SoRMuiJAi: Switzerland

I hate 6am wake up calls. I guess the good thing was we didn't have a hangover this morning. It must've been the Chianti wine. They're supposed to be of such good quality and low in preservatives it doesn't give you a hangover. I guess that means more wine tonight.

Breakfast - Evil version

Breakfast - Good version

After breakfast, we all bundled into the tour bus to head off to Pisa. Whilst on the bus, Cabbage Patch decided to give us all a lesson in Italian. Whilst it was good to learn some basic Italian, this set off Maria, our fellow Italian (who doesn't speak Italian) to keep screaming NO!! NO!!! NO!!! The entire trip! Because if you say "No." to an Italian, they won't listen to you. You have to be forceful and say "NO!!!!". So she spent a good hour practising that and screaming at everyone. Then when cabbage Patch told us about the Gypsies at Pisa who harrass you to buy things, it set Maria off on another "NO!!!" fit. When we finally pulled into the PISA car park, I swear I was about to break her nose. Not only did I have to get up at 6am, I haven't had a coffee yet.

We jump off the bus when we're greeted by a Disneyland like train that will take us to the actual Leaning Tower of Pisa. We bundle in and 5mins later, we're outside the wall to the Leaning Tower of Pisa (LToP). The place is full of stalls basically selling crap. We bypassed them and headed off towards LToP where we're given a meeting time and place. There's an option to climb to the top of the LToP, but only 15-20 people can go up at any one time, and they have set times you can go up, and you need to pay. It was just too much effort this early in the morning. I turn around and almost knock the 81y.o couple over in the rush to get some coffee. We dash into the first bar we see and screamed for 2 espressos and 2 cappucinos. That's right, we're doubling up. Probably a bad idea since we didn't check the prices before ordering and ended up paying twice the price. But seriously, who cares at this time of the day.

After our coffee, we decided to do a quick pit stop at the toilet before sightseeing. I walk into the female toilets, and walked into the only cubicle that wasn't locked, took one look and went "shit". No, I literally mean "shit". The whole toilet seat was covered in shit. Someone must've had too much curry and didn't get to the toilet in time, and it was disgusting! I couldn't run out of there fast enough. I almost knocked a chick over when I was running out. I screamed at her that it was disgusting inside, but she didn't listen and pranced into the toilet in her pretty little white skirt. Well, when she came out 10secs later, her face was as white as her skirt.

I grabbed Moishii and ran out of there. Taking photos will help clear my mind, and that's exactly what we did:

The day started off very cloudy....

Which quickly cleared up!

Leaning Tower of Pisa!

And guess what, we actually met an asian couple who could take decent photos. When we ask them to take a photo of us, they know AUTOMATICALLY like any normal person should, to take a photo of us AND the LToP behind us. Unlike the other knobs we've had...

Anyway, we did a few random postcards and fridge magnet shopping before heading back to the meeting point. As I climb onto the Disney train, I trip and slam my camera lens into the window. Thank god I didn't break anything. So we're about to leave when Maria suddenly decides to jump off the train and stand on the road eating a watermelon. For christ sake woman! We're leaving and you're eating??

When she had finally satisfied herself, we headed back off to the bus where the next stop was Lugano, the Swiss lakes. We did a pit stop at another AutoGrill where I had a gorgeous sandwich, a smooth aromatic coffee and the most divine crossiant I've EVER had. The crossiant had just come out of the oven, so it was warm and crispy, and inside the light and airy crossiant, was a dab of the most gorgeous marmalade. OH MY GOD THIS IS GOOD! I wish I was able to bring a dozen back with me!!

As usual, we browsed around the AutoGrill where I bumped into Good Old. We're chatting and walking, when suddenly I spotted a stand of the Winx Club dolls. Whats the Winx Club? Its a kid cartoon involving fairies. My niece absolutely loves the Winx Club, and for Xmas last year, she had asked for a Winx Doll, but Winx Club ain't that popular in Australia, so I only managed to buy a tiny figurine. I was telling this story to Good Old and how I should really buy one of these full sized dolls for my neice. They even had a Mermaid Fairy! Before I could finish talking, she yelled that she should buy one for her niece, and off she was to the counter with a Winx doll under her arms. That was easy to get her to spend..... 2mins later, she's standing in the car park having a complete domestic with her hubby about the Winx Doll. God, what did I start? I made a hasty retreat to the bus and decided to let the 2 of them go at it over 25euros. I didn't want to get in the way, especially when Good Old had the "clouds of thunder" look on her face.

We hop back onto the bus where Moishii stashes 3L of water we just bought into the overhead racks. Little did I know, he was too lazy to tie the plastic bag up. So as we're nearing the Switzerland border, the road got bumpy and all you can hear is the water bottles bumping around up above us.

Heading towards the Swiss Alps

I tell Moishii, who was sitting in the aisle to take the bottles down, or atleast tie the bag up. He insisited it was ok, more like he was too lazy to do it. So we're driving along, and the whole time I can hear the bottles bouncing on the overhead rack. Each bump I hear gives my heart a little jolt. After a few minutes, even Moishii looked worried, but he still refused to get up. The bus finally slows down a bit, so he gets up to tie the bag up so the bottles can roll everywhere, but still left it in the overhead. This probably made it worse since the bottles were bouncing in unison. So if one bottle falls, both bottles will fall. Thats 3kgs of water! And if it fell, it will fall directly onto the head of the 81y.o. couple. I tell Moishii to take the bottles down and put them under our seats, but again, he refused. That is until there was one big bump that almost had the bottles tumbling out from the overhead. He agreed that the next time the bus stops, he'll bring them down.

