Switzerland 2004
Visiting Switzerland again had been on Susan's "to do" list for a long time. She spent time there 30 or so years ago as a student and had not been back. Was it still as beautiful along the Swiss Riviera? Did the Chasselas grape still produce that wine? Stay tuned and find out .....
 
| There we were, high above the clouds. We left Toronto on
Lufthansa near supper time on Friday and, by breakfast on Saturday, we were in Frankfurt airport
making our connection. And now we're flying south over the Black Forest of Germany heading right into Switzerland. We flew over Neuchâtel and turned right, heading for Geneva. |
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| Once we landed in Geneva and picked up our little car (Hyundai Matrix, automatic with air), we headed along the coastline drive from Geneva straight on East heading for Lausanne. We passed poppy fields and little towns all along the way. |
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| Here is where we stopped near Morges. Glen just had to find an Esso station. We walked along the town's coastline just taking in the sun and the lake ... and the ducks and swans too of course. |
 
| The coastline of Lausanne is mainly the old port city of Ouchy - it's perfect place for lunch on a sunny terrace and to walk around. |
| Here's the Ouchy harbour taken from the point. |
| After lunch we kept on driving down along the coastline,
away from Lausanne, heading towards our resort destination. The road is cut
into the shoreline, leaving absolutely as much land as possible for the
vineyards that line the hills. This took us past Montreux to the head of the lake, then inland to Monthey. At that point we got off the main road, and headed up into the mountains, and I do mean UP. The road kept winding and splitting and narrowing. With each hairpin we figured we must be almost there. |
| We passed through Val d'Illiez and finally reached Champoussin. Another few kilometres and we would have been in France and on our way to Chamonix. Hôtel Des Portes du Soleil is a ski resort. It must be a great place in ski season with the chalets right on the edge of the ski runs. The view from here was incredible - on a sunny day, at least. Across the valley, right in front of us, was the range of peaks known as Les Dents du Midi, the "teeth of noon" because the sun is on one side of them in the morning and on the other side in the afternoon. |
| Our room was, frankly, nothing special. Maybe it's all you need for a week of skiing? That's a Murphy bed up against the wall. We had the mini-kitchen, a couch, a table and chairs and a TV. But of course we did have that excellent view right out the window! |
| When we drove back down the mountain the next morning (Sunday) the views were incredible. |
| Down in the valley below our resort there was a motorcycle
rally going on. It took about 15 minutes for all the bikes to stream past us
and the cops were there holding up the traffic to let them through. Then we carried on to some more vineyards in the region. Unfortunately all the caveaux seemed to be closed. There had been a wine festival of some sort yesterday and it seemed like everyone was recuperating. |
| Further on down the coast, back in the general direction of
Lausanne, there is an old castle out on a rock just off the shoreline. It is
called Château de Chillon and it has been there since ... forever.
The arched ceilings of the dungeons and the intricate woodwork in some of the interior rooms looked well preserved over the centuries.
Susan had meant to visit there as a youngster, had cycled past with her friends more than once, but had never been in for the full tour. |
| From the top of the Château there was a pretty good view of the surrounding coastline and hills, including the modern highway perched on the hillside above the quiet towns and vineyards. |
| The next day (Monday), was a slightly pissy rainy day but we headed off to
Gruyères and Broc, after a rather late start. Gruyères is known for the cheese manufactured there. It is perched high on a hill, a quaint little old town with cobblestone streets, a lovely old church and great views. We missed the cheese making demonstration (see later). Broc is where Néstle has a chocolate factory and we wanted to get there in time for the last tour of the day and to buy some chocolate, fresh from the manufacturer without all the mark-ups. We think the guide book was mis-informed about the tour times and, as a result, we missed the tour. We snuck in the "out" door and still bought lots of chocolate for ourselves and friends back home. |
| On the hills around Gruyères Susan made friends with a number of locals, both flora and fauna. |
