of Europe, Jungfrau. Icy cool up there, freezing. Imagine the snow pelting on your face. Very little oxygen on top, it takes hours to go up, and hours to go down.

In Montreux and saw the, I think, Chillion Castle. In Vevey, saw the Charlie Chaplin statue, and also Freddie Mercury, who is famous because he was the alleged first one to contract AIDS!? Oh, yeah, went to Zermatt too and there were no cars there, because it was inaccessible by vehicles. So the air's fresh. And it was located near Mt Matterhorn! So, again, nice scenery. Hah, and my mum bought a watch there!

Moving on to Geneva, we were with a tour guide that brought us pass many historic monuments of which I have all forgotten, climbed up stares, saw the flags, etc. And moved up to a church. Real nice church. It was large, it was empty with the exception of us, it really felt...indescribable. And then we were supposed to enter the UN quarters there, but we couldn't.

6 hours of ride to Paris, and Paris was nice. Passed the Eiffel Tower, and passed by the Arc de Triomphe. And passed by Ritz Hotel, which according to the tour guide, was "3000€ a day without breakfast". Then we cruised down the River Seine and saw many of the monuments we caught on the bus ride. It was cold on the boat, trust me, you can't feel yourself. Went Lafayatte for shopping (imagine the number of bags!) for hours.

Next day was free for us, no bus, and we were on our own. Firstly, took a bus from the hotel to a train station, and took the train to the Eiffel Tower, climbed up, was snowing on top! Went down, super cold. Took a train to Champ Elysees, to shop, again. Then managed to take a train back to the bus-stop and took the last bus back to the hotel.

And then it was the plane back, and I found out a lot on the plane. You take longer to travel from the West to the East because there are East winds that are slowing the plane down. Thus 12 hours from Singapore eastward, and 10 hours from Paris westward. Fast journey, and a quick breath of Singapore air!

And now that I'm done with speaking of all the attractions. Let me talk about some more general things about the countries.

Firstly, Switzerland. Switzerland has about the greatest scenery on Earth. Especially Interlaken, who is completely in all directions surrounded by mountains. Also, it's hard to communicate with the Swiss, considering that most of the population speaks Swiss-German. But Swiss are real friendly and helpful people!

Secondly, Paris. Paris doesn't have great scenery, but it's beautiful, architecturally speaking. I think, by law Paris' buildings are not to exceed 9 levels, well, with the exception of certain structures. Thus, you can always see the Paris skyline, and the sun when around can always be seen in Paris, for the buildings are not tall. Paris have friendly people too. You ask for directions, they'll give directions, and most of them are willing to lead you to your destination!

So, Europe is a great country, with friendly people, actually!

And that's about it, I don't have pictures with me yet, and I will be lazy to upload them for awhile. And I definitely won't put the pictures on my blog. I don't know, maybe create a new facebook? Cos my old facebook has been dead for quite a long while.

And on to a quiz!

THE RULES
1. do not repeat your answers
2. for 1 to 5, fill them in with names of friends (or enemies, if you prefer)
3. 6 and 7 should be colours
4. 8 is an adjective, 9 is a place, 10 is the name of a song
5. 11 is the name of an artiste, 12 is a TV channel, 13 is an animal
6. ENJOY and spread the joy! :)

1- Cassandra
2- Justin
3- Willianto
4- Sherry
5- Kailin
6- Black
7- Brown
8- Insane
9- Mars
10- Patkoeknal
11- Rihanna
12- Channel 8
13- Polar Bear


1- who is 1 to you? [Cassandra]
Friend, Cohort-mate.

2- how would 2 respond to a 7 13? [Justin, Brown Polar Bear]
"AHHH." (and brown polar bears!?!) Maybe he'd slap himself, wake up, and realise it's all a bad dream.

3- are 3 and 5 compatible? [Willianto, Kailin]
Maybe n0t. But, who knows!

4- what is something 1 would do to 4? [Cassandra, Sherry]
"Hello..." And the conversation continues, in secret...

5- is 5 a stalker? [Kailin]
Possibly not.

6- what significance does 6 hold in your life? [Black]
Black...I don't know? It signifies that I might sometimes be colour blind!?

7- what would you do if your skin turned 7 one day? [Brown]
Oh, there's nothing wrong with that.

8- which of the listed people [1-5] would you describe with 8? [Insane]
Everyone! I believe everyone in this world is insane, in a way.

9- who [1-5] are you most likely to go to 9 with? [Mars]
Mars? Who wants to come with me to Mars!

10- how does 10 describe you? [Patkoeknal]
(Have been listening to this song for the hours.) Erm, Patkoeknal Pa-ta-son (shawn)!?

11- who [1-5] would be most likely to hate 11? [Rihanna]
Erm, not sure.

12- how does 12 describe 2? [Channel 8, Justin]
He watches Channel 8...?

13- how alike are 13 and 3? [Polar Bear(s), Willianto]
Hmm, earth life-form?

Haha, quiz done! Off for now!

Shawn