Monday, 24th April 2017 I had only the morning to explore the city of Geneva proper before continuing my journey on the train to Interlaken in the afternoon. I was up rather early this morning which was okay considering that my hotel room wasn't that comfortable anyway. I headed straight to the Main Station where I caught a tram to the United Nations Office. This was where I took pictures outside the main gates. Overlooking the Broken Chair Sculpture, this is a must-see Geneva icon for me. I also walked to the nearby International Red Cross Museum and took more pictures of the buildings. Since the museum is closed on Mondays (which was a pity), I wasted no time to head back to the city centre to have a quick breakfast followed by some grocery shopping ... read more

Saturday, 22nd April 2017 Breakfast at the Sovereign Hotel was a sumptuous affair with 3 varieties of sausages, well-cooked veggies, salads and plenty of breads to choose from. From the hotel, we mapped out our walking route to cover most of the Old Town sites on foot. The only place that required public transport was our journey to Petrin Tower via the iconic funicular from Ujezd Station. The Old Town is littered with monuments, private museums and dark towers. We chanced upon Henry's Tower which we thought it was the Powder Tower initially. Anyway, both towers looked rather similar and the Henry's Tower made some nice memories when photographed against the charming red trams that crisscrossed the city. Very soon, we made our way to the famed Old Town Square where the famous Astronomical Clock and ... read more

Thursday, 20th April 2017 Early this morning, with the skies still drizzling, we were off to the Holocaust Memorial Center to pay our tribute to the Hungarian Jews who were exterminated during the Second World War. Like the concentration camp experience in Dachau, the visit was a sobering one as it presented chronological history of the Jews from the 1930s right up to the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" in 1945. Anyone interested in this part of WWII history should not give the Center a miss during their stay in Budapest. After completing our visit at the exhibition gallery, we hung around at the synagogue for a while to calm our nerves before moving on to our lunch venue. Café Central was selected after reading some great reviews of the place. We ordered two mains ... read more

Tuesday, 18th April 2017 What I liked about this whole visit experience was to be able to stand right in the middle of the Memorial Plaza overlooking the row of flags that represents the 193 Member States as we commenced our 11am tour. For me, there was this magical feeling as though we were standing in the middle of the cross-roads to the world. Since 1979, this group of UN Building Cluster along the banks of Danube River forms part of the Vienna International Centre precinct. Visiting the UN Offices wasn't part of our original plan and this was really a "bonus" that we managed to cover during our 3 days in this city. During our 1 hour tour, we were brought to the various buildings of the UN Office. The guide took us through an ... read more

Monday, 17th April 2017 All my life, I never like to use the term "Café Hopping". To me, visiting a café should be a very relaxing affair where you catch up with good friends over hot meals, pastries and a nice cup of coffee. "Café Hopping" literally sounds like a really rush affair where you visit one café after another for the sake of visiting and probably snapping yet another "been there done that" instagram experience. Dinner tonight was at Café Museum, a very lovely place located at the heart of Karlsplatz Station. Our previous experience at Café Sperl (which we didn't manage to dine in the end) gave us some insights on the Café Culture in Vienna. In a nutshell :- We find our own choice seats (free seating). There would probably be nobody to ... read more