Sunday - Montreux on Lake Leman and Chillon Castle.
Today was an absolute cracker of a Swiss spring day and every man and woman and their dog had the same idea that I had; to walk along the shore of Lake Leman ( also referred to as Lake Geneva). The sky was huge and blue and the air clean and crisp and filled with the perfumes of the myriad of flowering trees and floral plantings along the length of the promenade. I feel very lucky that the weather was so perfect on the day that I chose to visit this amazing place.
Think Noosa River, Hastings Street Boardwalk or Mooloolaba on steroids (with huge mountains in the background) and that will give you some idea what a Sunday walk along the shore of Lake Leman at Montreux is like. Hundreds and hundreds of people - walking, riding bikes, skooters, rollerblading, eating at cafes and restaurants, eating ice cream (which I queued in line for half an hour for!) sitting on the rocky patches of beach - shoreline, listening to buskers, picnicking etc. You get the picture. But all set in the most stunning of scenery backdropped by those ever present, snow-capped Alps. This was definitely the place to be on this warm, sunny spring day and I'm so glad that I made the effort of trying to negotiate local transport systems (where almost everybody except me speaks French!) in order to get there.
So after catching the local bus from Huemoz to Aigle and the train from Aigle (means eagle) to Montreux, you walk downstairs through the train station front doors, across the (yellow lined) pedestrian crossing and down a big flight of stairs between a hotel and "Angel's Cafe", cross another road and voila! You are standing on the promenade on the shore of Lake Leman. I chose to turn left to walk as Chillon Castle, which I wanted to go see, was about 50 minutes walk away in that direction. The walk took me a lot longer because I kept stopping to take photos (like just about every other tourist and visitor there was doing). This place is a photographer's gift with so much colour and variety and beautiful views to capture. For not just the first time on my trip I wished that I had brought my digital SLR with me. The iPhone camera just didn't quite cut it.
The Swiss really know how to celebrate the arrival of Spring with floral tributes. I guess they are just following nature's lead as she erupts into colour on every available patch of grass, field, rocky slope and roadside verge. My friend tells me that I am possibly a few weeks early to witness the native spring flowers blooming at the height of their glory, which I feel very disappointed about. Along almost the entire landscaped length of the lakeshore that I walked, rock garden beds were planted with every colour of flower imaginable. Unfortunately I don't know the names of Euroean flowers very well. - I could only identify poppies and daffodils, but there were many varieties, most commonly planted in mass groups for maximum effect. Then, blooming at another height above where you walked were all sorts of flowering large specimen trees. Pink (cherries?), white (magnolias?), yellow (I have no idea!). All this floral colour and its subsequent perfumes definitely adds a carnival like atmosphere to the walk along Leman.
Chillon Castle, first constructed way back in the 1200's, is built on a tiny rocky island separated from the lakeshore by only a few metres. I felt like a real cliche of a tourist going to see the castle, but I am so happy I did. (Single Adult entry fee only 12 SwissFrancs by the way + 6 Francs extra for audio tour!). It is one of the most authentically preserved castles and is amazing to explore. Over the centuries its occupants have made various changes to its architecture, however the main rooms / areas stayed the same. I found the lower areas such as the dungeon / prison the most affecting. These cold, dank places where hundreds of poor souls must have languished and perished were truly creepy and this was with the lighting for tourists. I can only imagine how soul-destroying and wretched it would have been to exist in them in the dark. Byron famously wrote a poem called "The Prisoner of Chillon" and he apparently then visited the prison and carved his name in one of the stone pillars. How authentic this is I don't know, but I took a photo of it like a sucker anyway!

The other things that interested me most about the castle were the tiny details that most people didn't even stop to look at - decorative metal door locks, carved wooden capitals on pillars, carved details on wooden furniture and chests, delicate, faded tempera paintings on walls and tapestry patterns. All these small details made the visit more real and tangible and meaningful for me. I guess it is the art teacher / artist in me, but I could appreciate that some talented artisan made those things with their hands all those hundreds of years ago. I wanted to steal some of the beautiful, carved wooden chairs and take them home with me. (And Erin, only you could appreciate the time and skill put into making some of the Medieaval weapons, knives and locks). I think other tourists were looking at me a bit strangely when I sat down on the floor next to a piece of furniture to photograph it's details. Ah well!

On my walk back from the castle to downtown Montreux I joined a very slow moving queue to buy some Swiss ice-cream. Half an hour later and I had my scoops of raspberry and pistachio ice-cream and joined the throngs of other people doing exactly the same thing - sitting on the stone wall that edged the promenade, facing the beautiful blue lake and sky and the French alps on the other side of the lake. A pretty good way to spend a Sunday afternoon.