Lukey and Louisey's Round-The-World Adventure

Double Dutch courage...

Well it has been a very hectic five days! Sorry it's been awhile... I'll just jump right in shall I? We left Pattaya in the beautiful tropical heat and entered Zurich and it's frosty -8 degree cold quite happily! We arrived at around 6am and after a fairly decent sleep on the plane, we were ready for anything. Caroline, a friend of Lukey's parents, picked us up at the airport and took us to her absolutely beautiful apartment just 15mins outside of Zurich. We were spoilt with a massive Swiss breakfast (HEAPS of cheese!) before we headed back into the city for some sightseeing. We went to the Swiss National Museum and looked through the collections they had there. (My fave was the Swiss Press Photo exhibition... think World Press Photo, but all Swiss photographers.) Extremely interesting. Then we wandered over to the Fraumunster, a church that has these amazing stained glass windows. And not your usual type. Really, really cool. We also took a walk through Bahnhofstrasse, which is the main shopping street (think Castlereagh St... the Rocks side) and I enjoyed the brief moments i was allowed in H&M. Then we took a leisurely walk through the Old Town and strolled amongst the cobblestones, cafes and funky boutiques. Freezing, but great fun! That evening we ate some more traditional Swiss cuisine, while Carolie hosted a really fab dinner party.

The next day Caroline organised for us to go up and down a mountain!!! We drove to the old village Caroline grew up in and the first stop was the house her parent's house. The scenery was so lovely. The country side was covered in snow. And her parents house was just as lovely. We arrived there and picked up her mum and some sledges... We headed up towards the mountains (there are mountains EVERYWHERE!) and stopped at the lifts that took us to the top of the mountain. We went up and when we got to the top it was just magnificent. We were overlooking the Seven Lords and it was really something. As a first time snow-goer, I was especially excited to hold, and throw, some snow! We then retreated to the cafe to fill up with some traditional coffees... they had some sort of schnapps in it and toped with cream! We needed this as we catapulted down the mountain side. Luke and I were on one sledge and Caroline and her mum were on another and what followed was a hilarious fall down the mountain. It was such terrifying fun! I really thought I was going to break my leg. In fact the only person who didn't come out with an injury was Luke! (Miracle, I know.) Such good fun though. Falling in snow is so much better than just falling on the ground. We headed back home exhausted, but satisfied with our snow adventure.

The following day, Luke and I decided to go see some more of the country side and travelled down to Lucerne and Interlaken. Again so many mountains and snow! It was all so lovely. I really enjoyed Lucene. We went and visited the famous Lion monument and had fun in the Glacier Museum. The best bit was the mirror maze. And funnily enough it was modelled in the form of the Allhambra in Granada, Spain... you all know Granada don't you? It was really fun though. We kept walking into the mirrors! Our next stop was Interlaken. (Which literally means "inbetween lakes".) So beautiful. Everything about Switzerland is pretty and Interlaken was no exception. The mountains felt as though they were leaping out at you! They were so close! And on either side, the town was surrounded by lakes. Really lovely. A bit touristy, but I guess there is a reason for that. Just spectacular scenery. By the time we made it back we were completely drained. Our last night in Switzerland was a sleepy one!

The next morning, Caroline took us to the fozen lake nearby to have a looksie and a walk over before we headed to the train station for Amsterdam. There were plenty of school kids and adult kids alike skating, playing hockey and generally falling over. A surprisingly amazing feeling walking on solid water. In my head I was paranoid we were going to fall through, but luckily we survived! We then had to rush to the train staion as were on the verge of missing our train! We made it though and what followed was a nine and half hour train trip to Amsterdam with an hour stopover in Frankfurt. We arrived late in the evening so just checked into the hotel and prepared for the big day ahead. The next day was massive! We woke up early and had breakfast and headed to the Anne Frank Huis. So full on. Really just an amazing experience to see the house. And such a tragic story. A big reccomendation if you are ever in Amsterdam. Then we went over to the Van Gogh Museum, which was equally amazing. Some really fantastic artwork in there. Just a breathtaking and impressive collection. After the museum we wandered and got lost in the streets, but weren't too worried. It was fun seeing all of Amsterdam and its canals and cute little houses! It had such a great vibe! We finally made it to the Heineken Brewery and were ready for what ended being a really lame Heineken Experience. But funny at the same time! And we got three free beers each and a free beer glass! I love souvenirs! Then it was Dam Square next for some more sights and some shopping! (I love Zara!) Finally we made our way to the Sex Museum because everyone says you should go there if you are ever in Amsterdam. It's pretty gross if you ask me and unintentionally hilarious too. It shows you sex through the ages. We didn't spend much time in there. Probably a whole lot better if you are a group of boys or something. We walked back to the hotel through the Red Light District (just to keep in theme), but were dissapointed to see just a bunch of curtains. Oh well. We managed to get a bit of a peek during the day when there were girls looking freezing in bikinis on the job... I guess. So that was a really big day and ended with us falling asleep at 9 o'clock! (Well I did anyway. Luke was engrossed with the plasma tv we had in our room!)

Today we left Amsterdam for Laag Kepel, a small village south of Holland. We are staying with some of Luke's family and having a good time taking it easy! To say we have done a bit is a bit of an understatement!

posted by Louise and Luke @ 1:32 AM