Switzerland the Surprise!

After a crazy incident of deplaning in Philadelphia over a mechanical issue and then stealing some other destination’s plane, we were off to the money capital, Zurich! Upon our arrival at an enormous train station, we began the journey to our hotel. We got as far as the taxi line and decided maybe we should catch a ride! Our hotel was within walking distance, but up an enormous hill, or a massive amount of stairs, so it probably worked out for the best!

The tourism began with a much quicker jaunt back to the train station and over to the tourism center where we hopped on a “trolley” tour that was turned into a bus tour of the city! It was a great overview of the city! After the tour we walked down the shopping street and decided to check out Globus, the local 6 story department store. After looking at the Coach bags for 399 Swiss Francs and a shirt for 240, I decided the shop was not for me! Check out the exchange rate! People were not kidding when they said Switzerland was expensive. The bottom floor of Globus was a specialty food store with cheese, pastries, candies, wine and other yummies!

Leaving Globus without some treats was impossible, so we go a bottle of local rosé and 0.006 of a pint of gruyere. 

For dinner, we decided on a local dish - fondue at Restaurant le Dezarey. After some air dried meats, we enjoyed potatoes and French bread dipped in a large pot of melted cheese! And for dessert, a fresh variety of fruit! 

On Saturday, we trekked back to the train station, this time down hundreds of steps that too us straight there! We caught the 9:27 to Sargans and then hopped a bus to Vaduz, Liechtenstein, the 6th smallest country in the world - total population, 37,000. 

As we entered Liechtenstein, we didn’t even notice that we were in a different country because the borders are open between Switzerland and there. Our first sight was Gutenberg Castle, which we didn’t realize was going to be so easy to access. There was one road to Vaduz that went through Balzers! 

Upon arrival in Vaduz, pronounced Fadooz, we watched a world beach volleyball tournament. Then, we got on a 35 minute mini train to travel around town. We checked out the local soccer field, the prince’s vineyards, and old town Vaduz. From there, we decided to trek up to the prince’s castle, where he actually resides. Unfortunately, that means you are not able to tour the inside. On the way to the top, there was a fantastic look-out point to see the entire town nestled between the east and west Alps. 

After hopping back on the LIE, we stopped in Balzers to view the Gutenberg Castle from the top! This wasn’t quite as mountainous, so it was a bit easier to reach the top! Along the way, we encountered a wine tasting party amongst the vineyards. It was a little too hot for my taste to be drinking wine in the heat! Instead, I opted for the water from the faucet flowing from the Alps! 

Back in Zurich, things were amping up for THE parade on Sunday. People were everywhere and many were already drunk!  We ended up having dinner at a quiet restaurant called Raclette Stube. The only thing on their menu... FONDUE! It was completely unnecessary to have fondue two nights in a row, but going back out into the madness was not an option. I’m glad we ended up eating there though because their fondue was better than le Dezarey! 

Sunday morning we took a tram to the Zurich Main Station, which was definitely the best way to get around. Our first train leg was to Lucerne and we had an hour before our next connection, so we quickly shoved our suitcases in lockers and heading out on the town. 

Lucerne is gorgeous. I started to really get a taste for the mountains and lake combination, so I headed off in the direction of where those two met. Walking briskly and loosing Bets, I came across a beach about a 15 minute walk from the train station. It gave me everything I wanted! 

The next leg of our journey Southwest was  the most gorgeous - Lucerne to Interlaken. Thankfully we were on a panoramic train car and every stop I started getting off the train to see if I could get a good shot! The entire journey was awe-inspiring! 

The final leg of our train travels was from Interlaken to Montreux. That part was also stunning, especially when we got close to Montreux, which is on Lake Geneva. Since we were on the Golden Pass, we came down a mountain to get to the town and the sun was glistening on the water, with mountains the background. 

Mistake number two occurred at the Montreux train station. Instead of following the swarms of people down the escalator, I pushed our suitcases out of the platform and up a hill. We had no idea where our hotel was, other than it had a lake view, so we were hoping to run into someone to ask. It took a few minutes, and finally a nice family helped us down a few cobblestone streets and pointed us in the right direction! As we approached the hotel, it was challenging to figure out how to get in since the street in front of the hotel was lined with tables and customers drinking and smoking hookahs. 

The Hotel Splendid is a historic building, so of course that means old. They have done some upgrades, and it has its charms. The best part of course is the view from our balconies of the lake. Sunset is gorgeous! 

