Day 172: German-speaking region (Basel)

Jesse and Venny were very kind to give us their apartment key while they were away in Indonesia for Christmas vacation. Thanks, Jesse and Venny! It was just the perfect home away from home that we need after such a long time on the road.

the Cathedral in Basel

I once spent several weeks living in Basel, so I was Katy's local tour guide. Funny enough it was my first time taking the small ferry across the Rhine river myself because I thought it was only for tourists. The ferry uses the river current to cross the Rhine, and does not require a motor. This has to be the greenest form of transportation. Zero carbon emission.

the small ferry on the Rhine river

view from the ferry

Katy on the ferry

We were invited to Andrew's and Nancy's house for the Christmas lunch. It's been more than one year since I last saw Andrew and Nancy. They got married last August, so I was very happy for them. The lunch was great – turkey, ham, mashed potato, champaign, etc. It was just the home-cooked meal that I desperately craved for.

check out Andrew preparing the lunch

the feast

Nancy and Katy wearing the party hats
Basel train station at night (which we would unexpectedly visit again later)

Day 168: French-speaking region

Lausanne, the International Olympics capital, is also where I spent the “transitional” phase of my life (according to a book I read at IMD). Although my last visit to Lausanne was only nine months ago, this trip was different because of the long journey and my lovely companion, Katy. It was very good to see some of my friends again in Lausanne.

Besides the usual tourist places, e.g. Ouchy, the cathedral, St. Francois, I brought Katy to the restaurant where I had my first meal in Switzerland. I still remember walking around the cathedral and spotting a restaurant with a tiny garden tucked away in a small street below. Inside the restaurant (Chandler de Creperie), it was packed with people eating crepe for lunch – my first encounter with savory crepe. When Katy and I went to the Chandler this time, it was still packed with people, and the crepes were as good as I remembered.

The Olympics Museum

The stained glass at the Cathedral Check out the savory crepe!

We spent three days at Pierre's house. It was fun to hang out with his kids, especially Benjamin, the youngest of five kids. Pierre's wife made a nice raclette for dinner – my first raclette in Switzerland two years ago and now Katy's first raclette too. We also went sledging and took a road trip to Sion. I felt like a kid again when I was around his kids. One evening we went to his neighbor's place for a Christmas party. Every year his neighbours arranged a party almost every night in December, so people can socialize and have fun. That evening we had way too much raclette.

Pierre's son, Nicolas, flying in mid-air

Pierre's daughter, Caroline

Aren't they cute little devils? :)

Swiss Raclette

We also spent a few days at Townsend's place and made a couple day trips to Gruyere and Montreux. It was my first time visiting Gruyere, population 300, in winter. God, it was a beautiful sight with snow everywhere. On our train ride to Gruyere, we met two gentlemen who were going to Gruyere as well and guided us on a trail to the town. Guess who they were going to have brunch with? Michelle, the son of Charlie Chaplin!

Katy chilling out on a bench in Gruyère

view from Gruyère

"The Aliens" museum

Gruyère castle

Church in Gruyère

the path leading up to Gruyère

the world-renown Gruyère cheese

Day 168: Interlaken & Luzern

We took a long train ride to Interlaken and Luzern. The scenery is the beautiful postcard photos about Switzerland you see at bookstores. Grand snow-peaked mountains with tranquil blue lakes. We took a stroll around Brienz beause the boat service on the lake was suspended in winter.

At Luzern, we made a quick stop at the lion monument, dedicated to the Swiss mercaneries killed during the French revolution while protecting Louis XVI. It was already dark when we arrived, but there was still a group of die-hard Korean tourists happily snapping pictures of the lion.

Day 159: Start of our Swiss journey

We had a big scare coming into Switzerland. The border control officer wouldn't let Katy into Switzerland with her Schengen visa. Before coming to Switzerland, we checked with the Swiss consulate offices in Taipei and Bali, and were told that it was OK for Katy to enter Switzerland with her multiple entry Schengen visa regardless if Switzerland joins the Schengen treaty by the end of the year. I told this to the border control officer and even showed him the Swiss consulate office website stating the same facts. But no, he would not budge. We went back and forth several times. "Are you teaching me how to do my job?" was his reaction. He kindly "offered" us to go to France instead.

