Waiter-in-training

When I was in Penang, I came across a cute little waiter. We were having dinner (at New Lane, for those who know it), and as we sat down, this boy came up and asked us, "Have you ordered drinks yet?" (Kio chui liao boey?) And when we said we hadn't, he asked, "What would you like to drink?" (Ai hamik chui?)

And I was thinking that he was going to ask someone to take our order! :P

Anyway, his mother came along at that time, and acted as "back-up".

When the drinks came, he brought a glass...I had my camera ready and tried to get a picture, but I was too late and he had retreated. (the photo came out blurred and he was half hidden) But later I managed to get a slightly better photo (zooming in through the crowd).


It's the kid in the orange shirt! May he grow up to be as adorable as he is now! ♥

Lucern: Part 1

The bridge, the lion and the glacier garden. Sounds like Narnia, doesn't it? (I mean "the witch, the lion and the wardrobe"; not that I know much about the story itself, I only know the title)

When we returned from visiting Zurich and Bern on Sunday, it was still light enough to sightsee. So we decided to visit what we could that day (just in case it rained heavily the next day).

an arch in front of the train station (this photo was taken the day we arrived, when it was raining more heavily)

a ship on the lakeside

lake Lucern
On the other bank is Hof Church (the two pointed towers). We didn't go to see it up close; it was a bit out of the way.

Seebrücke (the bridge closest to the lake) with the train station beyond it (this was taken from the end of the Chapel Bridge). The two previous photos were taken from the bank in front of the train station.

the Chapel Bridge (landmark of Lucern) with its Water Tower (octagonal and more than 34 metres high, it was used as archives, treasury, prison and torture chamber. Though I wonder where exactly is the chamber...)

the side of the bridge, all the way to the other end

view from the bridge
The two green domes belong to the Jesuit Church, the first large sacral Baroque building in Switzerland (not that I really know what a Baroque building is :P )

on the bridge

another view from the bridge (the building on the hills looks like a palace, but I'm not sure what it is)

We met a poor shepherd standing in the rain, so my father shared his umbrella while we took a photo :P

Mount Pilatus in the distance (this is on the way to our hotel)

The next day (our final day in Switzerland), we set out early to complete our visit of Lucern.

Lowenplatz; we were on our way to see the lion of Lucern!
(we took the bus from the train station to Lowenplatz, because we had the Swiss Pass. We could easily have walked too)

a Swiss cow-bell...well, not exactly, but it's a bell with a cow on it, so what do you call it?
In the little streets between Lowenplatz and the lion, there were several souveir shops, and this kinda caught my eye :P

this is the dying lion of Lucern (see the arrow piercing it?) We can't approach the statue because of the lake (probably man-made). I just like the flowers that way :P

the Glacier Garden is just beside the lion statue

Some photos of what the glaciers left behind:

That was the glacier garden; the hut is the entrance. Entry was free, probably thanks to the Swiss Pass as well.
Look at the left of the photo, they even included a bear in the exhibit (stuffed, perhaps), I wonder why. This isn't Bern, after all :P

ooh...and I saw some cute and fluffy things :P
I didn't mention it, but there was a teddy bear museum as well, attached to the glacier garden (more pics of that later)

The glacier garden probably ended there, but there was also a glacier museum. (I don't know whether the museum was considered the "garden")

fossils!

starfish tracks (never thought I'd see such a thing)

more fossils

bird tracks this time

There was also a mammoth skeleton and a dead mammoth (the skeleton was real but not the mammoth, if my memory serves me correctly), but they're rather ugly so I don't think I shall post the photos here.

we could try being cavemen and/or ride a mammoth

I rode a mammoth! lol

Next we went into the bear museum (which was in the same building, there wasn't really much separation between the two museums), but I will leave that for another post, since this one is already rather long!

Bern, the bear city

From Zurich, we went straight to Bern without returning to our "base" in Lucern.

It was rather rainy there as well, but less so than in Zurich.

the Bern train station

a building we saw as we came out of the train station

the tram stop right in front of the station

this should be Spitalgasse (the road, I mean), according to the map

the Käfigturm (cage tower), Bern's (new) main gate

the Bundeshaus (home of the government and parliament) on a small square

with this building on its left

and this on its right

the city orchestra

a casino, as you can see for yourself

on a sort of platform beside the river

bear statues

The city's emblem is the bear, because it is the first animal the Duke who founded Bern caught while hunting as the city was being built.

another statue

the tower in the distance belongs to the Münster

and here's the face of the building

another building on the square, I wonder what it is

on the same square (Münsterplatz)

a flag-filled street leading away from the square

Kramgasse, with the Zytglogge (or Zeitglockenturm) at the end of the road. This clock tower was the city's first gate. After the city expanded, the other tower (the one in the earlier photo) became the new gate.

Einsteinhaus

the view of the river Aare (that curves through Bern) at a bend

the Bärenpark, where there are two bears who recently (in February, actually, so it was recent when we were there in May) had two cubs

unfortunately I only saw a single bear when we were there

My father went over to the other side of the park and got this photo. Maybe it was a different bear.

there was some kind of racing event opposite the Bärenpark when we were there, so there were quite a number of people around (it was a Sunday)

Remember that the city's emblem is a bear? I guess that's why this cute one was sitting in a display case.

Oh, and not forgetting...a Swiss card.

Then we returned to Lucern. By the time we arrived in Lucern, it was 5pm...and that will be for the next Switzerland post.