Switzerland - Last day

Today is our last day in Switzerland and we will be leaving for Cambridge this afternoon. We had spent last night at Auntie Choong Yeen's house in Geneva, where I had scared myself silly by locking myself alone in the bathroom. Luckily Uncle Kian Hwee had helped to calm me down and to give me instructions to unlock the door from the inside!

Anyway, this morning, we went for a few boat rides across the lake. We also brought some bread to feed the swans and walked around a park.



There was a funny clock made from flowers.



After our walk around Geneva, we went back to the house to grab our luggage, where Uncle Kian Hwee kindly offered to drive us to the airport. While I am sad that our holiday has come to an end, I can't wait to go to school tomorrow to tell my teachers about my adventures!

Switzerland - Day 4

The weather this morning wasn't very nice, so it was quite disappointing when I woke up. After breakfast, we checked out of our hotel and walked to the train station. As we waited for the train, I decided to entertain myself on a make-shift swing.



We got off the train at Montreux. Montreux is in a sheltered Lake Geneva bay, surrounded by vineyards and against the breathtaking backdrop of snow-covered Alps.



As we walked around, I spotted some very big monkeys in a distance - so scary! But they turned out to be statues when we got closer:



We also found a playground in Montreux (just like we did in Grindelwald), and I had a lot of fun going up and down the slide.

From Montreux, we took our last train ride back to Geneva. We walked around a bit, and Daddy and Mummy brought me to a huge toy store, where I spent at least an hour playing. We also went shopping for famous Swiss chocolates. Last year when Daddy was in Geneva for work, he had bought me some chocolate ducks. I wanted something different this time, so I asked for chocolate rabbits instead.

Switzerland - Day 3

We woke up bright and early this morning to Monday blues - blue skies and a blue lake! After I had sugar puffs and yoghurt for breakfast, we took a train up the mountains to Grindelwald.



In Harry Potter land, Grindelwald was the most dangerous wizard of his time, but in Switzerland, Grindelwald is the largest ski resort in the (Jungfau) region. The mountains were beautiful, and I spent a lot of time at the playground.



After Grindelwald, we went back to Interlaken Ost for lunch. After lunch, we took another train to Lucerne. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep on the way there. When I woke up, there was a huge wet patch of my saliva on Daddy's lap, yikes chou chou!



The weather and view at Lucerne was beautiful as well. We walked around a bit, and Daddy did a good deed by helping another mummy lift her baby stroller up a flight of stairs.

After Lucerne, we went back to Interlaken to spend the night. The best part was when we went to McDonald's for dinner and we had ice-cream!

Switzerland - Days 1 and 2

After Mummy's classes for the Lent term finished on Friday, we went on a well-deserved break to Switzerland. We arrived at Geneva yesterday evening, and we had spent the night at Auntie Choong Yeen (Daddy's friend) house.

This morning, we went to the Geneva Motor Show, the largest show of its kind in Europe. I found a car that looked like our old car back home, and tried to drive it.



Daddy doesn't like our old car anymore though, and he would much prefer having one like this:



After the motor show, we had lunch with Daddy's and Mummy's colleagues who were in Geneva for a meeting. Ah Ma had bought some goodies for us, and Uncle Chin Soon had brought it to Geneva to pass to us. Yay, we now have yummy bak kwa to eat, and Mummy has the iPhone that she has been dreaming about for so long.

After lunch, we took a train to Interlaken, where we would be staying for the next two nights. I was so exhausted from the travelling and fell asleep on the way there.



This is me, after a refreshing nap on the train, enjoying the view from our hotel room in Interlaken. I did the same thing too during our last holiday in Malta =)

Queens' College Formal

Mummy's classmates had a dinner at the medival dining hall in Queens' College today. The dinner was a black-tie event, and is also known as Formal Hall. Compared to Churchill College, Queens' College has been around for a much longer time, for more than 550 years.

My Daddy and Mummy had dressed up that night, and they looked nice.

Uncle Wee Siang and Auntie Sherlyn had also brought Portia along for the dinner. The two of us had a lot of fun, and we were the stars of the night!

Pineapple tarts

Inspired by the Chinese New Year season, Daddy and Mummy decided to try their hands at making pineapple tarts. Pineapple tarts are delicious and are a traditional favourite. We didn't have all the right equipment, so we had to improvise.

Mummy had to roll the dough with a bottle. Then Daddy and I cut out round shapes from the dough using champagne glasses. We were too lazy to make our own pineapple jam, so we bought some from the supermarket instead.



This is our creation before the tray went into the oven:



Alas, the tarts were a huge failure! The pineapple jam was too runny and it spread all over the tray when it was heated. Such a disappointment =(

Tantrum corner

I was grumpy today and threw a tantrum. Daddy made me stand in a corner and told me to stay there until I could stop crying. He usually pacifies me and gives in to what I want when I fuss, so why didn't he do the same today?

Horses and carrots

Our neighbour Uncle Giles has been telling us that he sometimes brings his daughter Ronnie to see horses and ducks in a nearby field. As the weather was good today, we decided to take a walk to see if we could find some animals. The walk didn't turn out to be that short after all, and we walked up and down the road before Mummy finally asked a passerby if he had seen horses or ducks around.

The ducks weren't around, but we did get to see the horses! Here's Daddy trying to feed me to the horse:



Mummy was less silly and knew that horses do not eat babies, so we fed the horses some carrots instead.

Chinese New Year

Sunday was the first day of the Chinese New Year and a couple of Mummy's friends came over to our house to have a yummy steamboat lunch. Uncle Jeong Shing and Uncle Tee Yong gave me angbaos and they stayed on after lunch to babysit me, while Daddy and Mummy went out to watch a movie without me. It was nice though, as Uncle Tee Yong let me eat a lot of chocolates!

Yesterday, we had another Chinese New Year dinner with some of Mummy's classmates. The restaurant was called Sesame, and the food was very nice and spicy.





We had a third dinner today at home. Uncle Wei Shyong and Auntie Shuk Weng came over, and we had steamboat again. Auntie Shuk Weng also bought me an Easter present - chocolate eggs and bunny mashmallows in a bunny bag. I love the Chinese New Year period, so many yummy things to eat!

Pain

I tripped and fell today while playing. My nose and lips were bloody, and I cried and cried. Once I had calmed down, Daddy laughed at me and said that my swollen lips made me look like a proboscis monkey...