So we pull up to the border of Switzerland and Moishii finally removes the bottles of water, stopping me from having a heart attack as to when we'll break the 81y.o's skull. Cabbage Patch jumps off to go organise our passing through the border, when the Swiss Financial Guards jumped onto the bus and immediately demanded to see Moishii's passport. I offered them mine as well, but they didn't even take a second glance. They went through his passport, looked at the people on the bus (not their passports) and left. Of all people, they singled him out! They must've thought he was a terrorist. I did tell him to shave and not flash his chest like that.

We finally make it into Lugano without further incident. We make a quick stop off at a shop where we managed to score a free Rolex Swiss silver spoon. We were the first to line up for the spoons, and Cabbage Patch says its one per couple only, not one each. So we grabbed a spoon and quickly dashed off to line up for the toilet. This is when we find out that there is only one male and one female toilet. Luckily I was next in line, but still waited a good 5-10mins. Meanwhile, someone said the spoons were one each, so I sent Moishii back to grab another one.

Once we had our toilet break, we wandered off to search for Swiss chocolates. We walked for a good 10mins and still wasn't able to locate the department store Cabbage Patch had told us about. It was only when we back tracked that we realised we walked past it because it was too crowded with people earlier. We walked in and I'm immediately shocked to a standstill with the massive wall of chocolates!! CHOCOLATES! I don't have a sweet tooth, but when presented with that much chocolate, I just wanted to go on a shopping spree.

One of the many walls of chocolate

Moishii picked up a tin box of Lindt chocolate and went to the counter to ask how much it was in Euros. We basically didn't want to exchange any Swiss Francs and decided to pay euros instead. Moishii comes running back screaming it was 60euros for the tiny box he was holding. I kept asking him if he's sure its not 6 euros, he kept insisting the woman said 60 euros. I took the chocolates over to ask, and she confirmed it was 6 euros. FFS, some people really don't listen.

I ended up buying a big bag of chocolates before heading off for some sight seeing of Lugano. Its soooooo relaxing in Lugano. The cool fresh air, the peacefulness of the lakes was the perfect way to enjoy my dark chocolate gelato. MmmMmmm

How peaceful does that look?

A baby German Shepard enjoying the view

Group photo with our favourite people

We bumped into Good Old and her Hubby and thought we should take a photo together. For some reason, her Hubby decided to let go of his walking stick that almost fell into the water if I didn't grab it! There was a German couple that took the photo for us, and they asked us to take a photo of them. And everytime we took a photo, they kept yelling saying we need to take it again. Apparently they're the type who would prefer to have their entire body in the photo (Feet and all) and have their face so small you couldn't see in the photo because their faces are so dark. Meh, if they like it taken that way.

We walked back to the bus when Ron shows us his brand new 150euro watch that they bought at the store. I think he bought the watch to spite Good Old over the Winx Doll. On the way back through the border towards the Italian Lakes, we had to stop again. And AGAIN, Moishii had his passport checked. I swear he's looking more and more like a terrorist each hour he doesn't shave.

Awhile later, we pull into our hotel by Lake Maggiore. We're given our keys and we head to our room. The minute I walk through the door, I could see through the partly covered balcony. OMG! We have a balcony!! That's a plus already because we usually have really shitty rooms. I open the door fully as Moishii is struggling to get through the door when I start screaming for a camera. Moishii, not knowing what was going on, drops everything in a panic. WE HAVE A VIEW!!!!!!!

Lake Maggiore

OMG!!! We never get a view! We usually get a view of pipes or a brick wall. THIS TIME WE HAVE A VIEW!!!

And suddenly, the doors on all the other balconies open, and the rest of our tour mates walk out onto their balconies. I started screaming "WE HAVE A VIEW!!", so they started screaming "WE HAVE A VIEW TOO!!!". Next thing you know, I've climbed onto the table (3 floors up) to take a group photo of everyone.

And not only do we have a view, we have a MASSIVE balcony because our room is in the corner of the building. LOOK AT THE SIZE OF OUR BALCONY!!

The other HALF of our balcony - can you even see Moishii?

And guess who were our neighbours? That's right. Good Old and her hubby! This is going to be interesting. We were chatting and tell them what a weird room we have because of the way the beds are arranged. Suddenly Good Old invited us over to their room to see. So we literally jumped the railing onto their balcony and explored their room. Then they did the same to our room. hehe

We finally got our luggage delivered to our door and grabbed a quick shower before heading off to dinner. We shared a table with Diane and Will, and surprisingly, they were really lovely people and we had a great time chatting to them. We had great italian food and a great view.

View from the dinner table

Pasta Bolognese

Grilled fish, potatoes and the BEST tasting carrots I have EVER had in my life!

Chocolate pudding

After a satisfying meal, we decided to take a stroll around the lake for a few photos before heading back to our room to hit another bottle of wine.

How Italian of us

After awhile, Good Old came out onto the balcony and the both of them decided to join us for a nice little chat. We convinced Good Old to have a glass of wine with us and told her to go grab a glass from the toilet. She turns to walk into her room and starts waving her arms around like a lunatic. What the hell? After a few seconds, we realised she was trying to open the sliding door. The only problem was, the door was already open!! *sigH* this is going to be an interesting night.

So we're chatting and sipping on our wine, when Ron starts telling us about this one time he was teaching his students and he spent the entire day standing there with his fly open. I don't even know how that got brought up, but it was just too weird for me. Suddenly there was a spider on the balcony and I had a panic attack, grabbed Moishii's deoderant and sprayed it. Well that ended the night. Atleast we got a few nice night photos: