Switzerland Travelogue
Becky and Steve
June 2000
Sat/Sun,
June 3rd/4th
I took the flight from Dulles to Newark to Frankfurt while Becky went straight from Dulles to Frankfurt. By the time her trip was confirmed, there were no coach seats left on the direct flight, so I was forced to either pay for business class or fly across the Atlantic separately. At $3,500 for business class, separate it was. The good news was we were able to join up in Frankfurt and travel together on the remaining leg to Geneva.
On the flight across the Atlantic, Becky ran into a co-worker, Sue, who kept us company at the Frankfurt airport and on the train into Geneva.
Because the flight from Frankfurt to Geneva was full, Becky and I were unable to change seats so we could sit together. While Becky went back into the coach section, my seat was an unusual seat in business class, usually reserved for one, but with two people in it. Both the stranger and I received a bottle of wine for our discomfort (see the sidebar regarding my Luftansa experience.)
After getting some local currency, we went to the train station to get a Swiss Pass. Since we were not getting a car, the Swiss Pass was going to be our ticket for trains, boats, and busses for the next week. We then boarded the train for the 10 minute ride into Geneva and our first night’s hotel.
The first room we were given in the Hotel Crystal was still occupied, so we got another room. Although it was not a remarkable room, it was clean and close to the train station, boat docks, and the Geneva city center.
After washing up, we took a walk down by the rue du Mont Blanc, across the Point du Mont Blanc bridge and into the Jardin Anglais. We sat by the lakeshore for a while, absorbing some sun to recover from the jet-lag and watched the Jet d’Eau. When we were about to fall asleep, we talked around the fountain in the park and up the Left Bank. We passed the marina and considered walking out to the Jet d’Eau, but decided that getting that wet was not necessary. After making our way past the flower clock in the Jardin Anglais, we started up the hill to the Old Town. We had lunch at the Café Bourg-de-Four in a popular plaza of the same name.
After lunch, we finished our trek up the hill to the Cathédrale St. Pierre. This was the cathedral made famous by the religious reformer John Calvin who stripped the building off all of it’s religious decorations except one side chapel, Maccabees. Although we walked around the cathedral inside and out, studying the architecture and the glass, we decided not to climb the tower or explore the archeological site below. We were just too tired.
After sitting for a little while in the square outside of the cathedral, we headed back to the hotel, checked in, and took a well-deserved nap. After our nap, we cleaned up and went for a walk along the Right Bank. After going a few blocks, we turned inland for dinner. We found a nice fondue place called Le Restaurant du Grand Lac. We feasted on spaghetti and cheese fondue. Because of Becky’s poor command of French, she ordered herself a ½ liter of wine instead of a ½ carafe. Once dinner was over, and she was good and drunk, we headed back to the hotel for the night.
Mon,
June 5th
After having breakfast in the hotel, we took the bus to the World Health Organization so Becky could meet with someone she knew from her trip to Senegal. Because Dr. Eparza was unable to meet with Becky immediately, we went to the old/original Palace of Nations. Although the glass and ceramics display hosted there was of little interest, the wood parquet floors and the marble columns were. We killed a little more time sitting on the back porch and watched the activity associated with some dignitary visiting the modern Palace of Nations.
When Becky went off to visit with Dr. Esparza, I walked back down to the lake. Taking my time, I walked along the lake, back to Geneva and arrived exactly as Becky returned from her meeting. We quickly packed, checked out of the hotel, had some lunch, and made our way to the lakeshore to catch a steamer to Ouchy.
The steamer did not go directly from Geneva to Ouchy, but made several stops along the way. As it crisscrossed it’s way down the lake, we would stop in a Swiss port, then a French port since both Switzerland (to the north) and France (to the south) bound Lake Geneva.
When we arrived in Ouchy, we walked the block to our lakefront hotel, Chateau d'Ouchy. This was a 12th century castle that had been converted into a hotel. Because this was not the high season, our room was the top of the 100’ tower with spectacular views out three of the four sides. A private elevator took us up to our room; watching the floors go by from the cramped car did not prepare us for the room itself. It was huge! And although the furniture was 70’s, the stone windows and decorated wood ceiling panels made the room feel very medieval.
