Call me crazy.... 'cause i am!

basel fasnacht! every year in february, basel and luzern hold fasnacht (carnival) which is similar to the carnival in venice. people wear masks, music is played and its meant to be a great event! so heres the deal. we went to sara's house for dinner and we stayed there until we had to get the 1.06am train to zurich and then the 2am (extra zug!!) directly into basel.

now i dont know about sara and lacey but i knew if i had no sleep before midnight i was going to be cranky so i went to bed at 8pm then woke up again at midnight. oh my goddddddd. it felt like a dream crawling out of bed slapping a mask of make up on and trekking through the pitch black dark to the train station. not only did it rain so by the time i got there i looked like a panda bear but there were so many other freaks out here doing the same thing. it was below freezing and literally the middle of the night and i was going to basel. what were we thinking???

by the time we arrived there i was grumpy and i was tired but i was excited to see what all the hoo haa was about. so we followed the thousands of people into the city centre and waited. we waited and then we waited some more. herds of people were lining the street, im telling you it was like we were going to watch an olympic marathon. ...... and then even though it was pitch black dark they turned off all the lights and power at 4am. it was starting!

now i was expecting fireworks, some cool music, something a bit fancy!!!!

no. it was a gazillion people with weird-ass costumes on blowing into wannabe flutes and smashing onto drums like there life depended on it. forever. it didnt stop. it was like minus 50 degrees, there were people bashing into us like they wanted to mow us down and there was this music (if you could call it that) blaring full volume before the sun had even come up. people were taking photos, cheering, getting all excited and all i could think of was "this is not real" before passing out from exhaustion we found a shop that was open and selling fasnacht foods. flour suppe (that looked like mud) and kasewahe (cheese keish) which was pretty good for some sort of dinner slash breakfast at stupid o'clock. we hugged the chairs for a while and then we ventured out again hoping to find some sort of excitement in the still dark streets.

nope there was none so we went home. i didnt care by that stage. we were cold, tired and disappointed at fasnacht and bed seemed like a way better deal at 6am. so we arrived back at sara's at about 9.ish got under the covers and slept until about 1pm.

i am never trying to be cultural again. i feel like i have jetlag now but i dont have an amazing trip to show for it. OH WELL i think i am just being a whiner because now my body clock is messed up but a warning to all readers - DONT GO TO FASNACHT IN BASEL IF YOU LIKE YOUR BED!!

Blogmaniaaaaaa

seeing as i am probably going to die soon i thought i better jump on the blog bandwagon and fill all you people in on my little adventures recently. but no seriosuly i have a "stomach infection" so i am at home while my family is in st moritz (boo hoo) but i think i have been misdiagnosed so if i am not better by like tomorrow i am suing for malpractice (kidding) but i will be back at the doctors to get some more meds!!
between getting my tooth pulled out and getting a hefty bill of 4000 francs and my fondue eye that i recently recovered from i think this country is out to get me. the kids have chicken pox at the moment and it wouldnt surprise me if i eneded up with shingles soon. back home i was never sick, yea a runny nose or whatever but none of these foul diseases or missing teeth..... ANYWAY!! im over it but seriously i cant wait to be healthy again, the only good thing about this whole sickness business is the fact that i get to sit on my bum (or lay in my bed) and blog. oh and not eat which cant hurt a person!
well last week i was in samedan (the mountains house) and my christmas present from my family was a ski lesson. now i was freaking out. i thought i was going to break a leg or something but i really enjoyed it! i am not like a full on olympianand i was soooo slow but i was doing it and i wouldnt mind doing it again if someone else paid for it as its really expensive. the following days were torture as my body felt like it had been run over by a truck but i was so proud of myself for going out of my comfort zone and i only fell over once!
then the weekend rolls around and lacey, amanda and i head off to amsterdam. there was a fear that my head would explode as i hadnt checked with my dentist if i could fly yet but no pains yet (besides the rest of my body) so i think its safe to say i will be ok!! mmmm amsterdam.....
the venice of the north. thats putting it nicely. while there is plenty on museums and pretty canals there it wasnt my scene. the city is tarnished by all the people who go there to take drugs and smoke weed. the whole time we were there the sky was a dull gray and i wasnt sure if it was bad weather or the haze of pot smoke. every breath i took i inhaled marijuana and every second person i saw in our hostel was high on something.
as for our living arrangements i wouldnt send my worse enemy there, especially if they have an issue with heights, cleanliness or bad smells. the staircase was like a ladder (which was fun with my 20kg bag) the room was so not cleaned in the last 3 years and the acrid smoke seeping out from under the door of the room next door was foul!
lacey and i werent well majority of the trip so it kind of minimised our exploring ambitions but we did see what i wanted to which included:
anne frank house: after being there i am going to read the book. what an amazing story and to be in the house her family hid in was so surreal
van gogh museum: a really nice museum with lots to see. we studied his work at school so it was cool to see some originals (or at least i think they were originals)
heineken experience: was in an original brewery. they have made this tour so much fun with rides, free beer, interesting history and a cute little free gift at the end. a must see if u dare go to amsterdam
rijksmuseum: if i was a museum person this would be a good one. they held lots of rembrandts work and this is the netherlands national museum.
we also went to coster diamonds where we went on a FREE tour about diamonds and got ripped off on a 10 euro canal ride but at least we did it.
the red light district was a treat - i think all the guys i know would love this strip but the only word i can think of when i think off this street is repulsed. there were girls just in windows making googly eyes at people and doing these little dances that i guess were supposed to be sexy. amanda was appaled and what made me feel gross was seeing men come out of these little windowy things with a job just finished. like i know its legal but where is your respect???
so anyway - thats me finished being a prude and i am sure amsterdam would look a lot prettier on a sunny day and when i wasnt feeling so unwell. all in all though it was a great holiday because i got to spend time with my two best friends here lacey and amanda and we really were so good to each other even when we were feeling our worse. one of the things i did love about amsterdam though was that in all the museums you could send free video mail to people back home so i hope i got my emails right and at least some people got a video from me!
bis spater and until next time, megz xoxo

The home of Crepes ()()() Yum!

so this post is at least a month overdue seeing as i went to paris on the 17th of JANUARY but i guess its better late than never. laceys blog is so up to date so i feel it is my duty to document my time here a little bit better like her!
paris!! well after catching the nightmare of a nighttrain to the train station and arriving at 7am (while it was still dark) i decided to just hang out in the station for a bit and wait for the sun to come up before i made my way to my hotel which by the way was in the red light district of paris and who knows when these people stop working.
thankfully where we were staying was ok, now not the 5 star luxury i preferred but it was clean and when the lift was working it was ok! breakfast was fresh and we were right near a metro so it was all good.
places that we saw included:
sacre couer: which was absolutely amazing. i loved how the outside changed colour as the clouds moved because the church is made of marble. i could have sat there for days if it hadnt been for those black dudes selling those silly string bracelets infesting the sidewalk.
moulin rouge: not that i have seen the movie but i was expecting a bit more wow. it was good to grab a few happy snaps out the front but could have been missed
the louvre: the whole time i just kept thinking of the da vinci code and on my return to switzerland i did hire the movie out! jai jai and i went on a friday night when it was free and it was really interesting and surreal to be in such a world famous museum. if it wasnt for the sweltering heat in there we may have stayed a bit longer but we saw what we wanted to see such a venus de milo and the mona lisa so that was enough
notre dame: shame about the gloomy weather but it is such an impressive structure. amanda later mentioned that we could have climbed the top but it was raining so i didnt (thats my excuse anyway)
versailles: after about an hour train ride to versailles we hopped off to see one of the biggest castles ever! it was amazing in here and unbelievable that people actually lived this kind of lifestyle. sadly the gardens werent nearly as spectacular as people said but that was because we were there in january, so once the fast train from zurich to paris is operational i think i will go back for a weekend so i can be wowed!
the eiffel tower: i was there!!! the magnitude of being at such a world famous structure was amazing. millions of people go up this tower every year and i was one of them. we took so many photos at night, in the day and on the eiffel tower it was great! being first in line to go up on the sunday morning was the best idea ever also. though the wind factor once up there was enough to make u want to head right back down! the view though was great and thankfully when we were there it was sunny!
i am sure i am forgetting things we saw but obviously these were the places that stuck in my mind. we did a tour too called sightsee paris which i hightly recommend. we ate far too many crepes with caramel (or carmel as lacey and amanda say) nutella, lemon and sugar and god knows what else but i had the best time and jai jai is such a good travelling partner. shes gone back home to australia now but i hope we can do another trip one day. even around australia! being o/s has made me realise how little of australia i have seen and we do live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world so we should appreciate and explore it.

well ciao for now, megz xox

(ps thats me on the eiffel tower!!!)