Since it was late afternoon when we arrived in Montreux, we decided to pop down to the local castle, Chillon. On a hot summer day you will catch people swimming next to and around the castle, which sits beautifully on Lake Geneva! After our castle visit, we took the #201 bus back to our hotel to grab some food at Au Parc, an Italian restaurant that the hotel recommended. To walk off our food, we took a stroll down by the lake and visited the statue of the champion himself, Freddie Mercury. The sun setting over the lake had us make a mad dash toward our hotel for a sunset picture.

Monday morning began with a bit of a light rain on our way to the chocolate and cheese train. The train engine car was actually good for this Golden Pass journey. We took a short train ride and then as quickly as is possible in the rain with over one hundred umbrellas, we transferred to a bus which took us to the Gruyére Cheese Factory. Here we learned about the cheese-making process and were able to see the cellars, full of aging cheese! Oh, and they gave us samples to eat while we perused. 

The next stop was to the village of Gruyére. We had a few hours off to gander through the small hillside town. The town was named for the grue, which is the French word for crane. It was the symbol of the royalty that lived in the castle at the top of the town. That is where we spent most of our time since we could actually go in this one! The most impressive part of the castle was the view of the valleys below, including the well-designed garden. 

In the afternoon, the tour continued on to the Cailler (I remember the pronunciation because of “Die Hard” - Yippee Caiyay MFer) Chocolate Factory. The company did an excellent job creating an immersive experience of the history of cacao beans and how the company got its start. Visitors travel from room to room with a staged scene, special lighting, smells, and different sounds. At the end, you walk down a line of chocolate that you can sample. The most delicious, in my opinion was the white chocolate. We bought a few goodies to munch on during our travels. 

Upon our arrival back in Montreux, we ended up going to another Italian restaurant called la rouvenaz. The food was decent, but a little disappointing since they didn’t have everything that was on the menu, which was mostly the seafood that I wanted! 

Tuesday morning we got up bright and early to head to Zermatt. It was pouring as we trudged to the train station. Thankfully, the Swiss designed train stations so well that once we got there, we were completely protected from the downpour. 

The train ride was quite pleasant, rolling along cute little towns mostly lined with vineyards. Who knew the Swiss were such wine connoisseurs! After changing trains in Visp, the countryside began to change. Towns appeared to be more chalets and ski towns, with A-frames and wooden facades. The sky was full of clouds, so we weren’t too hopeful in seeing the Matterhorn, but upon arrival in Zermatt, that didn’t really matter. 

Zermatt is a beautiful ski town which was completely packed with tourists. Bets had decided to wear shorts since the temperature was supposed to be a high of 60. It was a bit chilly as we exited the train, so she thought maybe she should buy a pair of pants. The trouble is, in a ski town nothing is cheap! Not only that, but most of the clothes were geared toward skiing and hiking, which Bets doesn’t do! Anyway, one of the saleswomen told us to try North Face and that is where we found some $104 pair of pants! 

We purchased tickets to Gornegat, which was a cog railway that goes toward the top of the mountain chain to provide a nice view of the Matterhorn. That is, if it isn’t completely clouded over! As the train chugged to the top, the sight below was unbelievable, but the visibility was getting worse. By the time we reached the summit, all we saw was clouds. I took a short hike up to a better vantage point and couldn’t breathe when I got to the top. Thankfully after about a 10 minute wait, the clouds moved and a glacier appeared. Wow! I took about 50 photos as the clouds shifted and then walked down to meet up with Bets. 

We had lunch in the panorama restaurant and watched as more clouds lifted. I ran outside to snap a picture, and by the time I got back inside, I was winded and exhausted! I guess the altitude got me! 

The train ride down was magnificent. Watching the town below slowly coming into view you realize the enormity of the Alps. There is not a camera in the world that can capture the true depth and beauty. 

Back in Montreux, we decided to go eat at the Casino restaurant, “Saxo.” They had live music and a red theme with dimmed mood lighting. The restaurant sat a floor above the casino. It was an interesting experience. I actually got steak here, which was quite tasty, though a bit over cooked. I decided I would rather have overlooked than undercooked! After dinner we went back to our hotel balcony to have a glass of wine overlooking Lake Geneva. With the crescent moon hanging over the mountains and lake, it was quite a sight! 

Wednesday was the start of our time in Geneva. We spent the day walking all over the city. It could be because we spent more time walking here, but this city actually seemed bigger than Zurich. Following the tourist map, we walked over to the other end of Lake Geneva, or as it is actually known, Lac Lemon! There we had our first view of Jet d’Eau (Jay-dough) which is the second tallest fountain in the world. As we continued up the lake toward the ‘beach,’ we spotted a pedal boat rental. This was exactly what I wanted to do! 

