My Song

I like this song.. but I can’t find the tune to it online.

My Song

Thou whom seraphs joy in praising,
Thou whom heavenly hosts adore,
Can my stammering tongue be silent
When I owe Thee so much more?

Chorus:

So, my song must swell the chorus
While the angels’ praises ring;
I, poor sinner, saved and pardoned,
Have more cause than they to sing.

Ever have they known Thy beauty,
Ever stood before Thy throne;
But I wandered from Thy presence
Separated and alone.

All undone by sin and evil
Child of condemnation, I.
Yet Thou laid aside Thy glory
And for me came down to die.

Heir of heaven Thou has made me,
Bought me with Thy precious blood;
Took the form of man upon Thee
That I might be child of God.

Some random shots from my handphone

One of my dinners in Geneva

Saw this giant Toblerone in the Swiss supermarket! compare it to the size of my finger. My finger was touching it.

Fried sweet and sour chicken that I made 2 nights ago.

Klaipeda

For starters, Klaipeda is the sea-port town of Lithuania located along the Baltic Sea. I am here for 2 days but I realised that I chose a wrong day to be here. On the 23rd, all shops are open for half day and on the 24th all are closed. And why? Because it’s the summer solstice. It’s the longest day of the year and there is a celebration going on on the night of the 23rd and on the 24th it’s a city holiday. Well, at least today I went to the places I want to go and walked around Old Town. Tomorrow, I’ll see if I can go to the beach to have a glimpse of the Baltic Sea. It’s one of my dreams to see the Baltic Sea so I really have to see it before I go home to Singapore. And after that I guess my trip to Lithuania is more or less done. Some good byes to be said and then it’s time to pack to go home. Finally, I’m going home.

Mormons..

I met Mormons for the 1st time and it wasn’t them approaching me but me approaching them. Well, actually I did not know that they were Mormons. I saw them kind of lost in the area of my hostel so I went to help them. They were an elderly couple dressed prim and proper and were going to a friend’s house for dinner and well, I could have guessed that they were from Utah and yes they were.. since most Mormons come from there as they were driven to ‘exile’ to Utah during the fledgling years of the Mormon movement. So while talking, they passed me one pamphlet and when I saw Church of Latter-day Saint, the reaction in my mind was ‘OH.. They better not evangelise to me.’ Cos I wasn’t the least prepared for a debate in this crappy weather. But well, they didn’t and I was spared. But I still spoke with them for I just took them as normal human beings instead of performing a religious discrimination.

But what I took from here is that they had a pamphlet/tract on hand to give to anyone who approached them. I wonder how many of us Christians actually have a tract always ready to pass to a friend/a stranger? I never did it before. I know my dad puts some in his car. Some of the taxi drivers in my church put tracts in their cabs. It’s a workable idea just that we never tried it before. Just start with giving one and soon you can work your way up and give more. GIve one today, give 2 tmr and so on and so forth. I’m sure one day, one tract will work its way to the heart and mind of the person. I hope i can try this when I get home. But we will see.

Coming to the end

I’m almost at the end of my Swiss Journey. I will only put my photos up on Facebook. No worries to non-facebook users, cos I’ll be posting the URL of my photos albums once I have them all consolidated. So another day awaits!

Geneva Day 1 – No photos

Ok.. I’m now in geneva. But I don’t really like this place as compared to Zurich. It’s too messy and too complicated to navigate around the place. And I thought the bus/tram maps in Zurich was bad. The maps here in Geneva are totally crazy as they are not properly marked at all.

Anyway, I think the best way to understand a city is to walk till your feet is sore and you soak in the whole city. That’s what I did in Vilnius and in Zurich. I did the same here and I would say this place reminds me of CBD back home. Really 1 word to describe - 乱

I went to see the Reformation statues today. But it was blocked due to some stage building for a concert at the place. I managed to take a photo from a crude angle but still it’s not satisfying. =/ I always see it in the church bulletin when Pastor Quek talks about the Reformation and I thought it’s just some normal statues. But how wrong I was. It’s one whole wall dedicated to the Reformation with these 4 giant statues in the centre. It’s really sad that I can’t get to see it at all for this trip.

Well, I’ll leave more talk for tomorrow and I hope I’ll be able to upload photos cos I’m using the hostel’s computer and there’s no USB on this terminal.

Soccer Fans rejoice!

It was closed for the day. But will go there tomorrow to take pictures of the WORLD CUP TROPHY! Make your photos bookings now! 2 SGD per photo! =P

Zurich – Day 1 Part Duex

After washing up, it’s time to go explore the city!

I really love the tram system here. It’s much more efficient than SBS Transit or SMRT and people still don’t claim it’s world class.

Photos first, description later.

Bahnhofstrasse

Cute

BIggest clockface in Europe

Another strasse. Took it cos of all the Swiss flags.

Cute. It’s some arts thing. All the flower pots in the city has some design.

Music Hall

Quack

Fountain

Not Quack

Pier of Zurichsee

Saw this pic while passing an art gallery. Thought it was interesting.

Gate of Grossmunster

Fraumunster

Zwingli statue

My Room

Initially I booked my room for 5 nights. But when I extend my trip to travel around Switzerland, I decided to stay in Zurich for 3 nights. I got Twin to help me call the hotel to change my booking and I think they made a mistake by thinkin I’m staying for 3 days instead of 3 nights. So, the room I was supposed to be staying had already been booked on the 12th although I was leaving on the 13th. As a result of this mistake on their part and to minimise any trouble for me from moving rooms, the administrator (a very nice and friendly old man) decided to give me a double room at no extra cost! And so here’s pictures of my room.

My room taken from the door

My king size bed! Though I only sleep on one of them in the end

The cupboards

The study tables

Zurich – Day 1

Wow. The moment I got out into the arrival hall, I knew that I had arrived into a bustling city. Feeling tired, I decided to head directly to the hostel but when I saw the train/tram/bus map, I almost fainted. One thing about this ‘efficient’ transport system is that it’s too ‘efficient’ cos they put all the services together into one map and onc machine to purchase. First-timers and tourists like me just find it so hard to decipher the map and machine at all. I saw many tourists frowning at the machine unsure how to buy the tickets and that included me too. Was too busy reading my paper maps and the maps on the board to take any pictures but will take them when I see that ‘efficient’ map again.

Anyway, when I finally decoded everything and got the necessary bus/tram passes. I was on my way to the hostel and that was when I really felt from the bottom of my heart that Zurich really has an efficient transport system (but only when you understand how it works)

So I reached the base tram station of my hostel and took a funicular up the hill to my hostel. Hee, my hostel is at the top of a small hill and the view is simply fantastic! (due to some technical problems, I’m unable to stitch my photos of the great view together, will get it done when I’m back in SG)

Funicular track

View from front door of hostel. See Zurichsee (Lake Zurich) at the corner.

Hotel Justinusheim