chocolate coated

Zurich, Switzerland
Switzerland has four official languages (German, French, Italian and Romansch)

By this stage, after travelling from Spain through Geneva and arriving in Zurich all in the space of 30hours, all the while trying to greet, thank you and apologise for walking into people in Spanish, then French and German respectively - I was horribly muddled and would blurt out “Gracias” rather than “merci” and “bonjour” instead of “Guten Tag”. If I’d stuck with English like Brad I would have made more sense to the locals. More often than not they speak English as a second language; not Spanglish or Frerman!

As criteria for every picture perfect Swiss town, Zurich has a lovely lake and river running through it. The cold front that was moving across Western Europe had well and truly caught up with us, bringing with it rain and resulting in wet shoes and enjoyment from the small mercies of packing extra socks and thermals. As such, we had planned to hire free bicycles to cycle to the Lindt factory, but opted for the train.



The Swiss consume approximately 86,899 tonnes of chocolate products was consumed in Switzerland in 2005. Ranking it first among the consumer countries, Switzerland has an average per capita consumption of 11.6kg, compared to Australia with an average of 4.4kg per person.

Even walking around the perimeter of the factory, you could smell sweet chocolate in the air. I could almost have done introductions: You factory; me Charlie. Unfortunately, with no golden ticket (the exhibition was closed for renovation and they no longer do tours) we were given a complimentary box of chocolates and directed to the shop. I was disappointed there were no samples, but it was cheap and we bulk-bought. Surprisingly, after 5 weeks Deev and I have only polished off one block out of our 15 or so (2.5kg; equivalent of 28% of our average yearly consumption).

After conquering another church spire and admiring the view, exploring streets of funky shops, adding to our souvenir collections and have a tea break, our time in Zurich came to an end like so many travel stories… at the train station.

j'habiterais ici

Geneva, Switzerland
belongs not so much to Switzerland as to the whole world. More than 40% of residents are non-Swiss, and this city of bankers, diplomats and transients has a seriously wordly 'flavour' [Lonely Planet]

I instantly liked Geneva. Although it's strongly European and the people speak french, it's certainly true about it being an International stage. Typically Swiss, everything is orderly and efficient, in that the trains run on time, they repeat the PA announcements in French, English and German and people are polite yet perfunctory. The city is very clean and the crisp weather made everything feel that much fresher which was a nice change (not better; just different!) from the slippery sunscreen feeling of warm weather singlet-wearing Benidorm.

We got our bearings on the first night wandering down to the lake (aptly named Lake Geneva) complete with Swans and in true-backpacker style feasted on kebabs for dinner. The next morning we hit the sights. The top of Cathedrale St-Pierre affords brilliant views including snow-capped mountains and it's picture perfect in every direction. In the photo above you can see the giant fountain, Jet d'Eau in the background which shoots water up at 200km/h; 140m up into the air. At any one time there is 7 tonnes of water in the air!

Unfortunately it was a fly-through visit this time so we didn't tick off other tourist destinations but made sure to soak up the atmosphere of the lakeside and shopping strip, including taking in the sights and smells of the many chocolate shops and having a leisurely coffee.

Phew! this update has been a long time coming and it's getting much more retrospective than I had wanted but bear with me and I'll fill you in on the rest of June.
Happy new financial year.
Write me!

donde esta espana?

22-29 May 2006
Benidorm, Spain
Right near Alicante on Spain's south coast, Costa Blanca, I found the English home away from home. A hub for the Northern Englishman to soak in the sun and laze on the sand without missing out on dinners of baked beans on toast at one of the many streets lined with pubs called dubious un-spanish names like The Yorkshire and Ye Olde English pub (or something in that vain!)

Though I can't deny Deev, Brad and I were there for the same thing - the sun, not the baked beans! We were lucky enough to have a lovely apartment organised by Deev's parents to stay in for the 7 days which was a 5 min stroll to the beach.

The week flew by doing nothing more than hanging out on deck chairs on the beach and by the pool, reading, shopping at the local markets, adding to our limited Spanish vocabularly (I can now say onion thanks to a helpful waiter), dancing at the clubs in Via de Mallorca and listening to Spanish radio - Europa FM, which is truly a decade behind. Anyone remember Frente?

We had a great time and enjoyed the spanish delights of paella and sangria but have vowed to come back to see the real Spain in Barcelona and Madrid.

Flying out on Monday 29th May from Alicante Airport; our next stop Switzerland.

next stop london

Here I am on the other side of the world, wondering how I got here and what I've been doing for the last 5 weeks... and you may just be asking the same question as I've been slow to get this blog organised and keep you updated.
First things first. The title. I'm open to witty suggestions! I was thinking 'Schelle is abroad' but thought heard spoken that could be less funny and more self-condemning ;-)

My first 2 weeks in London were spent navigating the tube and chuckling to myself at names of tube stations like Tooting Broadway and my favourite Elephant & Castle.

It's been so great to see Deev (best friend from school) and other friends from home Tami and Matt who are showing me the ropes. And Deev's been incredibly hospitable sharing her room... her A-Z... her food with me!

The photo is of Deev and I in the tube station at illustrious Shepherd's Bush.