Once again i have decided to grace the pristine halls of the World Wide Web, drawing some inspiration from a near death experience to conjure up a coherent piece of writing that a couple of people would enjoy reading (myself being one, in typical egoistical splendour). The name of the blog has its roots firmly entrenched in the distasteful chocolate Fondue Hannah, Aparna and I consumed towards the end of the Lugano escapade, in a picturesque coffee house, beside a rather extravagant bathroom door. So lets rewind to the beginning of this trip, to station Arth-goldau, where two ex Singaporean college room-mates were discussing about the warm days in Switzerland unaware of the irony the "it was so nice and warm, at 3 degrees" remarks produced. Just two weeks in Switzerland, and it has already altered my perspective on temperature.
The speedy connecting train to Lugano was overcrowded with green men(think army.. not ET), so we selfishly opted for the slow but spacious option, extending the waiting time of our Italian travel companion by 45 mins. In the train,over small talk ,we consumed a bar of swiss chocolate to tame our mushrooming hunger. Upon arrival we instantly noticed that the people on this side of the country were a lot more "expressive", demonstrated by their bizarre hairdo and inordinate dressing. The women also seemed to possess strong vocals leaving only the soft feminine features to tell the difference between the two human forms. After meeting Aparna, who didn't seem too upset about our delay, thanks to Milan's forceful induction of tolerance, we proceeded to downtown Lugano for a night of partying. As we approached the beefy bouncer to enquire about the club's cover charge, we were surprised to learn that the clubs only opened past midnight. The bars and clubs in Lugano seemed to exhibit a symbiotic relationship (a new word for my vocabulary thanks to the two bio geeks), with the bars closing at around midnight coaxing its patrons into continuing their night out in a club. The night scene in Lugano was pretty enjoyable especially since it wasn't packed like the MOS stock exchange in Singapore. The next morning, Aparna kicked us out of bed with a combination of physical and verbal attacks. The weather was beautiful with the sun smiling at us, as we completed our 40 min trek to the top of a mountain. After spending some take some photos, jumping in the air etc, we made our way back down to the hostel to make plans for the evening. While we were sitting and formulating our plans.. we heard a knock...
.. it was Hannah, she had made it to Lugano despite the hangover and misplacing her phone from the previous night. Also to note, she miraculously acquired the directions to our room, despite giving the reception a highly inaccurate description.. "hi, I am looking for three Indian GIRLS! who checked in yesterday". With the addition of a fourth member, we whipped out the two bottles of wine we had secured earlier. The night was mostly spent talking about nothing in particular, and included a short walk to a nearby bar and back...
.. Next morning recharged and rejuvenated the four travelers wake up, looking forward to the exciting trek up another mountain. The glum weather called for an instant change of plans to visit the medieval town of Belinzona instead. This delighted the anti-mountain climbing member of the group, who would later learn that the trek was probably a better option. The train journey was pretty amusing with our resident photographer clicking away in paparazzi like fashion. We were also trying to imitate utk's classic expression but failing miserably. After ten attempts we managed a bleak similarity. As the train pulled over in Belinzone.. our "the sun never sets in belinzone" and "City of Castles" image was shattered beyond reconstruction. After much search we finally located the first of the three UNESCO castles... and raced up the stairs like hyperactive 14 year olds. The castle was filled with morbid sculptures. We walked about the castle for a bit.. and then set our goal to walk up to the THIRD castle which seemed a universe above this one. Utk in spite of dreading the thought of such a climb, sportingly participated in this adventure up.. to the second castle.. then to the final third. The view from the second and third Castle was breathtaking.. i shall omit the description and let the facebook pictures (which aparna will soon upload) do the talking. After taking in the view at the top, we made our journey down to the station, where utk left early since he wanted to be home before the snow piled up at his door. I on the other hand accompanied Aparna and Hannah back to Lugano, waiting for my Cinderella hour of 7 O'clock, as to avoid the swiss transport system from bankrupting me. We made our way to the coffee shop where we were to spend(or drop.. as some american influenced people would say) 18 francs on the highly disappointing Fondue...
