Thursday, September 29, 2011

Land Trip - Europe (Day 39: Lucerne - Interlaken, Switzerland)



8 Sept 2011 (Day 39)

Lucerne
Woke up early to go to Mount Pilatus. It is a beautiful mountain near Lucerne and one of the must-go places here.

Took a cable car up the mountain and then I have to change to another cable car at about 3/4 of the journey. Then it became colder and colder and colder......and colder....
The cable car will bring you to a tourist viewing gallery. From there you can walk out and up to the peak of the mountain.
(Above the clouds in the cable car)
The moment I stepped out of the viewing gallery, I almost froze to death!! It was so cold and the wind wasn't helping. Suddenly, I realised that I was under-dressed. Way under-dressed. Super under-dressed.
(At the peak of Mount Pilatus. I'm cold, that's why.)
I have to force myself to walk to the peak, which is not very far from the gallery. Once there, I have to withstand the cold and the wind to take video and photos. It was crazily cold. I think my fingers went numb after a while. 

The peak of Mount Pilatus is 2,128 meters high. And I can tell you that this is one of the best experience in this whole trip!
(This is how I do video recording of myself. Hey, it's not easy ok!)
More pics!!!
(If you are wondering, Yes, that is my underwear! Ok, stop starring, will you?)
It shows that I've been losing weight after traveling for 39 days! Even my pants couldn't hold up!
(I'm on top of the world, baby!!!) 
 
What else can I say?
Just so you know, I was still in the process of freezing. I had to smile as if it was normal. The temperature was hovering at about 5 degrees Celsius. And I was only wearing 2 thin layers!

Just before I turned into ice, I went back into the gallery to defrost myself. Then I took the world's steepest Cogwheel Railway down to Alpnachstad.
From there, I took a train back to Lucerne. 

Went to The Lion Monument. I was amazed at how the dying lion was carved from the rock of the cliff! 
(The Lion Monument)
A lot people call The Lion Monument as the The Dying Lion. But the actual name is "The Lion Monument" and not "The Dying Lion". Even though the The Lion Monument shows a dying lion. Get it?

Anyway, the monument commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution. It is really intricate and I can appreciate the details of the carving. Perfectly done.
After that, I went to buy a Swiss Army Knife and had my name engraved on it! (After all, I'm in Switzerland!) Got some Swiss Chocolate from the flagship store of Bucherer (the place where they sell luxury watches like Rolex). Don't ask me why they sell Chocolate in that super high class place. The chocolate was cheap. And very good too! They say that when you are in Switzerland, you don't really have to go to those specialty shop to buy Chocolate. You can just go to the supermarket and randomly buy a bar of Chocolate and it will taste good!

I went back to the hostel, got my bags, and off I went to the train station. Next stop: Interlaken, Switzerland.

Interlaken
Reached Interlaken in the evening after a short train ride. Interlaken is a small city between 2 Alpine lakes.

I heard many good things about the cheese fondue in Switzerland and I've yet to try it. So I went to this seemingly popular restaurant in the city center to try. And I regretted trying there. 

First, the service was lousy. Real lousy. Second, the wait was very long. Real long. I waited for 20mins to have my order taken and then waited for another 20mins to for my food to arrive. Maybe it was even longer. Third, the quality of the food (Cheese fondue) was bad. Real bad. I was disappointed. Forth, the price was expensive. Real expensive. That is not the place to try Cheese fondue. Please DO NOT go to Des Alps Restaurant if you are ever in Interlaken. Totally spoiled my impression of Cheese Fondue in Switzerland. Not worth my time and money at all. Lesson learnt. 

Went to shop around for Swiss Watches (I'm in Switzerland, remember?) and went back to sleep.

After going up to the peak of Mount Pilatus, MY LIFE WAS NEVER, EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.........................EEEE............EEVER, THE SAME, AGAIN!!!

No comments: