.::. The Honeymoon - Part 3 .::.

Keeping up the momentum! The husband is traveling for work this week and the evenings are very productive now that I'm going to move on to my new role and do not have to bring work home.

We took a train from Paris to Lausanne, the Olympic city and spent the rest of the afternoon there. The subways are very nice and I love the hilly old town with cobbler stones.



Lausanne was actually a stop to catch the scenic train ride to Interlaken where we used as a base to travel around Switzerland.



They say Interlaken is well, too touristy and all, but it is still a nice little town really. There was limited things to do as the funicular up the hill was closed during winter. We spent the afternoon walking along the lake and just taking everything in.



We took many train rides across Switzerland on many scenic routes. I mean, what can we do when it's so cold and snowing outside?!

We went up to Jungfraujoch. It was pretty. I can never forget the bitting cold.

The viewing deck was only partially open due to winds. It was so cold and windy with snow being blown into your face. Your face and hands freeze. It was barely sub-zero but felt so much colder than the -26 degrees in Sweden due to the wind and altitude. We wanted to take nice pictures badly and went out when the wind subsided, took a few shots and went back to 'thaw' ourselves. This repeated for so many times till my cheeks were all red and sore from the wind.



Yea, we were crazy enough to attempt jumping shots in that cold. Crazy things we do. The real crazy people were the Koreans. They lay on the snow with their tummy among other posts, some took their socks out for jumping shots!!!



We did manage to get a nicer photo when another tourist helped us snap one.



We stopped by Grindewald for a stroll on the way back. I almost wanted to try snow sledging - it looked like a lot of fun. But me being me, was afraid of coming downslope very quickly and not very sure if I'd like to be out there in the hills when snow was forecasted. I promised to come back with our kids someday!



We had cup noodles in the hostel and went to this famous restaurant in Interlaken to try the cheese foundue. After all, it's a must-try. We didn't like it though. There was too much alcohol in it and doesn't really taste like cheese!



Another reason why I didn't go for snow sledging was that we've planned Luzern for the next day. I've always wanted to visit Luzern because it's where one of the Harry Potter scene was shot.



The 'Harry Potter' bridge! There was a scene on the broom being shot here, I can't remember which episode.

Actually, Luzern was somewhat a disappointment for me. I suppose I had higher expectations with all the great reviews.

I think this was Berne?

This should be the old streets of Berne. And it's my favorite city or town on this trip. But on hindsight, I loved Cambridge too.

We climbed up a little hill for this view.

It was really beautiful.

Then we squeezed in Zurich just before it turned dark.

I kind of like Zurich. It feels like the old and the new came together, and it was nice to walk around the city.

They also had a little viewpoint.

Next up was the Bernina Express. It was my favorite scenic train ride out of the many we took. I love it! I can't decide if I like this better or the one in Norway.

The landscaped changed quite bait throughout the ride. Then there was this stopover where you can drop and take pictures. It was cold (what's new). Again, there was this group of Koreans taking crazy pictures. 

We only had 15 minutes and we were running around, taking pictures and setting up the tripod. Till those Koreans offered to help us take a jumping picture.


























The landscape was really dramatic when it came to a frozen lake.

Then as we pulled into the area nearing Italy, it was totally different.

The thing is, my zoom lens was spoiled after the short stop-off and picture taking. I wonder if it was too cold, but my lens couldn't retract and couldn't focus. =( I had to go on the rest of the trip without my camera and had to rely on iPhone. I had my wide-angle lens, but in the hotel!!!

This was in sharp contrast to the dramatic landscape just barely an hour away.

It was sunny with blue blue skies but still super cold.

The town was deserted because it was a Sunday. The famous Italian restaurant wasn't open, to my disappointment. We went to the other restaurant, and the food was great (and cheap) too. This is an Italian town in Switzerland and very near the border to Italy.

So we enjoyed ourselves, had a walk in the empty town and took in the sights. The train actually goes into Italy, but that part was closed due to rail repair. =( We were taking the same train back.

For some reason, we decided to board the earlier regional train, thinking that it would stop at one of the beautiful stops on the way. That will give us some time to take some pictures and board the Bernina Express when it drops by the station.

All was well. We got off the station and took in the dramatic landscape. There were people paragliding on the frozen lake.

You can see that the station is behind while the frozen lake was on the right. It was impossible to walk because the snow was soft and I sunk deep into the snow with every step I took (till knee level!!!). There was no where else to go.

So, we went back into the station because it was cold and my jeans and shoes were wet. Then, when we checked the train timetable, we realized that the Bernina Express does not stop at this station! We were screwed. We were going to miss the train and had to wait for a whole hour before the next regional train brings us to another town and we had to transfer back to where our hotel was. Gosh, I was panicking and upset to be left in the cold like that. There was another Swiss guy there who confirmed our suspicions. Gosh.

The Bernina Express was going to pass by this station but it just doesn't stop on Sunday. I heard the train approaching and went out to see in some desperate attempt. Miraculously, the train stopped! And for some crazy reason, I actually ran to the train and tried to press the 'open' button. And miraculously, the train doors opened!!

So, we hopped onto the train! The train stopped for quite some time till the train conductor found us and checked our tickets. He was looking for the people who boarded the train and told us that the train was not supposed to stop here. The driver made a mistake and forgot that it was Sunday, making the stop. They then realized that someone opened the train doors and boarded the train. I didn't believe our luck then really. Another little adventure on our trips.

This was us, making it back to the train and really happy!

And here's the other pictures from the iPhone.

This was the Bernina Express part, nearing Italy.

This was on Junfraujoch.

This was on the Bernina Express.

The Swiss leg of our honeymoon ended with the Bernina Express. A great ending really.

Switzerland was beautiful, although it didn't really impress me that much. I suppose I should say that it just didn't impact me as much as Norway did. Or maybe Norway was too stunning for me that has raised the bar for dramatic scenery like that, I'm not sure.

And here we are, on our way to Germany on a snowy morning.

I was very nervous about getting to Munich, because part of the railway was closed for maintenance works. We had to change to a bus in between. Having been around Europe so much, I knew how it could be like. There was a high chance that we would miss our connections, especially with snow.

And sure enough, we were screwed. The bus was late, and then refused to drive us. They had some issues with the drivers and routes. We got up the big bus, then were asked to get down, then they were arguing, then we got on a mini bus. They were speaking in languages that we didn't understand and nobody knew what was happening, even the locals. We were very late for the connecting train into Munich and I was dismayed. We had a day in Munich and was supposed to arrive around noon to meet Julia and Alex for lunch. They were my weekly dinner buddies from Sweden and we kept in touch. With missing the connecting train, it's anyone's guess what time or how we will get there.

And you know what? Amazingly, the train waited for us. I mean, the whole train loaded with passengers waited on the track. I really couldn't believe our luck this trip. How much luckier can we be? The train was actually waiting for a few more buses from many different towns too.

We arrived more than an hour later, but well, we made it and met up with Julia and Alex! I was so happy to see them again and they brought us around Munich for shopping and great German grub.



I love the Radler there (beer with lemonade). I was really happy that Tiger Beer started selling it too in Singapore recently. It tastes different, more gasey and less lemony though.

Here we are at the rustic old square. It was a cold and wet day.

From Munich, we flew to Iceland in search of the northern lights aka aurora. It was supposedly one of the best years to catch the northern lights due to the solar activity - whatever that means.

.::. My Loves .::.

I was clearing my iPhone album, and found this picture of us in the snow. It was taken during our honeymoon. We were in Switzerland and have just checked out of an attic room with slanted ceiling in a little quaint 'hotel'. We were walking to the train station in the snow to catch a train (and bus) to Munich to meet Alex and Julia. It was snowing, both of us were walking on snow-covered cobblestones and walked past a school with children playing with snow outside. He asked me to take a picture of us together, because we never had a picture together while it was snowing. I was in my thick jacket with a heavy backpack and didn't want to take out my DSLR, so i whipped out my trusty iPhone instead, to snap a picture of us using the lousy front camera. We were happy then, and then the train got delayed and all. I still remember that moment so vividly.

That's why I love photos - they tell stories.

Which reminds me, I've been wanting to write about our honeymoon! That was in January and it's already November. =/ *mental note to get it done before the year ends* I think our backpacking trips around Europe have been the most memorable ones for me, but the husband thinks it's Nepal - because, well, how can we forget how we puke and sh*t and seen the worst of each other on the trip?

The other love of my life is definitely Chikey (and Chinook). Chikey is so loving these days, loving to cuddle and wanting to lie on me all the time.

I cut his nails that day, and one nail bled. The husband wasn't too happy with me, and it was one of the rare times when I let him on the bed (he just had a bath) and cuddle him to keep him off his feet till the bleeding stopped.

Other days he simply jump at you on the sofa till you carry him on your lap. He's a warm ball of fur.

Other days, he just simply look cute and keep coming to me while I'm in bed.

And when I'm studying, he keeps me company by sleeping.

And here's 2 of my loves.

I love this picture, snapped one night when the husband carried Chikey up the bed just before he's going to sleep. He doesn't think it's nice, but I love it. =)

Life's so short, and sometimes, the best things in life are these simplest moments.

.::. Our Honeymoon .::.

We went for our honeymoon right after the wedding, and it was truly tiring. The husband had to go on a course in Birmingham right after the wedding, and I tagged along. I mean I had to right? Otherwise my husband would be gone for 2 weeks right after the wedding.

The first week in Birmingham, it was snowing heavily.  He made me take a bus from London to Birmingham after a long-haul flight (right after the wedding), change to a 3-hour bus ride to Birmingham, take a train (which was delayed) to the campus AND walked 20 minutes in the snow. I was so shag - all these when he could have took a cab (it's claimable) to the doorstep from Birmingham Central! We stayed on campus where his classes were, just right opposite. 

I spent the first day exploring Birmingham, the next exploring the campus, another day in London and one day in Cambridge. I enjoyed the me-time very much, exploring places by myself.

It was a chore to travel from the campus – 20 minute walk in the snow to the campus train station, another 15 minutes to reach Birmingham city where the connecting trains were. The other day were spent in the room, planning the rest of our honeymoon and booking hotels, doing research.











Here's Birmingham Central and it was freezing.



And this was the view from our hotel window.



I went to London a day before my birthday.







Headed straight to Borough Market for some pub grub and beer, then to see the beautiful Wesminister before doing some shopping and da-pao-ing the famous Four Seasons duck back to share with the husband at Birmingham. The poor boy was complaining about having to eat sandwiches and salad everyday when it's so cold.

I spent my birthday in the hotel, planning our trip, strolling around the campus and joining him for a course dinner. The coordinator graciously invited me along knowing that I'm here with him right after the wedding, and even picked us up in a London cab from the hotel as it was snowing and very cold.

I then went to Cambridge the next day. It's a 3-hour train ride away from Birmingham and someone pasted a hand-written note on the ticketing machine saying that there are no trains. I tried the machine and it seemed to work. I thought that someone played a prank and pasted that on the machine, perhaps a student? I tore it off and wanted to buy tickets. Then, the ticketing person came and told me off, looking annoyed like I do not understand English. She refused to let me buy tickets and insisted that there are no trains when I see trains coming on the screen! Luckily I decided to take the risk and went down the platform without buying tickets. The train came and I managed to get to the central where I'm supposed to get a connecting train. The problem was, I did not have a ticket and there were people at the entrance checking tickets. They weren't always there, and there was a long queue of people paying 'fines' as they've no ticket (like me). I decided to try my luck and flashed my old ticket - I got through effortlessly and they didn't look at the date at all!

Lucky me, did manage to get to Cambridge but missed the walking tour of the day. It was already past noon when I arrived and the only option was punting at 3.30pm. I took that up and rushed to wander around the city with my map in hand.





It was beautiful, and Cambridge has so many stories.



And here I was, punting in the river. It was so cold and I was famished by then. Cold and hungry - not a good combination.



I finally found a restaurant opposite the...church I think..some iconic structure in Cambridge. The hot tea and curry chicken with rice was so good.

Did I mention that I love Europe.  I love the feel of Europe and just being there. And I'm glad that I had some me-time to spend with myself and reflect on things there. It almost feel like those student days in Sweden again.



The husband finally finished the course and the test on Friday, and we headed to the central for dinner before our honeymoon officially starts.

Our first stop was Liverpool/Manchester after his course ended. We visited Anfield (his favorite club) which was really ulu and old.  We went for a tour around the stadium and headed to Manchester United (my favorite club) since the 1999 treble.  I managed to get tickets for the FA Cup match against Fulham, and was so excited about going for a live match there!





Next stop was Paris, because I made a mistake with the closing day of the Louvre (it’s Tuesday instead of the usual Monday for most museums) and the husband didn’t get to visit the last time round.  We spent about 2 days there, spending a day at the Lovure (I really love it) and the other times looking for the best baguette in Paris and strolling along Champs Elysse.















We went in search of the best baguette in Paris (and probably France).

Third stop to Lausanne for a stopover to catch our first scenic train ride in Swizerland.  We had some time to walk around the Olympic City which was full of slopes and cobbler stones roads.



Next up was the scenic train along ‘The Golden Pass’ from Montreux to Interlaken, taking in the dramatic landscapes in Swizerland.  We stopped  by Interlaken which will be our base to travel around the area for the next few days. After having lunch, we explored the little town and walked along the river as the sun set. Dinner was the best veal I ever had!







We went to Jungfrau the next day as weather was fine.  The trains up the steep hills were amazing, and the views up at “Top of Europe” was really dramatic. It was so windy up there, at minus 13 degrees.  The viewing platform was partially closed and we could barely keep our balance.  We kept trying to take a nice picture, our hands keep getting numb and snow kept flying onto my teeth (which hurts!).  We stopped by Gwindewald, and was contemplating whether or not to try snow sledging the next day.  It was cheap, but I was afraid of the cold (snowing) and not sure how I’d take to heights on the slopes.  Moreover, sledging would mean being unable to visit Luzern  or Bern/Zurich.











We ended up at Luzern the next day.  It was a picturesque town, with this ‘Harry Potter Bridge’.  We spent the day wandering the town and went back Interlaken for traditional cheese fondue.





We left Interlaken for Bern next.  Bern is a small little charming town that I really liked. It can be explored in a few hours, walking along the old streets and climbing up the hill for a birds-eye view. As we still had some time in the afternoon, we ended up dropping by Zurich on the way to Chur.  It was a long and fulfilling day!













The only reason we went to Chur was to catch the Bernina Express the next morning.  It was supposed to be the most scenic train ride in Switzerland (and maybe whole world). It stopped once for us to take pictures, and everyone was scurrying in the snow. It was indeed stunning, and we went all the way to the border of Italy.  The last part of the train ride was closed for maintenance and we stopped by for lunch at the ‘Italian’ part of Switzerland which served cheap and delicious pasta.

Very sadly, my lens was stuck and the auto-focus broke down when we left the train to take pictures in the cold. And stupidly for some reason, I didn't bring my other lens out. We simply did not manage to capture the beauty of the place - something which has to be left to our memories. Some pictures had to be taken with my trusty iPhone after the accident. =(







We had a little adventure, as we decided to take the earlier train than scheduled, thinking that we can stop to take pictures somewhere then catch our scheduled train on the way back. When we got down, it was so cold and the snow so deep.  I sunk into knee-deep snow every step I walked.  It was so cold and impossible to actually walk to take pictures! And to our horror, our scheduled train does not stop there on weekends. The next train that stopped there was in an hour and went to another town. For a moment, I thought that we’re going to be stranded, now knowing if we can get back to our hotel tonight.

Then! Our scheduled train pulled at our station.  I hurried to press the door open and rushed up the train, feeling really relieved.  The train stopped till the train conductor found us.  He recognized us and told us that the train stopped by mistake as the driver forgot that it wasn’t supposed to stop on weekends. *phew* we really got lucky.



We were supposed to get to Munich to meet up with 2 of my friends, but part of the train track was under maintenance and we had to be on a bus for that portion of the journey.  I was really uneasy about it, afraid that delays would mean missing our connection and lots of trouble.  The bus was late and I thought we were in trouble, but thankfully the train waited! We got lucky yet again.



We only had an afternoon in Munich and it was mainly to meetup with my friends and catch the flight to Iceland the next morning.  We had lunch in this really nice typical German beer house, and I really loved the place.  It reminds me of Poland actually.  The food was good and I love the ‘Radler’ which was lemonade with beer – very addictive! We walked around the town area and bought Birkenstocks. It was a cold and gloomy day in Munich.





Iceland was really an experience by itself.  I don’t think I’ve been to anywhere with that much inhabitable land and unique landscape. It’s also the first country we’ve been for many days without even exchanging for any of its currency (we still have no idea how Icelandic Kroner looks like). We went to a famous fish restaurant there and it was really delicious! We went to see geysers, craters and spent a day at the Blue Lagoon. It was really beautiful.

We hunted for northern lights for 2 nights, since we were already there.  It was really cold at night. We only got to see faint lights on the first night, 2^nd night was really faint and flickering – now you see it, later you don’t.









It was really cold and our hands, face, mouth were all frozen.









We also had lots of fun at Blue Lagoon which was so beautiful.











We ended the trip in London.  I wanted to watch Les Miserables, but it was fully sold out for weekends the whole month!  I should have booked the tickets earlier instead of trying to get discount tickets! We went around, shopped and had my favorite Four Seasons duck. Nesspresso capsules were half-priced there and we stocked up on it.







Our Chinese New Year eve was spent in London’s Chinatown.  It was memorable, because the husband brought me to the wrong place yet again.  He insisted on having steamboat for our ‘reunion dinner’. There were steamboat in Chinatown, but he insisted on going to the other one which was way out of town.  He said that the Chinatown one was expensive (20 pounds buffet) and wasn’t that nice. So, we dropped our shopping in the hotel and took a 40-min train ride out of town to the place.  Upon reaching, we couldn’t find the restaurant, it was a quiet neighborhood.  I was cold and hungry by then, it was already almost 9pm. We asked for directions and the Londoner told us that the restaurant was on the other side of London! There was a small road that was the same name there, but the area was totally different.

So there I was, not knowing to laugh or to get angry. It’s not the first time he brought me to the wrong place while travelling. Luckily the neighborhood was safe and not some dangerous area! We took almost another hour to reach Chinatown and made it to a Chinese restaurant just before it closed.  There we were, cold and hungry on Chinese New Year Eve, far away from home and eating at 11pm.



It brought our honeymoon to a close.

I know someday, I will be reading this, looking at these pictures, remembering those happy times we had. Perhaps someday, our children would read this and feel the love their parents shared since they were teenagers.

And to the husband - to many more happy memories to come. =)