Finally he called his colleague over to double-check, which he should have done earlier. His colleague agreed with me and said something in Swiss German back to him. But I picked up two words: 'Thailand' and 'Taiwan'. So this old, stubborn Swiss border guard mixed up Taiwan with Thailand. God, unbelievable. It was humiliating to be waived to the side like illegal aliens and waiting for everyone else to clear. Not a fair treatment - something I am sure that Swiss border guard has never experienced in his life.

Anyway, we are inside Switzerland now - Basel to be exact. It's snowing and cold. Hopefully the cold front will leave soon.

Day 156: Naples - the black sheep?

People described Naples as the black sheep of Italian cities. Its reputation is often related to poverty, organized crime and the garbage strike, which thankfully ended this summer. In Wikitravel, there is a list of 13 warnings for tourists at the end of the Naples page. When we arrived in Naples, we immediately felt the difference between Rome and Naples. The graffiti in Rome was nothing compared to the ones in Naples. When we asked for direction to our b&b, most people would turn away without saying much. One lady at a store immediately locked her door when Katy tried to ask for direction. Not friendly at all.

not sure what this means - someone covered the head with a garbage bag

We came to Naples to visit Pompeii, which was an amazing experience. The entire town was buried under the volcanic ash from Mt. Vesuvius in 79AD. It was such an extraordinary feeling to walk through the town and imagine how people used to live two thousands years ago. There were restaurants, bakeries and brothels. Yes, 25 brothels in total. I guess the word's oldest profession was very much in demand two thousands years ago. There were also a few corpses that had turned into stone. Some houses were very nice with spacious atrium and wall-size fresco paintings.

a basic room in a brothel - it was so smallsome paintings that survived the eruption

a fountain in a backyard

a restaurant

floor tile of a dog

'the house of the mysteries'

'the mule man' - found next to his mule

a stone dog

We learned that pizza was born in Naples. So a visit to Naples must include a visit to a pizzeria. So we went to two of the oldest pizzerias, Da Michelle and Trianon. At Da Michelle, they serve only two types of authentic pizzas - margherita (tomato, basil and mozzarella) or marinara (tomato, garlic, oregano). We tried both types. They were pretty good. Da Michelle was especially packed with locals during lunch and dinner services. Go there early to avoid the long queue.

Day 154: Roman ruins, graffiti and pickpocket

The flight from Lyon to Rome was eventful. We boarded the plane on time, but were forced to stay inside the plane for two and half hours due to heavy fog in Rome. When we started our decent for Rome, the fog was still very thick. We were not sure how the pilot managed to find the runway. Several people (including us) applauded to the pilot after the plane touched down safely.

The temparature was about the same as in Lyon, i.e. cold. The public transportation was busy, especially the metro. Speaking of the metro, line B was something we tried to avoid when we could. I still remember our reaction when the metro pulled in. It was jammed packed inside the train and on the platform – almost felt like Bangalore station in India. Graffiti artists made sure that every part of the exterior surface was graced by their artistic talent. As we fought our way into the metro, there was annoucement of pickpocketing from the PA system. God, it was not an experience we wished to repeat.

The Colosseum was nothing like the movie Gladiators. Those guys at Hollywood sure did an amazing job. It was smaller than I imagined (due to the movie), but it was still good to walk around the arena and imagine what it must be like back in the old days. BTW, it was the execution of exotic animals at the arena, not the two-men-enter-one-man-leave duels as portrayed in the movie. Outside the Colosseum, there were people dressed in roman costumes shouting 'Maximus' – they charge for taking photos with them.


The St. Peter's Basilica by the Vatican city was spectacular. We were surprised by the scale and size of the interior. It was so grand. The sculptures and the paintings were equally impressive. When we were about to leave, about a dozen Swiss guards came marching down through the main entrance (normally closed). Security was tightened. People started waiting at the line-up to see if the Pope was going to show up. After 20 minutes, it was some politicians dressed in tuxedos walking accompanied by an old cardinal. :(

the infamous Swiss Guards

inside of St. Peter Basilica

Do you remember our blog entry on St. Thomas church in Chennai? There were only three churches built on top of Jesus' apostles. One in Chennai, India. One in Spain. And the last one is St. Peter's. Compared to St. Peter's tomb, the tomb of St. Thomas was more "budget". See the photos below for yourself.

St. Peter's tomb - it's underneath the gigantic black stone sculpture

St. Thomas tomb in Chennai