... We made our way back on foot rather than on the "corn flake", which we should have taken atleast once. At the train station we were faced with a long ticking queue. To make matters worse.. the train left earlier than expected. So we left Aparna to buy the tickets, and raced back to the hostel to pick up the luggage.. this felt so much like the amazing race without the cash bounty. .. This is where we got almost knocked down by a speeding train. As it is, my heart rate was up from all the running.... this promised to make it stop. With no time to ponder on the near miss we continued running towards the platform and MADE IT! .. after seeing off Aparna n Hannah i went for a cold coke, and waited for my train home. I spent most of my journey dozed off to the side of the window..the station was approaching.. and I readied myself to drag myself out of the train, half spluttering drool from exhaustion and drowsiness. Finally i was home and Was glad to see my bed again.. even though littered with clothes and cables. I rummaged thru my bag for my toothbrush.. and found Hannah's bright blue trainers stuffed in my backpack instead.. poor girl.. she will now have to conduct her jogging sessions in flip flops :P
The speedy connecting train to Lugano was overcrowded with green men(think army.. not ET), so we selfishly opted for the slow but spacious option, extending the waiting time of our Italian travel companion by 45 mins. In the train,over small talk ,we consumed a bar of swiss chocolate to tame our mushrooming hunger. Upon arrival we instantly noticed that the people on this side of the country were a lot more "expressive", demonstrated by their bizarre hairdo and inordinate dressing. The women also seemed to possess strong vocals leaving only the soft feminine features to tell the difference between the two human forms. After meeting Aparna, who didn't seem too upset about our delay, thanks to Milan's forceful induction of tolerance, we proceeded to downtown Lugano for a night of partying. As we approached the beefy bouncer to enquire about the club's cover charge, we were surprised to learn that the clubs only opened past midnight. The bars and clubs in Lugano seemed to exhibit a symbiotic relationship (a new word for my vocabulary thanks to the two bio geeks), with the bars closing at around midnight coaxing its patrons into continuing their night out in a club. The night scene in Lugano was pretty enjoyable especially since it wasn't packed like the MOS stock exchange in Singapore. The next morning, Aparna kicked us out of bed with a combination of physical and verbal attacks. The weather was beautiful with the sun smiling at us, as we completed our 40 min trek to the top of a mountain. After spending some take some photos, jumping in the air etc, we made our way back down to the hostel to make plans for the evening. While we were sitting and formulating our plans.. we heard a knock...
.. it was Hannah, she had made it to Lugano despite the hangover and misplacing her phone from the previous night. Also to note, she miraculously acquired the directions to our room, despite giving the reception a highly inaccurate description.. "hi, I am looking for three Indian GIRLS! who checked in yesterday". With the addition of a fourth member, we whipped out the two bottles of wine we had secured earlier. The night was mostly spent talking about nothing in particular, and included a short walk to a nearby bar and back...
.. Next morning recharged and rejuvenated the four travelers wake up, looking forward to the exciting trek up another mountain. The glum weather called for an instant change of plans to visit the medieval town of Belinzona instead. This delighted the anti-mountain climbing member of the group, who would later learn that the trek was probably a better option. The train journey was pretty amusing with our resident photographer clicking away in paparazzi like fashion. We were also trying to imitate utk's classic expression but failing miserably. After ten attempts we managed a bleak similarity. As the train pulled over in Belinzone.. our "the sun never sets in belinzone" and "City of Castles" image was shattered beyond reconstruction. After much search we finally located the first of the three UNESCO castles... and raced up the stairs like hyperactive 14 year olds. The castle was filled with morbid sculptures. We walked about the castle for a bit.. and then set our goal to walk up to the THIRD castle which seemed a universe above this one. Utk in spite of dreading the thought of such a climb, sportingly participated in this adventure up.. to the second castle.. then to the final third. The view from the second and third Castle was breathtaking.. i shall omit the description and let the facebook pictures (which aparna will soon upload) do the talking. After taking in the view at the top, we made our journey down to the station, where utk left early since he wanted to be home before the snow piled up at his door. I on the other hand accompanied Aparna and Hannah back to Lugano, waiting for my Cinderella hour of 7 O'clock, as to avoid the swiss transport system from bankrupting me. We made our way to the coffee shop where we were to spend(or drop.. as some american influenced people would say) 18 francs on the highly disappointing Fondue...
... We made our way back on foot rather than on the "corn flake", which we should have taken atleast once. At the train station we were faced with a long ticking queue. To make matters worse.. the train left earlier than expected. So we left Aparna to buy the tickets, and raced back to the hostel to pick up the luggage.. this felt so much like the amazing race without the cash bounty. .. This is where we got almost knocked down by a speeding train. As it is, my heart rate was up from all the running.... this promised to make it stop. With no time to ponder on the near miss we continued running towards the platform and MADE IT! .. after seeing off Aparna n Hannah i went for a cold coke, and waited for my train home. I spent most of my journey dozed off to the side of the window..the station was approaching.. and I readied myself to drag myself out of the train, half spluttering drool from exhaustion and drowsiness. Finally i was home and Was glad to see my bed again.. even though littered with clothes and cables. I rummaged thru my bag for my toothbrush.. and found Hannah's bright blue trainers stuffed in my backpack instead.. poor girl.. she will now have to conduct her jogging sessions in flip flops :P
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