Switzerland Part 2 - Zermatt

Was glad to have the Swiss pass. I think its about S$400+ for 5 day pass - gives unlimited train rides, local tram rides and also discounts to various attractions. So, quite value for money and must get - beats paying for each ride. The local tram rides costs at least S$3.50 per trip.

Zermatt

Its a pretty small village/town at the foot of the Matterhorn - nice cozy place with not accessible by cars only train.

Sights along the way from Geneva to Zermatt. The train system is sooo efficient and clean and nice. I like! if only the train system from singapore to malaysia was as good...

Arriving in Zermatt and immediatly checking into our apartment. The apartment had no reception, they merely left the keys on the tables with your name tagged to it. Self-service. Pple there must be really trusting to leave their keys lying around. We were so happy to see the kitchen for we can then have our own homecooked food!

Sights around Zermatt. Love the swiss house. So pretty and cottage like. If i had lots of money and land, i would want to build my house cottage style like these.

Purpose of going to zermatt's to see the Matterhorn - a higher peak or something like tat. And we can either view it from the village itself or take the tram up to like 2000m high to admire it at higher lands at same time experience the chiling weather up there. Due to the freezing weather, we stayed up there for only 15 minutes and took the next tram back down.

We then wandered around Zermatt. Its like dead town on Sunday. only a handful of shops are opened. Swiss ppl really value their leisure time. Good for them but bad for me and many other tourists who wanna shop. :P

Next stop: The Glacier Express

Switzerland Part 1

Back from the switzerland trip. First tots on the trip - expensive !!! everything was so expensive. a mac meal costs about S$15.

Anyway, due to lack of frens to 'document' the trip (aka no Lak to blog about it), i will write about it here so i can 'remember' it. Briefly: 2D Geneva, 1D Zermatt, 1D on Train, 1D Berne, 2DMilan, 1D Lucerne and 2D Geneva.

Geneva

We arrived in Zurich early morning and immediately took a 3hr train ride to Geneva. Train ride was comfy with push cart food service. A mere can of coke costs S$5! Anyway, lucky audrey brought snacks from Singapore and Mum got ikan bilis to munch throughout the trip.

Geneva's a pretty city and easy to walk around and felt a bit laid back. The streets are big enough, clean and not way too crowded. We planned to spend 2 days but turns out 1 full day should suffice. Due to the ample time we had, we had to 'ration our sightseeing' to make sure it lasted two days.

The key attractions includes that huge chair with broken leg (UN something), the huge water jet that goes up to 120+metre, the flower clock, 3statues @ the park, flea mart, old town and patek museum (my dad enjoied this the most). Wished i could write down the exact names of these places but i cant remember.

We also visted this church, St Chapelle ( i think that's the name), in the old town. Its a beautiful church and worth the money paying entrance fee to enter the towers - climb the narrow winding steps up where the view is breathtaking!

And 'they' say when in switzerland, the fondue is a must try. There are two type of fondue i learnt - cheese type with bread and oil type with meat (somewhat similar to our chinese steamboat except instead of soup, oil is used). And so we tried. Turned out to be our most expensive and unsatisfying meal for the entire trip. Bummer!

Next stop - Zermatt! The town without cars.

cuppa tea anyone?

experimented with a few new designs for the past few days and results were bad.. one failure after another. failure as in the completed craft was a pain to look at from the shape, size, fabrics etc.


i wanted to give up already ... take a break and start thinking of new designs when i return end of the month. and so i told myself.. ok , one last try, if it fails, it must be crafters block.. no problem.



and so... i have a success!!! Presenting the new cuppa tea zipper pouch!!!!!!

This time, instead of adding interface, i added a layer of soft cushioning to give it a nice soft touch. And added a 'teabag' at the zipper for additional realism - further stitched "tea" just in case its not so obvious.

its soooooo pwetttty!!!! i keep looking and admiring it. have shown it to my sample group - tyre, parents, brothers & sil and they all like it too!! YAY!!!!!

i will make this for the shoppe :D

Lak Cookout!

