Montreux, Switzerland January 23-27, 2011

Pat's bi-monthly Coty meetings were held at the very posh Le Fairmont Montreux Palace Hotel overlooking the beautiful Lac Leman from Monday to Wednesday. I enjoyed my days (mostly solo) exploring Montreux, revisiting the famous Chateau Chillon, heading to Morges to spend a day with Cathy and her walking friends, and spending my last day in my favourite haunt, Lausanne, where I visited the Olympic Museum for the first time.

Below are the views from our hotel room with the Vaudois Alps off to the left and those of the Haute Savoie in France straight ahead (when you can see them...)






























The front facade of the old hotel with some interesting Canadian "moose" on the front lawn!














A lovely 40 minute walk along the lakefront took me past pretty homes and gardens to Chateau Chillon, of Lord Byron fame ("The Prisoner of Chillon").














If you peer VERY closely, you will see the French Alps of the Haute Savoie! Not actually seeing them clearly is a good thing for the Swiss, because that generally means good weather. When they are so clear that you can practically reach out to touch them, then watch out, rain is coming!
When we lived in Préverenges in 1968-69 (further to the west on the lake), my mother would lament the bad weather coming announcing, "The mountains are out"!"














The Chateau Chillon looms in the distance, the Vaudois Alps and Leysin behind














They make their own wine...not as good as other Swiss white wines, we discovered!



















The front entrance of the castle

































Views of the vineyards above Morges, west of Lausanne, where I spent the day with my "old" friend Cathy. We spent the afternoon walking with two other friends in the foothills of the Jura Mountains through open vineyards and small villages.














Cathy, Kathie and Line, the artist in front of a local community centre














My final day was spent in Lausanne at the Olympic Museum in Ouchy, by the Lake





























A section of Barcelona sidewalk from the 1992 Games...I walk on such a pattern all the time in the city!



















Now "the mountains are (sort of) out"! We are looking at France, near Evian and Thonon-les-Bains.















Et c'est tout! Another lovely but short visit to La Belle Suisse! Hasta luego...

Weekend in Leysin, Switzerland January 21-23, 2011

Pat and I spent a weekend in the Vaudois Alps above Lac Leman before his week-long GOLT meeting for Coty in Montreux. We flew from Barcelona in the afternoon to Geneva, then took the train directly from the airport to Aigle, via Morges and Lausanne, changing to the cog mountain railway up to Leysin. We checked into the Hotel Tour d'Ai where I had stayed with Jen, Steph and Lou in June 2009. A wonderful cheese fondue at La Fromagerie completed the evening!
The Alps from 30,000 feet














The Dents du Midi from our hotel room, first morning-very little snow in Leysin village!














We were joined on Saturday by our longtime friends, Cathy (from 1968-69 in Lausanne) and her husband, Jean-Pierre and their family along with a group of acquaintances. Each year at this time, they meet here for a weekend in the snow to ski, snow-shoe, enjoy fondue and party! As we were in the neighbourhood, we were invited to come along! Here we are on our first hike Saturday afternoon, but were unable to use snowshoes as many of the trails were quite bare. The warm sunshine and blue skies made up for it, as did a "Gluehwein" and snack in a restaurant along the way!
Jean-Pierre is in yellow, beside Pat in the red hat, Kathie in blue jacket and Cathy in brown














The village of Leysin is below us on our hike-where's the snow?














A typical scene in the Swiss Alps...the only thing missing is Heidi!














Finally some snow along our trail!














Old friends for 43 years: Cathy and Kathie














A new canine driver in town (look carefully), parked outside the bakery!














Some other new drivers in go-carts on the rink! Pat leads the pack in #11!














After Sunday's hike, a game of curling...it's been a long time since those bonspiel days in Grande Prairie! Here's Pat getting ready to throw...














Apres-ski in the hotel lounge/restaurant with some good Swiss wine!














"Une fondue chinoise" the first night and "une fondue au fromage" the second night...yum! The Swiss do it right! Sante!

































And after dinner, some dancing! Jean-Pierre and his sister, Yvette take to the floor!



















Cathy in the middle (jeans and gray T-shirt)














Jean-Pierre and daughter Jessica on the bar!














A good time was had by all! We hated to leave the mountains but Pat's work and company meetings were calling from the posh hotel, Le Fairmont Montreux Palace overlooking the Lake. Cathy and Jean-Pierre kindly drove us right to the hotel front door., with promises to see each other again in a few days!

Hasta luego!