Neutral Territory

Very recently, I started to watch the medical series Grey's Anatomy. Grey's Anatomy is one of those shows that immediately reel you in and make you want to lose sleep just so you could finish marathoning one season (or two... or three...) of it. In one of the episodes, Dr. Cristina Yang says "Switzerland. It's very neutral there and they make very nice watches," and it's quite true. In almost every corner, there would either be a clock tower or a watch shop. To be honest, I was such a sucker for that "Switzerland makes nice watches" line and just had to buy one for myself. Yep, I officially allow you to add impulsive buyer to your list of things that are wrong with Lesh.

Zurich

Zunfthaus zur Meisen

Cour d'honneur of the Zunfthaus zer Meisen

(The shoes were supposed to look cool, but.)

Our first stop in Switzerland was the city of Zürich. Zürich is the largest city in Switzerland, and from 2006 to 2008, it was considered as the wealthiest city in Europe. Zürich wasn't actually part of our tour's itinerary, as we were supposed to go directly to of the city Lucerne. However, the hotel we booked - Radisson Blu, had a slight overbooking situation. The hotel's Lucerne branch couldn't accommodate our whole tour group, hence they had to transfer us to their Zürich branch. The relocation wasn't a loss or an inconvenience at all. Aside from giving everyone room upgrades, they also gave us a free city tour! As an addendum, the Zürich branch of Radisson Blu have these cool Flying Angels which are highly entertaining for guests to watch as they eat their dinner.

Seeing as Zürich wasn't really part of the plan, we were only able to see minimal sites in the city. Most of the city tour was done while we were riding inside of the bus, and the only time we were able to go down and "explore" was for photo opportunities at the Zürich pier and at the Zunfthaus zur Meisen. The Zunfthaus zer Meisen is a guild house and is one of the seven sites of the Swiss National Museum. Right outside the guild house is the plaque that commemorates the speech that Winston Churchill gave at the University of Zürich.

When in Switzerland, it only seems right to visit the Swiss Alps. The Sound of Music, anyone? But going back on tangent - our tour took us to see the resort town and municipality of Engelberg. Engelberg is where Mount Titlis is located, the site of the world's first revolving cable car. I'm proud to say I survived that revolving cable car without getting motion sickness! *cue in: self-pat*

Dirty snow

Seriously, "the cold never bothered me anyway".

If you haven't guessed from the series of photos, Mount Titlis is a snowcapped mountain. If you know me, you'd know that I absolutely adore cold weather. (You could even ask my dorm mates just how much I can't stand the heat.) Imagine my excitement when I learned that I would be able to see snow for the first time! I've found Mount Titlis to be the perfect Frozen setting. It was only too bad I couldn't make my own Olaf since I lacked gloves... and no way am I risking my fingers getting cut off because of frost bite. Also, I didn't have much pictures in the snow except for a couple of selfies because my mom was too cold to brave the snowy mountain with me. Nevertheless, being on that mountain was one of the best experiences of my life. Yes, because of the snow!!!

The Kappellbrucke

Yet another tourist photo. Oops.

The land of abundant swans.

Our final stop in Switzerland was the city of Lucerne. The Chapel Bridge or the Kapellbrücke is perhaps their most well-known landmark. The Kapellbrücke is a wooden footbridge whose interiors possesses paintings that date back to the 17th century. The wooden bridge also serves as the city's symbol. 

What I immediately noticed about Lucerne was the abundance of swans in the area. The swans, coupled with the vintage look of the infrastructures, gave the city a romantic feel. It was both peaceful and beautiful and if I am ever to write a romance/chicklit novel, this would most likely be the setting I choose.

Even though the buildings look dated and the architecture is visibly old-fashioned, the stores were all modern. Walking down their streets, we stumbled upon very modern brands such as H&M, Clockhouse, and Vans. They also had a Swatch shop, which held a great selection of wristwatches - probably because Swatch watches are actually manufactured in Switzerland itself.

Switzerland, as far as I've seen, was close to perfect. Quite frankly, the only problem with Switzerland is that everything (yes, everything) was so expensive, but that should probably be a given for 2011's wealthiest country in the world.