I love love love it when my frens cook for me/us. So far, there's tea who's the bbq expert, kay the chinese food expert and now, lak the ang moh food expert. me? i nominate myself as the steamboat expert :P

Lak's newfound interest's cooking and she's been cooking up a storm. Always see pictures of her foodies on her facebook and blog but never tasted it. So finally, last friday, we went over to hang out at her place with her foodies. There was pizza, wings and luncheon meat pasta. It was kinda rush for her to cook these cuz she had to work but by 9, we were all ready to dig in ! And my fave were the wings! They were marinated nicely and very juicy! Yumz!! i wanna eat the wings again!!!

Impromptu cruise trip

Took a 3D2N cruise trip withe the family last week to KL on Star Virgo. It was an impromptu trip - book and paid for it in the morning, then left at night. Nothing very interesting happened other than eat sleep and shop at kl. Brought the camera but took only these miserable few.

lucky i brought my craft supplies onboard and that kept me occupied in the room. this time, instead of the usual hexagon shapes which i do whenever i trave, i did yoyos instead. intend to turn them into coasters.. many many of them. i have already cut out and prepared to craft many more of these on my next trip. :D

Crafty long weekend!

I know i told myself to stay off crafting for the next two months and focus on the wedding and house things. But but... i just cant resist. I tried... the first night, i laze on my bed watching dvds thru the night... the second night, i did the same again ... soon, i felt so bored. I enjoy watching dvds especially those cantonese ones but i cant just sit and watch and do nothing else.

And so , i sucumb to crafting again. :D This time, i am back with a vengence - being more productive than ever. Plus, tyre's limping from strained leg so we were housebound. All the better to craft away day and night.

The first attempt was the failed boxy metal clasp pouch which i blogged about in earlier. And after that failed attempt, i decided to not waste efforts and go back to my favourite pattern.

This time, i crafted a range on fairytales for the card sized metal clasp purses. When i watched Kate & William got married on TV, i just tot " wow, this is like a fairytale come true. typically young girls grow up thinking they will marry a prince. And Kate did ! A Real Prince!"

So here's it, all 5 of them in fairytale prints. Can you identify them? Tyre cant :( .. and his excuse? " he had no childhood" :P so rubbishy.

(clockwise from top left: The Emperor's New Clothes, Pinnocchio, Hansel & Gretel, Alice in Wonderland, Little Red Riding Hood)

Then I also crafted metal clasp pouches slightly bigger than the card size purses. (It looks exactly the same other than the size.) I only made 5 of them cuz i realised i may not have enough of these frames to do much more. Anyway, i love the top right hand one the most - added a ribbon lace.

(clockwise from top left: The Nutcracker, Manuscript with ribbon lace, Alice in Wonderland, Kawaii shops, The Little Mermaid)

This size can fit those handy compact cameras, and even my 3gs iphone (a bit snug tho).

And just to share additional picture - i use the same sized pouch myself - been using this same one for like 2-3yrs? Its still in good condition :D i prob have like close to 20 cards inside, some receipts, some namecards and cash. Very handy!

This time, its really my last post on crafts for this month for i will be away again :D No way i can craft even if i want.. maybe i might just bring my hexagon patchies to do when i get bored on the journeys.

boxy metal clasp pouch gone wrong

I had seen a boxy shaped metal clasp pouch while shopping sometime back and tot of doing it. looks pretty enough and roomy too.

but .... it turned out to be a total wreck. its U.G.L.Y! guess i must have used the wrong metal clasp - i need one where the height's longer but cant seem to find it anywhere so made do with whatever i have on hand....

aiyah... wat a waste of time and effort :( ..spent a day doing it in vain :(

tau huay with sugar

another one of my fave's - tau huay with yellow sugar! YUMZ! Feel healthy eating it ... tho frens say its unhealthy and fattening eating it with sugar like that

Ms G introduced this way of eating tau huay while we were in HK. And so i bought extra packet of this yellow sugar back to have it with my tau huay. Unlike our normal white sugar that's crunchy and hard to bite, this has a nice coarse texture with a nice flavor.