Day 13 (a.m. in Lucerne and p.m. in Venice):

Our day began at 7am. It was a scenic drive and we changed train which then took us up to Mt. Rigi, part of the Swiss Alps. It was about 1,700m above sea level.

On the way up in the train, we saw sprinkle of snow, scattered across the mountain and all the trees were decorated with it. As we went higher, the mountain was fully covered with pure, white snow. We alighted from the train before reaching the summit as we needed to walk for about 15min up the gradient.

And it was, the pinnacle. For awhile, we thought we might not see anything up here as it was totally foggy. Rather disappointed initially but lo and behold, minutes later, the sky cleared and there was sunshine. We saw ourselves above the cloud and other surrounding snow-capped mountains welcomed us with their glorious grandeur as well. Although it was freezing cold, every ounce of effort to reach the top was all worth it. Thankfully, we still had enough time to nurse ourselves with a cup of cappuccino (for me) and hot chocolate (for Emma) before descending the mountain; first half of it by the train and the second half by the cable car.

The drive to Italy was a pleasant one too. As we drove southwards, the view was picturesque. From a distance, we saw sporadic houses strewn across the mountains, mainly in cluster. The way that the houses were arranged was random; the kind of landscape and the vastness which it commanded evoke a feeling that was very carefree. And the lake that dazzled under the sun; that was amazingly awesome as well. It was just lovely!!

We stopped by at the outskirt of Milan for lunch for about 40min. Then, we continued our journey for another three hours plus. Finally, we reached Venice at around 530pm.

We took the 20 min gondola ride along the Grand Canal. It was pretty dark and under the faintly lit lamps along the canal, we could see some of the very washed out buildings and bridges. After that, we walked through the labyrinth of small streets and crossed some bridges and it was the huge St. Mark's Square before us. Our tour guide gave us around half an hour to walk around. Then, we went on board the water taxi which took us back to our coach. It was another couple of minutes journey and we arrived at our hotel - Antony hotel.

At 830pm, we had dinner at the hotel. It was a wonderful meal of pasta, pork and tiramisu cake. Satisfied, we went back to our room around 930pm plus and slept soon after washing up.