As we got pedaling on Lac Lemon, it was a bit rough due to the wind, so Bets was not interested in staying out. We pedaled back to shore and I ventured out solo. It was definitely choppy, but it felt so peaceful just pedaling along nestled in the valley amongst the mountains. 

Once I returned safely on land, we continued our exploration down to the English garden. It was more of a park, filled with people taking in the sights and relaxing on the lawn. In our haste, we walked right past the flower clock and didn’t even notice. We marched along to the old town, just happening upon St. Pierre’s Cathedral. It was here that we stopped for lunch at a cute little creperie overlooking the cathedral from the cobblestone street. I ordered a buckwheat pancake with mushrooms, asparagus, tomatoes, lettuce, and you guessed it, cheese! It was very interesting and pretty tasty. Who can go to a creperie and not get a dessert though? We shared a chocolate and caramel crepe with powered sugar on top, yum! 

After studying the map, we decided to visit the watchmakers exhibit, Patek and Phillipe. There is no photography allowed, but what they have on display leaves a lasting impression. In this three floor museum, you learn the story of how the company was founded and observe thousands of watches and enamel paintings. The precision and elegance is astounding. One of the watches on display is so complicated that it took 9 years to create (5 years of research and 4 years of creation). This company even created watches for the First Ladies and Queen Victoria, which are on display as well. The progression of watches from the 1500s to present is incredible!

On our walk back to the Hotel Ibis, we crossed the Rhône River, flowing from Lake Geneva. There were more people lounging on various platforms catching some rays or snacking from the houseboat restaurant docked to the platform. 

I was on the hunt for Swatch watches for Kevin and Scott because Swatch is a Swiss company and they sell location watches. We managed to find a Swatch within a department store called Manor. They had a Geneva Watch, which was perfect for Kevin, but the smaller watches were not Scott’s style. Manor also had a supermarket on the bottom floor, where we purchased local wine. 

For dinner we ended up back down near the watch museum at a restaurant with rösti, which is Swiss specialty. It is basically hash browns with cheese on top! Bets got garlic raclette, which was garlic bread with raclette cheese (which you can only get in Switzerland). The food was delicious, but obviously not nutritious! 

Thursday was a tour day. Our first stop, Annecy (Venice of the Alps), which is a small French town about 50 minutes from Geneva. Our tour guide was Maria. She was very knowledgeable, but also quite disorganized and forgetful. We did a short tour with her of the old town and into the new town. In Annecy, no two houses next to each other are the same color. They all have red clay roofs and there is foliage everywhere. Besides the look of the buildings, the lamps in the old town were more traditional, where the ones in the new part of town had multiple bubbles all attached to one base. Annecy has beautiful canals and bridges with cobblestone streets. The town sits on Lake Annecy and is multi-colored - turquoise, green and blue. There are hundreds of boats (mostly sailboats) docked within inches of each other on the coastline. Stunning views! 

The next part of our tour was in the city of Geneva. The tour started in the north, with all of the international buildings, including the United Nations, which is the second most important locations. It is actually used more than the UN in New York! This building sits back from a concrete park with fountains and an enormous chair with one broken leg. The original purpose of the chair was to help stop land mines from blowing off people’s limbs. 

The next part of the tour took us through old town on a mini train. We went through many of the places we had seen the day before, but learned more about each location. It is always incredible being amongst buildings that are thousands of years old! The one new place we went was through the Bastille Park. They had a wall dedicated to the reformers of Geneva, including John Calvin and John Knox. Also, the University of Geneva sat on the right side of the park.

The last part of our tour was a boat ride on Lake Lemon. It was a bit hot, but quite enjoyable on the lake again! The cruise went by Jet d’Eau and along the coast. We ended up being able to see Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in France in Chamomix poking through the clouds! 

Since we had very little to eat on our long tour day, we popped into Manor to pick up some Gruyére and sausage and souvenirs. We enjoyed them and some wine back at the hotel before dinner at Bagatelle. Bets got gnocchi bolognese, which had too much meat in it. I had macaroni and cheese, which included potatoes, and it was a little cold in parts. Not a place to go, even though the hotel recommended it! 

Friday morning brought our time in Switzerland to a close. We began our train journey into France! After about 3 hours on the train, we arrived in Marseille. The massive station sits on top of a hill overlooking the bustling town below. Thankfully, our hotel was across the street, so we had a very short walk down!