Monday,Jan 10 2005, 11:02:42 AMoh i just felt i had to correct myself about...

oh i just felt i had to correct myself about lucerne. its not little at all, really. quite a pretty town in fact! there's this lake (or river?) running through it and it was actually like a moat to fence in the old town. but of course lucern hsa now expanded so the lake's now in the middle. there's a main road/bridge gg thru it so u can see both sides. sweet! and at night, all the buildings are illuminated and they're so pretty! flickering, shimmering, glittering yellow and white luminescence.  hee! and in the morning, if the sky's clear enough, u can just see the mountains and they seem soo near. sigh. jealous. to have these right at your doorstep. its literally kai1 men2 jian4 shan1, ya know? though nuthin like what it means...it doesn't mean anything here anyway. ahahha...oh yeah and i'd better add that the town has successfully maintained the old buildings and those streets, but they're occupied by modern business and all...really rather nice, the whole effect, walking down the streets and admiring both the architecture and the stuff on display. its like that thru msot of europe, actually. yep!

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Monday,Jan 10 2005, 10:53:14 AMthe township of lucerne! quite a small town,

the township of lucerne!  quite a small town, though decidedly much bigger than titisee.

famous for? the chapel bridge (with murals painted on it) across a teeny tiny lake built in the, get this, 14th century!  like whoaa...and its still standing? doesn't the wood get rotten? oh but this is sacrilege. only the two ends are the real stuff...cos some stupid drunken male burnt the bridge in the last decade or so for a lark. . what the friggin' hell, i ask you! its things like this that raise my blood pressure and my feminist sentiments. pooh. flog that man! he deserves it.   (eh u guys hafta understand i'm mad at him only k..and i know it won't do much help but i don't care. honestly! such a fine specimen of historical architecture and its gone. just. like. that. eurgghooff. )

the lion monument was built by the swiss govt to commerate the swiss guards who died protecting the french king during the french revolution. they're akin to the spore gurkha guards, if u want a comparison. fiercely loyal and unwavering in their dedication. fight to the death. i admire that, really i do. like they don't even belong to the country! these swiss guards are like the best in the whole blardy world, they protect the pope yeah. the vatican city has been employin them for centuries since they stood by the then-pope when there was an uprising and all the other contingent of guards ran away. i should reiterate: i admire them. its tough to find this kind of attitude anywhere nowadays, be it in beliefs, committments and whatnot.

its really beautiful, the lion monument. just like any other piece of sculpture. u look and u wonder: how on earth do the sculptors do it? they're faced with a bare face of rock and they chisel away until it gives shape to this absolutely brilliant work. this particular sculptor was a reaaally good one. if u can see the pic, take a look at the lion's mane...every single curl and ringlet is magnificently wrought out, no? but what makes me, uhm, "feel", is the expression on the dying lion's mien. and the put-away swiss shield in favour of the french one? yeah...u actually feel, if u get me.

abit of trivia for the interested: the sculptor never got paid for his labours. so to criticise the pig-headed government, guess what he did? take a look at the outline of the monument...the "cave" the lion's lying in? its in the shape of a hog. the pointed little bit at the top left corner's the hog's ear, and then it goes down to a sharply pointed nose...i'm like darn! there's another piece of good work ruined...it so totally undermines the whole seriousness of the statement, don't u think? blardy swiss govt.

on a sidenote: there was this little nativity scene on the left of the monument all carved out of wood. a little pretty thing. and on the right? two little sheds housing a big goat/sheep, her two offspring and an ass. ahaha. u could call the latter animal a donkey, but ass just sounds so much more ehm, intriguing.  but oh the babies were sooo cute!!! with little jingly-jangly bells on 'em. and they were rather affectionate too!  sigh. babies. all babies. enough!

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Monday,Jan 10 2005, 09:05:55 AMswitzerland! first canton: zurich! first...

switzerland! first canton: zurich! first destination: the rhinefalls, the largest waterfall in western europe!

actually, as i've said in my photos, its really quite tiny. consists mostly of a lake, and the fall is just a small fall, both hoizontally and vertically. (though more of the latter) oh wel. the place was nice and misty and rather cold yeah. and this man from my tour went around in only a sweater pushed up to his elbows. i quote: "its all in the mind". a nicely demented one, i might add.

and those bricks buildings and churches right on the cliff overlooking the rhinefalls? pretty old i think. but isn't it kinda dangerous? like on a dark, black night  (heh, this was the closest to black i could get lah) and not to mention the possibility of drunkeness.... nice spot for suicide too, duncha think? dying beautifully by launching yourself into the largest falls this side of europe. heh. (que image of near-final scene in crouching tiger, hidden dragon)

well, my itinery says after the rhinefalls "enjoy the scenic views of mountains and serene countryside on the way to the picturesque township of lucerne." hmm...i can't quite remember actually. heh i know i know...u must be thinkin "what a waste!"  (isn't this smiley so much more feminine than ? lol...) but really...i spent so long in switz i couldn't really differentiate the landscapes. and if it was truly beautiful and breath-taking i'd have remembered it (like the panoramic train ride on golden pass, but more of that later). so there.

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Sunday,Jan 9 2005, 11:48:00 AMguten tag! niet! herr! frankfurt! munich...

guten tag! niet! herr! frankfurt! munich mannequins!  lol...that's about all i know of germany, really..sad, innit? really should have picked up a few german phrases from jean b4 gg off, but o well..i survived!

u know, when most pple mention travelling in europe, germany doesn't immediately come to mind? its usually places like france, italy and switz. methinks germany is there, but nobody really pays much attention to it. and its claim to fame? hitler and wwII, which i'm definitely not qualified to talk about. well, i didn't go anywhere near berlin and its famous wall (shockin, they re-building it ). only did the black forest and the township of titisee (cute, no? ) which was located in the forest, so...

its not black, really...just lots and lots and LOTS  of trees. basically the whole landscape involves trees on hills and the road u're travelling on. apparently it'll only seem black in spring and summer cos the trees will be such a dark, lush green it'll seem black. yup!

titisee was such a small town. like it consisted of one road and low buildings and shops on both sides. lets see..i went to the cuckoo clock shop! every single inch of every single wall covered in clocks of practically all shapes and designs. quite intriguing, the sight. cute clocks, gothic clocks, etc. and in the basement was the assembly room. crash course on cuckoo clock manufacturing!

1. residents in the township of titisee are mainly involved in agriculture, and during winter when there's no work to be done on the farm and in the fields, they set to making cuckoo clocks!
2. each family's in charge of making a single part, or carving one single design.
3. cuckoo clock's are so intricate! it was pretty interesting lookin at the , uhm "long acorn-like chime thingy" and how they correspond to whatever. sweet!

we didn't get one though, dad bought one years ago when he went to germany. there's a funny story about our cuckoo clock, just ask if u wanna hear about it! glad to oblige. i'll just say mom's finally learnt how to operate the poor thing, and the singapore branch of the repairshop's surprisingly near our house. in serangoon!

lunch in a restaurant in titisee. ugh. horribly beeg portions. rice (didn't touch that, of course!). french fries. biscuits. soup. a horible tea i couldn't down. one whole pork knuckle each. and of course a slice of blackforest cake!  how do the germans do it?! actually, how do the germans, the swiss, the -everybody in europe- and the americans do it?! they must have stomachs the size of those mobile parade floats. ugh.

don't think there was much of germany, really. oh dear. we didn't spend a night there even. titisee was about all! i'm sure there must be lots more in munich and frankfurt that we didn't get to see (the red sq? some famous church/mosque? can't remember off the top of my head...it was in anastacia!) o well. mebbe next time!

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Sunday,Jan 9 2005, 07:36:32 AMflight aboard singapore airlines departing...

flight aboard singapore airlines departing from changi to frankfurt was thirteen friggin hours long. longest i've ever been on. gawdawful. thank goodness for krisworld. whew. thank goodness i did'nt have to sit qatar airlines. heehee

I HATE TURBULENCE. hate it!! its so harrowing and its a horrible way to die, innit? i mean it sure makes u feel like the end is near, heh. think my case of turrbie-phobia didn't really afflict me til sept 11th, though. it doesn't really go, but yeah u get the idea. and how on earth do pple *jeet and hweexian* treat it like a roller-coaster ride? i mean, its your life at risk here guys! sheesh.  bottom line: i don't wanna die.

movies i watched:

1. princess dairies 2 *the critic says: okay, not bad...i like the prince william part!  heehee more on him l8er!*
2. catwoman *okay i guess, but to a more discriminating viewer...at that point i just needed something, anything! to cure me of my boredom
3. i know i must have watched something else, but i can't remember! heehee goes to show u what a horrible flight that was.

other stuff:

1. friends! can't remember which season it was, but hey who cares? its friends!  love the show!
2. tried to play some zelda like sy recommended, but cannot lah...sorry dear! didn't know how to play leh, and the flight conditions (cramped quarters, stuffy air, u get the pic...) were such that just about everything was very bleah

note of advice to krisworld guys: dec is the month when most pple travel so make an effort and come up with better stuff k? didnt' really quite dig the offers. yl said her foreign movies were good, but then i'm not a foreign movies arthouse person. esp not on flights. i wanna be ENTERTAINED. thankyew.

sigh. its times like this that makes me wish i could teleport. oh wait. across such a distance mebbe a portkey would work better?

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