| Driving home from Gruyères and Broc we took a different route, more through the mountains. In some ways, it was reminiscent of the BC interior. At the end here you see our resort from across the valley. |
| On Tuesday we decided to go to Zermatt to see the Matterhorn. Yes, it
was rainy in Champoussin, and yes, it was rainy all the way up the valley
through Sion to Visp where we caught the train that goes up to Zermatt. So
what did we expect when we got to the top? Well, we didn't expect to have to
buy an umbrella. Needless to say, the Matterhorn was completely hidden by
clouds, but very visible on the postcards for sale. The train ride was kind of neat though, ratcheting up the steep grades. And it was the first we'd been in the German part of Switzerland - another linguistic challenge. What the heck, Glen got the sweatshirt and we went home happy, but wet. |
| Wednesday was still pretty rainy - see what the view from the top
looks like now? We decided we'd missed one of the best things in Gruyères and
went back to see the cheese making demonstration and so Susan could get her
picture taken with the coloured cow. Gruyères is also the home of the H.R. Giger Museum, known for his sketches that formed the basis for the movie "Aliens". We spent a fascinating hour or two wandering around in there. Giger lives in Zurich and drops by regularly to replenish the art on exhibit. |
| After Gruyères (#2) we continued on to Bern. The rains seem to have been
pretty heavy and the Aare River running around old Bern was straining at the
banks and challenging the water control system.
The Münster Cathedral there is a wonderful old Gothic building.
We did the necessary tourist thing and photographed the old clock in the tower on the main street in the old town, as well as the statues of ordinary things such as the Ogre eating small children as snacks.
I wish that picture of the Klein Wagen had come out without the camera cord getting in the shot! Having that special parking space for those miniscule little cars was perfect!
At the end of the trip we arrived back in Champoussin much later than usual and had to make it up the switchbacks in the dark and fog, a ride that would have seemed completely impossible only days before. |
| Thursday had originally been planned as a day hike through the mountains
with a local guide and 2 other couples from South Africa. However, the
weather looked like the hike would not have been that enjoyable - and the
guide never showed up - so we skipped it. Instead, we decided it was time to visit Lausanne - Susan had been patiently waiting for this, even though she was pretty miserable with a cold and stuffy nose and headaches at this point after the altitude and moisture. We drove into town and started at the "top" of the town near the Cathedral de Notre Dame. We wandered all over - into Place de la Palud and past the Museé des Beaux Arts in Place de la Riponne. We spent most of the day there. |
| After a day of walking we stopped at the thermal baths near Val d'Illiez so Glen could have a soak while Susan slept. The facilities were quite nice, but the water wasn't warm enough so, overall, it was kind of a "bust". |
| Susan's pictures of rue du Martinet, Rennens | Friday was the day we had intended to go into Lausanne in the first
place, and we stuck to that plan! On Thursday we had spent time driving around, looking for the place where Susan had lived so many years ago on rue du Martinet in Rennens, a suburb of Lausanne. We finally located the street, but couldn't find a house there that "looked" right. With some disappointment we had continued on. Now, today, we drove immediately back to the right street and knocked on the door of the house that had the right address but "looked" wrong. Yadda yadda yadda about the house ..... |
 
| After Rennens, we went back into Lausanne and parked near Place St François and had a great lunch and looked through the church there. This was followed by a little shopping along rue de Bourg where Glen bought sandals. |
| We made our way back down to the lakeshore in Ouchy for a little more wandering around, especially through a great flower garden. |
| Also along the lakeshore in Ouchy is the Olympic Park, located there because Lausanne is the world headquarters for the Olympics. Aside from more wonderful flowers there were statues and exhibits out in the gardens. There was some red-jacket affair going on inside and we could not get into the building. |
| And finally we were almost finished with Switzerland. We went looking for a place for dinner as we rolled on down the lakeshore towards our resort. We finally found a place in Vevey and then we were headed back up the mountain. |
The next day, we were up very early to drive to Geneva
and catch our flight
to Munich,
then Barcelona,
then Almería where the adventure continues....