Better late then never!
This was my 10th trip to Switzerland so I knew what to expect. I don’t think my expectations were vey high, but that’s good because then nothing could disappoint me.
The only thing that really preoccupied me was the weather since almost all of our activities were outdoor ones. Luck was on our side because it only rained on the first two days. After that: Wall to wall sunshine.
We were off to an interesting start: as you probably already read, my husband and I each got a 400$ voucher because we agreed to be bumped from KLM to Air France. This meant arriving in Geneva about 2 hours later than planned, but since our first city was just a home base for day trips, and we knew it would be raining, we didn’t mind.
I was extra happy we did it after we boarded the Air France flight because the plane was so empty I had THREE seats all to myself! I was able to lay across the 3 seats and sleep horizontally with my feet up and my head on a pillow!!! Thank God. A good night sleep on the plane makes a BIG difference!
MONTREUX
Been there, done that.
We’ve been to Montreux before and explored it enough last time, so we really didn’t do much this time. We just used it as a home-base for excursions and it was a good location for stop over considering where our next home base would be.
Besides, it was raining so it motivated us even less to wander around. We barely took any pictures this time either.
Our hotel was ok… kinda expensive for what it was. But overall I guess I can’t complain. The shower was a little mouldy in the corners … YUCK! but aside from that it was clean. The bed (mattress) was a little used, but it didn’t squeak.
I don’t think I would recommend it though…
When we got there, they only had us down for a 2-night stay when we had paid for three. That was annoying, who wants to deal with that after a transatlantic flight?Luckily, I guess they were not fully booked because they fixed it on the spot in less then a minute. The clerk at the desk went to her supervisor and explained: “They have a voucher for 3 nights but we only have them for 2 nights” The supervisor just said: “Just update the 2 to a 3 in the computer”. Done. Thank God.
Breakfast was not included and would have cost 14 Francs for a continental!!! That sucked.
LEYSIN
If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know all about this story!! In the interest of saving time, I will just refer you to the previous entries that tell the story if you are interested. Just follow the links.
GRUYERES
Sadly it was a disappointment.
In 2006, we has the best fondue of our LIVES in Gruyeres, and we have spent the last 5 years looking forward to doing it again.
I have this ‘thing’ about no restaurant-repeats when we are on vacation. And since Gruyeres is really just about all restaurants, I wanted to try a different one. My husband was a good sport about it because he really wanted to go back to the one we did in 2006, but I insisted that the fondue would be the same in all the restaurants here. I can’t imagine that in a little town like Gruyeres, there is more then one cheese supplier!!!
Anyway, he was right because the fondue was a real let-down. It was WAY too salty! Shame. We should have gone to the first one… then again, that could have been bad too! We’ll never know.
This where we went:
And here is where we should have gone! (with the red and while striped awning)
On the bright side, the rain had stopped by the time we got there… nice because the town is about a 10 – 15 minute walk from the train station.
GENEVA
I am not really wowed by Geneva, I’ve seen it a zillion times and nothing about really speaks to me.
Here I am in Geneva in 1990 with the Jet d’Eau in the background:
The last time I was there with my husband, it was a Sunday so everything was closed and he could not experience the hustle and bustle of the city when it was ‘alive’, so we decided to go in early with the morning commuters, have breakfast there, wander around a bit, and then take a cruise to Lausanne and have lunch on the boat.
It was a miserable morning. RAIN RAIN RAIN so we didn’t get the camera out much. Here’s one of the few shots we took. Blah
We found a place for breakfast but by the time we made it to the dock, the only boat for the day that goes to Lausanne had left. argh! “ok” we decided, “let’s have a drink somewhere to dry off a bit, and then head back to train station”.
The place we stopped for a drink was so inviting, we ended up staying for lunch.
OUCHY
Since we couldn’t take a boat to Lausanne, we took the train instead. The goal was to explore Ouchy a little, which is the Lake District of Lausanne.
I think Ouchy is a it’s best in the height of summer when it’s crowded. When we were there, just after the rain let up, it feel deserted… except for the birds!
But still, always nice to walk along the lakefront, so we did – to the Olympic Museum. It was interesting!
CHAMONIX
Yes, for the record, I know Chamonix is in France! LOL
Chamonix was our next home base, we spent 2 nights there. You can read a bit about the trek there and the disappointing pool in our hotel here.
The hotel was very nice. Very clean and a very modern bathroom, I’d definitely recommend it.
As you might already know, we were upgraded to this hotel after our reservation in the original hotel was cancelled since the hotel was being renovated. I was curious to see it! And here it is: Window-less!
Chamonix was just fantastic. Thank God for digital cameras because we would have paid a FORTUNE in film. Everywhere you look there is a picture to take. Cut-Glass peaks, blue skies, snow capped mountains… breath-taking!
We did the top two activities that most people come to Chamonix to do (that is, top two non-sporty activities) : Mer de Glace and Aiguille du Midi.
The Mer de Glace is a Glacier, and although it is getting smaller it’s still the longest one in France. Every year, they drill a tunnel into the glacier that you can explore. It’s a very simple circular loop that doesn’t take more then 5 minutes to complete – but considering the fact that the glacier is moving about one centimetre PER HOUR, you can understand why it’s not more complex.
To get there, you take a train from Chamonix then ride a cable car down part of the way and then climb down about another 400 stairs. Here you can see about half the distance the cable car travels and some of the stairs.
They have to keep adding stairs because the glacier gets lower every year. Look how far down it is now compared to where it was in 1990!
I especially liked the fact that you can see the remains of the previous year’s tunnel roughly 12 months “down stream”
The Aiguille du Midi is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif. The lookout at the top is 3842m high. That is CRAZY high!
At the risk of sounding like a cliché, the views from up there are Out-Of-This-World. Gorgeous. Thank you God for giving us nice weather!!!!
Seriously. How beautiful is this???
And almost as a bonus, it comes with a glimpse of the Matterhorn!
The thin atmosphere REALLY got to me, which I was not expecting. In 2006 we went to the Jungfraujoch which was a little under 3500m and we did feel it a bit, but it didn’t affect me as much as this altitude did.
You can’t imagine how slow I had to walk so that I would not pass out. Honestly, my strides were itty bitty!!! More like a little old lady shuffling around then actual walking… it was like I was walking on a tightrope.
But I am stubborn and once we had finished taking all our pictures, I wanted to check out the restaurant. The stupid thing was 4 floors up… and that almost killed me. By the time I got to the top, I saw that the restaurant was closed! ARGH! I turned to come back down the stairs and my legs gave out under me. I grabbed the hand rail just in time and didn’t actually pass out – but two almost fainting episodes was enough for me. I told my husband we had to leave. I could not stay up there any longer!
End of Part 1 
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