Monday September 25, 2017

Vieux Riche/Nouveau Riche…Either will do!!

Waking up officially (having risen to see the sunrise on The Matterhorn) we had our breakfast where Grant was treated to a special order omelette which was a new offering on this trip. We went for a walk through the town stopping to pick up the new SIM card the phone and enjoying another beautiful day! It is hard to believe the weather we have had! The only rain we have seen was at the very beginning in Milan.

Back at the hotel we packed up and waited for the shuttle to take us back to the train station. It is certainly within walking distance but not an easy task with the bags and dodging the tourists on the narrow roads. So, we waited and waited and waited! Our shuttle driver was again the owner of the hotel and had life seemingly the right way up. Whistling and smiling at everyone, he arrived to drive us when he was ready and showed no signs of needing to be anywhere or do anything. A difficult task for two A Type North Americans to grasp… but # life goals I guess!

We arrived at the train station and purchased our tickets to take us to the Taesch station. This train is referred to as a shuttle as it only goes to Taesch and back again. The trains systems here are fairly intuitive and we managed to figure this out on our own. We just managed to purchase our tickets and get onboard as the doors closed. It was a short 15 minute journey where we found our way out of the station and to the rental car across the street. (We may or may not have gone the wrong way a few times but Grant is getting used to my normal way of life and needing to re-trace our steps every now and then!) We filled out the paperwork, loaded up and were on our way to explore some more of this beautiful country at our own pace. Although you might want to accuse of of going faster then the trains pace on these annual trips, I assure you, we do not… well at least .. not quite.

The most interesting thing about this particular rental car is that it likes to make noise. This Hyundai Sonata, true to it's musical name; BEEPS when it crosses over the lines on the road. Let's just say that this particular issue has been a topic of conversation at least once in our marital dispute history. We don't need to say anymore expect that if this car also had a bass beat and disco lights, we could have opened a mini nightclub as our little car beeped away!! Grant assures me it was the lines on the road that were in the wrong place. :)

Our first stop was to visit Montreaux. There is never enough time to visit all of the places you learn about or to stop long enough to explore each of these in detail so today will be a series of short stops on our way towards Interlaken. All of the areas were plan to visit are very close to each other, at least in terms of Ontario driving we don't have far to go, just a lot to see.

Montreaux (which insists on autocorrecting to Montreal in case I miss one) is famous for the picturesque Chillon Castle. When you see the photographs you might recognize it. The first mention of this castle is in 1150. The Counts of Savoy used this fort as well as the path between the lake and the mountains to give them the ability to control the route from the North to the South. Today a major road runs between the two but you can imagine that this Castle was protecting an enormous piece of land at that time. From the 13th Century and forward the castle was extended and became the summer home of the Counts and became the French speaking Switzerland of today including those who work at the castle today. (Remembered Vinny's postcard!) Much easier for us to understand with our school french then the Swiss-German area we had just left and used unhelpful sign language to communicate. In 1536 after being mostly abandoned the Bernese took over and for 260 years the castle was used as a fortress, arsenal and a prison. It changed hands a few more times during various revolutions. In the 19th century a major renovation began that is still ongoing and at that time began attracting Romantics. In 1816 Lord Byron (British poet) wrote the poem The Prisoner of Chillon based on an inmate Francois Bonivard, making the castle famous. The poem describes the trials of a lone survivor of a family who had been martyred. The character's father had been burnt at the stake and out of six brothers, two died on the battlefield and one was burnt to death. The remaining three were in Chillon as prisoners. Two died leaving the last to tell the story. The poem is very long so I won't post it here but if you are interested, it is this Castle that it refers to.

From here we drove the kind of road that terrifies me and puts a twinkle in Grant's eye. The white knuckling kind of road where one wrong maneuver and you will get the thrill of falling and for sure you will be totally your rental car and much worse! The scenery was beautiful and overall the roads were in good condition and apart from the odd impatient drivers, it was a fun trip if you didn't look down!

Our next stop is to Gstaad. This is a tiny town and short detour off the main road. We arrived when everything was closed (Between 2-4) but we managed to park the car and take a wander through this pedestrian village. Gstaad is a holiday region in the Bernese Overland and attracts both the rich and famous as well as the surrounding areas being very welcoming for families. It is Ski Chalet destination everyone dreams of. It is described as the most popular and shortest "shopping mile" in Switzerland. Their slogan is "Come Up-Slow Down" and has been coined by Julie Andrews as "the last paradise in a crazy world". If Julie said it, it must be true. She knows a lot about mountains! Time to move on!

Enjoying the drive and beautiful day we found ourselves in the town of Spiez where we stopped at the local tourist office for some help on where to stay for the night before heading to Interlaken tomorrow. They helped us book into the SeeGarten Marina Hotel just opposite the Spiez Castle and on the shores of Lake Thun. We checked into our room which had a lovely patio space and view of the lake but our fellow guests were smoking so we opted to go explore a bit before dinner instead. Directly across the road we found the grounds of the Spiez Castle and it's 1000 year old church taking us back to the Early Romanesque period. We strolled the grounds and explored their herb garden where we found another Alpine Hummingbird. Either we are very lucky to be spotting these rare creatures or they are everywhere and others think they are giant bees like we did when we first encountered them. I took many many photographs in hopes that we might capture one clearly. I have posted the one shot where you can actually spot this little creature. They really are quite endearing in person and this is coming from someone who really cannot abide birds!

Today was the day. Without a plan in front of us and having only our last evenings in Zurich planned out, today we started to become tired (and I miss my closet!!). We opted for a small family run restaurant on the water where Mom and Dad were cooking and the kids were running around outside playing. No English at all and we were back to Swiss German so we did a lot of pointing to the menu. We decided to share the Schnitzel and a Stir Fry. Both were delicious, in fact this was the best Schnitzel either of us have tasted and the one that will be compared going forward. The mosquitoes were coming out as it was unseasonably warm so we headed back inside. Again Today was the Day. A turn in the tide as it were. We amalgamated our bags into 1and since we had the car we no longer had to drag 2 bags with us everywhere we went. We put our coats and clothing for the cold weather on the top as we had a few more days of mountains ahead which brings us to our plans for tomorrow. Patience is a virtue and perhaps the only interesting blog of the trip…

We also decided (because Grant is a genius!!) that it was time for a break so instead of planning more long days, after our visit to Interlaken tomorrow we would head to Lucerne but stay on the outskirts in the village of Weggis and we would stay there for two nights to re-group and slow down. Overdue. This is why I keep him around!

The only other memorable part of Spiez is that the birds on this lake do not sleep. All night. There is a water bird called a Coot which is in the duck family. They make a type of squeaking sound. As annoying as this was at times, it also was endearing because the Coot outside our window (we needed to keep it open as it was so warm!) made the sound of one of Chester's favourite toys (Margaret for those who know him well!). So a bittersweet night as we had just logged on to see our smiling pup playing and swimming everyday in the heat wave that had arrived back at home before we went to sleep and were lullabied through the night to the loud SQUEAK SQUEAK. Very soothing… but not really!

Starting to put at least my baby toe back into thoughts of coming home but the rest of me is ready for tomorrow! EXCITED!