Blogs from South-West, Switzerland, Europe - page 8

Brendan and Tracey went off to Milan by train for the day so we were on kiddy duty. Our first option was to take them to the Bird Park where there are owls and eagles and injured birds but we couldn't get the buses to work for us without walking for ages. We chose instead to go to the Glacier Gorge after some playtime on the ropes in town. Many years ago we had visited this site but now the glacier is well back from the valley entrance. We were able to walk about a kilometre up the gorge mostly through a carved out rock path in the mountain and alongside the gorge. Where this wasn't suitable, a metal path had been cantilevered out over the river. It was a cold 10 degrees in the gorge. ... read more

We met to day with a wonderful lady, Claire Lise. She is a friend of our Canadian friends, Hans and Debbie Frick. They suggested we get in touch with Claire Lise and spend some time together. Coincidentally her home was only about 5 - 6 Km's away from our place. As the heat wave was still continuing we decided not to travel too far. We met and wandered through our local Ferney-Voltaire Saturday market which was fantastic. Beautiful breads, vegetables, cheeses, meat, eggs, clothing, chickens with their heads still attached?. Terrific stuff, but with only a day or so to go, we didn't purchase much but just took in the wonderful sights and aromas of the market. ******** PLEASE NOTE YOU CAN VIEW THE PREVIOUS BLOG DAYS BY SELECTING PREVIOUS LINK , JUST BELOW THE THE ... read more

We found we could live stream the All Blacks and Lions game on the very small computer. We set it up on the floor and all sat on the bed in the cheap seats to watch the match. It was another 32 degree day so it was a fairly warm game for us. The game was a little nail biting with both teams neck and neck and unfortunately all the Lions points coming from penalty goals. The final result was a draw with one game each and a drawn last one. The ABs were certainly given a hard competition especially since there were so many Lions supporters in NZ. The great internet shows that you don't have to be home to keep up with things. I listen to Radio NZ or NewstalkZB at night and get ... read more

We decided to go for it and get on the bus (Bus F) into Geneva today. Simple enough? No. We got onto our bus with money in hand only to discover the driver does not sell tickets; it is done by way of an automated vending machine which only takes coins!!! ? We had none - so sat down and took our seats hoping we would not be found out. Along our route we passed the United Nations, UNICEF and the famous "3 legged chair". Our trip was only about 15-20 minutes. We made the trip into the main Train Station (Gare Cornavin). We weren't arrested for riding without a ticket but immediately went to a location where we could purchase some Swiss Franc coins for our return back to our BnB. We then headed to ... read more

Now we're thoroughly aquainted with the area, it's nearly time to move on. Today was the last day in Saanenland and it's been a very good choice. Yes, we've passed this way before but only fleetingly. There is so much more to discover when you stay a while. Today we stayed in the valley and walked in the morning from Schonried (about 2kms away) to Saanenmoser. It is an easy walk through grassy paddocks behind houses and down in the valley. We had expected to have lunch at Saanenmoser but nothing was open. It does not pay to arrive anywhere after 12 midday as they shut and go home then reopen later. Back in Schonried we did find somewhere open but with ridiculous prices for lunch so we had a coffee and went back to the ... read more