Mountains, Trains et Francais

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We have now felt a good cross-section of the summer weather the Swiss Alps can throw at you, from barely above freezing blustery rainy days, to clear skies with highs above 30 C. Uncle Thierry and Aunt Helen’s chalet is in Gryon, half way up an Alp in the Dents du Midi range in the south-west of the country near the Italian border and even closer to the French border. The majority of the Swiss in this area speak French, although the signs are usually multilingual. Most products you buy have trilingual labels - French, German and Italian. Some signs, especially at tourist areas, are also in English, and some products which are obviously sold beyond Switzerland, have even more languages on them. I counted 8 different languages on one box. Makes our bilingual Canadian cereal boxes seem downright prosaic and uncluttered in comparison.

We have had quite a bit of downtime here, with Keith and Renee enjoying playing with their little cousins and Susan and Bill enjoying the spectacular views and fresh mountain air. We have done a few touristy things, as described below, but many of the highlights of our stay here have been a result of just becoming part of the everyday existence. Uncle Thierry owns a fine wine and spirits shop in the nearby ski village of Villars, as well as a couple of organic vineyards. He also conducts tours of the vineyards and wine tasting once or twice a week for British and American tour buses. We all joined him for a British tour, helping to set the tables in the wine cellar beforehand, swatting flies during, and cleaning up afterwards. Had a great time with the 32 geriatrics and their lush of a tour guide. One day Keith spent the day with Thierry at his shop, helping with all sorts of things from producing labels for prices on the computer to helping to deliver wine to local restaurants. We all spent some time in the vineyards on a few occasions, helping to weed them by hand (organic, remember) and prune the vines. The children now know more about wines and wine making than most people who are legally able to drink the stuff.

There was a full house here one night, as Susan’s cousin Maggie from California (see our entries entitled The Real California has stood up and Yosemite Sam Land from March) arrived with her two boys for a night and the better part of two days. Part of one of those days we went out on Lac Leman in a sailboat in very windy conditions. There were “moutons” on the lake which confused us a bit at first. We didn’t see any sheep. Eventually Thierry told us that it was also the French word for whitecaps. Imaginative really to see little lambs surfing when looking at whitecaps. Anyway, we hired an experienced skipper and his crew (which consisted of his wife) and it was quite thrilling although at times the craft was on such an angle that everyone of us thought in unison “Are we going over?”, with Renee usually saying it out loud.

We have done some hiking, including the Sentier aux Renards above Villars. One day we went with Aunt Helen to touch a glacier. It was a two hour drive that was more vertical than horizontal I think, followed by a one hour hike (actually a little longer because we had a three year old setting the pace for much of it) to the Moiry Glacier at the foot of the mountain called Dent Blanche. Another day we decided to go out for Italian food for lunch. So naturally we drove to Italy. We took the tunnel at the Great Saint Bernard pass on the Swiss/Italian border. This is where Saint Bernard dogs were bred by monks centuries ago, specifically to save people buried in avalanches. Spectacular scenery. The cobblestone square in the centre of Aosta, the first Italian town you come to after being emitted from the 6 km tunnel, is partially filled with café tables spilling out from the restaurants on its perimeter. This is where we had Italian food for lunch. We then decided not to go back the way we came, but to try the 11.6 km Mont Blanc tunnel on the Italian/French border. As the name suggests, it goes through Mont Blanc, which, at over 4800 metres (15,000 ft) is the tallest mountain in the Alps. Even more spectacular scenery. We then wound our way back to Switzerland via Chamonix.

The Montreux Jazz Festival coincided with our stay so Susan and Bill took a few hours away from the children for the first time in many months and strolled along the Lac Leman shoreline listening to the open air “jazz”, which would be more accurately described as folk music from around the world. Everything from a Slovakian Gypsy singer to a North American native (Apache?) band. On another day we all went into Lausanne and visited the Olympic Museum. Good museum, especially the historic parts to do with the ancient Greek games and the founding of the modern games in 1896 by the educator and internationalist Pierre du Coubertin. One day we went to Gruyere where conveniently there is not only a Gruyere cheese factory open to the public, but also the Caillier chocolate factory (now owned by Nestle). So we toured, and sampled, at both. When Renee was two years old, she seemed to believe there were only three food groups, meat, cheese and chocolate. Everything else she responded to as if to say “I know that’s inedible so quit trying to fool me”. So we teased her a bit, after seeing the cheese and chocolate factories, that we only needed to find an abattoir now to complete the trio. We ended up choosing to tour the old medieval walled village of Gruyere and then take a hike at the Moleson ski hill instead. On another occasion we spent the morning exploring Chateau du Chillon, a fantastic old castle which is supposedly the most visited site in Switzerland.

The big touristy day was the trip to Interlaken and taking the cog railway up to Jungfraujoch, which is the highest railway station in the world. It also by the way has the highest post office in the world and is the highest spot on the earth from which you can make a phone call. Spectacular views from the top of the Aletsch Glacier, the largest in the Alps (although it’s receding at a rate of 50 metres per year now, a rate that increases every year due to global warming). The glacier is ringed by many of Switzerland’s tallest mountains, including the Jungfrau, the Monch, the Eiger, and the Aletschhorn. The station consists of a number of lookout points, an ice palace which you walk through, exhibitions and displays as well as restaurants and shops. You can also go outside onto the glacier, which we did, and hike up the Jungfrau or around the Monch, which we did not do. The whiteout conditions which prevailed outside when you are in a cloud that passes by, hurts the eyes, even with sunglasses on. We all understood much better as a result how snow blindness occurs. A total of three hours was spent at “the top of Europe”.

The trains go almost everywhere in Switzerland. It’s really quite amazing. Whereas virtually every other country we’ve been in has lots of unused and/or pulled up old railway lines, Switzerland continues to use every track ever laid. Its railways are a huge source of national pride, more so it seems than the things we associate more readily with Switzerland such as watches, banks, army knives, chocolate and cheese. Although France and Japan have faster trains, Switzerland’s train system is more comprehensive, reaching to within a few kilometres of every inhabitant in the country and, of course, they are always on time. The trains literally slow down upon approaching a station if they are going to be early. Being a couple of minutes late, I’m sure, would be cause for the government to announce a national inquiry.

Government policies also mean that you see very few big trucks on the highways. They purposely don’t extend their major highways to border crossings, as well as taxing trucks on their highways heavily, to dissuade neighbouring countries from sending trucks into, or even more importantly, through Switzerland. Being at the centre of Europe they feel they do not want their country overrun with trucks passing through from Germany to Italy or France to Austria for example. “We have trains” Switzerland is essentially saying to its neighbours. “If you want to move cargo into or through our country, use them, not our highways.” And it seems to work. One result is less noisy and calmer highways. Another is less smog and environmental damage. A third is an amazingly extensive railway network.

Wonderful country which we could write about all day, but the blog is already probably too long. Merci beaucoup a Thierry et Helen pour deux semaines inoubliables. And thanks to you for reading to the end. Next installment: Ireland.

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Comments

[Thompson's]

Cooler Weather
Hot weather awaits you in Ontario. You brought back memories of when I was in Interlaken. Looking forward to the next installment. Kathy, George, and Patrick

[James]

Wow
This is quite the adventure you're having, Bill. I've been checking in every now and then to see how you're doing. The Japan stuff was fabulous. Hope all is well, and I'll look forward to seeing you when you get back. PS - Hope you're ready for some cards when you return!