Paragliding, Chocolate and Cheese Factory, and Mt Zermatt

Managed to save some photos my friends had taken during their exciting trip to Interlaken for their paragliding and their chocolate and cheese tour at Montreux (did I get this place correct?)
For your viewing pleasure and perhaps, your next trip could be here :)

Interlaken

Here at Interlaken, where the Alps are within your view.
Looks like those postcard pictures ya?

Hey Lynn, this guy looks compatible with you leh...both in height and build ;)

...as compared to this couple here haha ;D Shu, you sure know how to position yourself ;p

Look at the ground...now I know how they managed to make the virtual google map look like this...

Not forgetting to look into the camera and SMILE :)

This must be Ms Wong's feet cos I remember Shu's 'historical shoes' hehe ;p

The lake and mountains sure look beautiful from up here.

A happy picture captured by all & featured in Facebook. See how happy she was :)

...until she realised she was the only one helping to fold the parachute...haha ;D


The Nestle Chocolate Factory

Umm....yummy... :d``

From left: Dark Choc sprinkled with Hazelnut; Milk Choc Hazelnut, Milk Choc with Coffee (this one is good), Milk Choc; Milk Choc with Choc Chips; White Choc with coconut filling, Hazelnut Milk Choc; Milk Choc with coffee and the last one is dark choc (didn't get a chance to eat this as Uncle Tan had taken this).

How do I know? Hehe cos my friends bought a box of these for us ;d``

I've a few more not shown here like the one with Kirsch, and one with mini crisp balls and one that contains alcohol.

See how busy are the ladies in sampling the free chocolates ;p

The chocolate making machine!

Oooh....see how smooth the chocolate is... ...

Next is the Cheese Factory.

Showing the procedures of how cheese are made.

Don't these look like our pandan cakes?

Gosh, what a huge chunk.

Time for Cheese Fondue! Cheers!

Aiyo, the 2 of them machiam like having their '交杯酒' ;p

What a sumptuous spread!

The Swiss way of eating....

Vs the 'yew siu' way of eating ;p

Lynn, I think there's another job suitable for you - poster girl for Switzerland! Be it the Alps, the potatoes, the chocs...anything on your hand, you've the right post for everything.

Zermatt

This is the place where our Shi-fu gained her 'enlightenment' ;p






















She's the only one who made it up here, out there.




hmm...I wonder if you can spot the 'icicles' formed under her nose...hehe ;p

Picnic Sunday

It's Sunday and a sunny one :) A good time for a picnic by the park.

In Singapore, we're always complaining about how hot and humid the weather is and avoid the sun if possible. There was once I had to see a doctor due to a terrible headache caused by 'over exposure to the sun'. And the Doc's advice to me is to avoid the staying in the sun for too long.

Geeze, work life has indeed taken some of my health away. Used to be under the sun for hours playing netball and feel nothing...either that, I'm getting old...haha ;p

The wind is a little chilly though you can feel the sun's warmth. So a windbreaker would be good. We've made egg and ham sandwiches with cherry tomatoes and brought a packet of salad and a small bottle of red wine for our lunch. And our lunch is at noon, out in the sun, something that we'd never be able to do in SG.
The park is spacious and there were already some picnickers there. Some were already in their shorts and sun dresses, some went topless (the men by the way ;p) in order to sunbathe.











Found ourselves a good spot and had we started to dig in. Shuh, found this mat familiar?

We follow what the others did - remove our shoes and socks and sunbathe our feet :) Oh, and the grass is soft and cold...









Thanks to Uncle Tan's colleague who flew here to take a course for a week, who brought us some local products and our much missed soft bread - Gardenia :)














The sun was pretty glaring. No wonder some of my friends were sun burnt during their stay here.

But the wind is still chilly...












Playing somewhat similar to badminton but not sure the name for this game.

Ms Wong, we thought the guy with the bike is kinda cool, reading in the park...till we saw him smoke later...hence we didn't ask him for his number for u ;p








A group of friends having picnic together.

Actually it may be a good thing that the shops aren't open on Sundays. At least the people are forced to spend time with their friends, families, loved ones...

Even thou some picnickers have brought their hi-fi along, the music wasn't too loud.









Haha, guess lunch is too heavy...

But it does feel warmer lying down than sitting, and it was like doing sauna for the face.












What more can one ask for on a sunny day? Ice cream :d

Even their Cornetto vanilla ice-cream tastes different. Well, it cost Fr 3.50 for one :)











After we're done, we decided to take a walk around.


And we saw many families with their children.
And they are soooo cute!!! :)









Oh I wanted to do that but I guess that's the kids' privilege :)

And we spotted 'Sentosa' - the name of the boat.

Uncle Tan: Wa...if only I own this boat...

We walked all the way to the end and chanced upon the 'beach'. It's actually part of the Zurich lake which we passed by earlier with all the parking boats.

The sand was rather course and the sand is in a darker shade of brown and you can even hear the sound of waves hitting on the shores. No wonder the Swiss call the lake The 'Zurich Sea'.
Speaking of which, maybe in my next visit, I shall taste to see if the water is salty like the real sea :)

A lady doing yoga by the beach.
















Children are a common sight in Zurich or in fact, in Switzerland. Their mummies are rather gungho in pushing those sturdy looking prams in trams and buses and do their shopping as per normal. I guess partly due to the children friendly shopping places and transport. For most places of interest, children below the age of 16 and for some 26, have free admission and enjoy concessionary rates for some.






However, childcare for them is expensive. It costs about Fr 4,000 a month to enroll a below 4 year old child to a childcare centre. The govt only starts to subsidise the education by the age of 5. Perhaps a policy to encourage mummies to stay at home to look after their young children.









Even the swans are here to groom themselves. Oh, speaking of which, the swans here are big, fat and very white.













A huge parking place for the caravans. Some are quite elaborate with nice table settings outside their vehicle.


This one has a cosy feel to it.
















Finally had a chance to pat a little doggy who's sunbathing outside the caravan as well.


This little boy here has a slow and 'posy' fall. Whenever he loses his balance, he will fall slowly (wonder how he did it) and after that he will stay in that position for several seconds before picking himself up.
A couple mandarin ducks sunbathing as well. The locals left them pretty much alone and not even the kids went to disturb them.

Is this mistletoe?

By the time we walked back to the park, it was already filled with people. And right in the middle was a group playing soccer.