After settling in for a few minutes, we headed up to the city of Lausanne to see the Cathédral de Notre-Dame. Our trip up was via a bright red funicular followed by another 15 minutes wandering around the streets of the town. Unfortunately we were too late to see the inside of the church because it closed just minutes before we arrived. After taking in the vistas, we dodged the rain showers and returned back down to Ouchy for a fine French meal in the hotel. After dinner we wandered around the marina park and headed back to our tower for bed.
Tues, June 6th
Although one of our goals was to try and see the Matterhorn, we decided that the weather reports for the mountains did not look promising; so we decided to try the cathedral again. It was very gothic; with high, vaulted ceilings, and wonderful stained glass. The detail on the giant rose window was amazing (I wish my picture was.)
Using the funicular heavily, we returned to Ouchy, walked down by the Musée Olympique, checked out of our hotel room, and returned to Lausanne to catch a train to Montreux.
Our room in Montreux was only a few blocks from the train station with a nice view across a park to Lac Léman. We found lunch at a “fix-your-own” salad place where the main entertainment consisted of a waiter trying to keep a persistent pigeon out of the eating area – the pigeon won – repeatedly!
Following the information that the
Château de Chillon was only two kilometers away, we started on a pleasant
lakeside walk. Most of the lake seems to be bordered by a thin strip of public
land that provides a very nice promenade. The tree-lined
promenade here in Montreux was very heavily gardened with fountains and
aluminum sculpture every few hundred meters; with flowers everywhere. Our two
kilometer walk took over an hour and a half! Phil and Mary had warned us about
the Swiss underestimating time and distance when walking.
Once we finally got to the Château de Chillon, we found it to be an excellent example of the stereotyped medieval castle. It had a moat, at one time a draw bridge, vaulted dungeons built by the Romans, a banquette hall, a few grand rooms, four courtyards, turrets, secret passageways, a main tower, and crisscrossing covered walkways. Everything you always wanted in a castle! Completely satisfying because they let you walk everywhere.
After walking ourselves silly getting to and around the Château, we opted to take the bus back to our hotel, and headed out for a corner Italian restaurant.
Wed, June 7th
We
decided to make our stab at seeing the Matterhorn today. We got on an early
train from Montreux toward Brig and transferred to a funicular at Visp. The
funicular took us through some spectacular
vistas on the way from 600m to 1600m at Zermatt. As we wound along the
Mattertal Valley toward Zermatt, we were treated to beautiful fields of tiny
Alpine flowers and dramatic
waterfalls formed by the streams coming from the mountains.
Unfortunately, because of cloud cover, we could not see the Matterhorn from Zermatt and we did not have enough time to take the next train to Gornergrat. We wandered around Zermatt and had lunch before retracing our steps back to Montreux. One of the amazing sights was the use of slate for the roofs of the buildings. Unlike slate roofs in the US where the tiles are small, these roofs were made from tiles that were often over a meter in width and left in their natural rough edged shape.
Once back in Montreux, I retired early because I was suffering from a slight cold caught from the German ladies on my flight over while Becky attended the first part of her GAVI meeting.
Thur, June 8th
Today I’m on my own all day. After Becky got started with her meetings, I took a local funicular into the hills behind Montreux. This was a private line and the first time I’d had to pay any additional transport fees beyond the Swiss Pass we bought the first day. Also on the train were a number of school children on a field trip and several British tourists. The train itself consisted of two passenger cars and a tiny open air baggage car. One of the British tourists quipped that the baggage car was the 2nd class accommodations. Our route up to the summit, Rochers-de-Naye, wound in and out of the hills above Montreux providing excellent views of the local community, Lac Léman, Château de Chillon, and the surrounding hills. We maintained a 20% to 30% climb for most of the journey. It was quite exciting to stop at a station when we were at a 20% incline and watch passengers get on and off. When we weren’t winding in and out of the trees, we were traveling through tunnels in the hills – some of which were completed more than 100 years ago. The train frequently looped back on itself. This wasn’t so bad when you could see what was happening, but when you enter a tunnel with the lake on your right and exit the tunnel with the lake on your left, it was quite a surprise. After about an hour and a half dozen stops, we reached the summit of the trip – Rochers-de-Naye.
The summit had a horseshoe shape with the station and ski resort at the base of the curve. I started my hike to the left, along the south rim of the summit while everyone else headed to the right and the highest point of the peak. Along my 1/2 km hike, I was treated to some amazing views of the Alps, which seemed to start with this peak. In addition, I came across a Tibetan stupa erected in 1996 as part of a Swiss/Tibetan cultural exchange – at least that’s what I made out of the French dedication plaque. What I want to know is how we missed the Swiss “Cow Bell Monument” when we visited Tibet last year!? The path continued a little further until it reached a mini-botanical garden started in 1886 to preserve Swiss mountain flowers. Not being that big of a flower fan, I chose to forego the 2 Francs and turned back for the peak. It was quite a hike up the last 100 feet, so I spent some time resting at the top, taking in the 360o panorama. Of course, because I forgot both my sunglasses and sunscreen, I was certain to return to Montreux as “Lobster Boy.”
When I saw the next train heading uphill to the station (nothing can hide from you with the view I had) I returned to the station; only to be confronted with the sacred Swiss lunchtime. Everything stops for an hour. It shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise since the departure schedule clearly indicated a train leaving every hour except noon. I’m thinking that after another hour up here, I should reach the state of “Glow-in-the-Dark Lobster Boy.” But to make the best of the situation, I headed off to the Northwest ridge of the horseshoe.
Aside from several dramatic cliff shots, I watched the progress of a herd of sheep along the hillside below, the soaring of a pair of birds riding the updrafts, and listened to the song of an actual cuckoo (of clock fame.)
When 1pm arrived, I returned to the station, got on board the funicular, and back in the hotel room a little after 2pm. Between my still recovering from being ill and all of the fun in the sun, I decided that a nap was the order of business until Becky’s meeting let out at 6. I did try to watch a little TV and found that tennis was a good choice since you don’t miss too much not speaking the language. Since there was a Swiss player at the French Open, 12 of the 20 channels available were showing the match. For those of you who care, despite a valiant comeback effort by the Swiss player, the French player won the match in three sets.
When Becky returned from her conference, we went for another walk along the lake – this time away from the Château. On our return, we found a great lakeside café for dinner that served Thai food. We shared an appetizer platter and a salad while the sun slowly set, casting a warm orange glow over Montreux whilst watching swans floating on the lake (flowery enough for you Bubalu?)
Fri, June
9th
Today started slowly. We’ve packed, checked out of the hotel, and made one last walk along the lakeshore. Beck then had to rejoin her conference while I caught up on my postcards and this travelogue. I took some pictures missed in our prior walks and made some notes for a possible series of flower based stained glass windows (didn’t I say that yesterday I wasn’t that interested in flowers? Whatever…)
When Becky was done, she met me in a rose garden near the hotel and we made our way for the station. We joined a number of her colleagues on the platform and waited for the next train to Geneva. When it arrived, we made our way for the 2nd class car only to find the one we had chosen was reserved for school children. Becky zipped off the car and down the platform to get to the next available 2nd class car. Because I had both bags, I did not have enough time to get off of the train, so I just found a seat in 1st class – much nicer. The real problem occurred when the conductor came through and I not only didn’t have a 2nd class ticket, I had no ticket at all – Becky had them both. The conductor was very nice about it, but insisted that I move back to 2nd class at the next station. Becky was there, being “entertained” by some other school children and I joined her for the remainder of the trip.
Once in Geneva, we checked back into the Hotel Crystal and cleaned up for dinner. Two of the participants from the conference, Alan and Don, graciously took us to one of their favorite eateries and on a nighttime tour of the old town. It was nice to get a tour from someone who was not being paid to show you the sights, but showed you what they found interesting. We saw the government buildings, the old armory, and lots of antique shops; including one that sold antique scientific instruments – remember these guys were scientists.
Sat, June 10th
After purchasing the requisite amount of souvenir chocolate, Becky and I took the train back to the airport for the flight home. Although the flights themselves were without incident, we did have a little trouble getting on board (see the sidebar again regarding my Luftansa experience.)
 |
Last updated by Me on Dec 25, 2000 |