The Cure in Switzerland : )

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(Heavy paraphrasing here as I try and remember the lines from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

Young Willy Wonka: I'm running away, and I'm going to all the great candy making nations: Switzerland, Bavaria etc. etc.
(I was watching it in Switzerland, and the whole cinema sniggered at the line. Louise, who was watching the film with me, is Belgian, and was a bit miffed that her country didn't get a mention. I'm inclined to agree with her)

Good afternoon to all and sundry,

How's things? Hope you're all having an uproariously good time 😊

It has certainly been a while (all of 2 weeks), but I can't say I've really had a chance, or been inspired to write until now. I'll warn you now, this is a long one, so it may be wise to get a cup of coffee to keep you up.

Since I last left you, I've travelled from Florence into Nice, to soak up some sun and see the glamorous French Riviera, before heading into Switzerland.

Nice is a pleasant little town, which has a lovely beach full of....pebbles. Coming from Australia this took a little getting used to, but they are remarkably therapeutic on the feet, kind of like wearing a pair of masseur sandals (or being massaged by Sven, or Inga, or Olga etc.).

When I first arrived in Nice, I had to find a plce to stay as I hadn't booked before arriving. There were 2 of us who had found the same hostel and from our understanding in our poor french, there was only one bed left. We were about to flip a coin for it, before the receptionist explained to us in her poor english that there were actually 2 beds. No really, I'm quite a well travelled globetrotter with a mastery of most languages, especially French. Honest!!

An hour of arriving in Nice, I actually bumped into the receptionist of the hostel I stayed at in Rome (talk about Kismet), and spent the night with her and her other half on the pebble beach eating cheap pizza, drinking cheap red wine, the full moon reflecting off the water, and as if on cue, we were entertained by a fireworks show as well. A very groovy night.

I made a day trip out to Monaco as well, so I put on my cleanest pair of shorts as well as a collared shirt to make sure that I fit in a little more. The place is very ritzy and glamorous, which in turn means they charge ritzy and glamorous prices. My bottle of water cost me €3.50 (A$5.70)! Monaco is strictly for high flyers and playboys who like living the high life. It has the highest concentration of Ferraris per capita that I have come across as well as numerous designer stores and boutiques. While I was there though I couldn't help myself and walked the formula one circuit and imagined the F1 cars roaring around, and the commentary as I passed through different sections (down the straight past Swimming pool, then a right hander up to Casino, the 60kmh hairpin, and into the tunnel etc.)

Head for toilet break here

After Nice, I headed north into Switzerland. First stop in Switzerland was the little town of Avenches, where there was a little music festival called Rock Oz Arenes. It's a little town with strong influences from Roman times, and the festival is actually held in a Roman amphitheatre which was very very cool. I was there to see The Cure, but before The Cure came on, a lot of us older folk were waiting on the periphery while Good Charlotte played for the young 'uns. I think I missed the boat with Good Charlotte, maybe you need to grow up listening to them, I'm not sure. Anyone who likes Good Charlotte, please explain it to me so I can at least understand. But one lady spoke for a few of us that night in this neat little moment:

Good Charlotte: How are we going Switzerland?
(slight reaction from crowd)
Good Charlotte: Tell me what you want Switzerland.
Lady next to me: THE CURE!

The Cure eventually came on (at midnight) and played a massive two and a quarter hour set which was great fun. Seeing Robert Smith perform in the flesh, and the band perform their great hits was a sight to behold. All the 30-40 somethings all made up as Robert Smith was also a sight to behold too 😊
It was an amazing set, but in the two and a quarter hours they still didn't play 4 of my favourite songs:
- Pictures of you
- Inbetween days
- Close to me
- and most disappointing of all, Lovesong.

After Avenches, I spent the rest of my time in Lausanne sampling chocolate (which was divine), but also carved out enough time to take a day trip up into the mountains. I headed up to the ski resort town of Zermatt, but wanted to get a better view of the Matterhorn, so went on the mountain train up to Gornegratt, which is 3000 metres above sea level. The scenery in Switzerland is really picturesque, but it reminds me a lot of Austria. I finally get up to Gornegratt....and all I can see is cloud. A few of us spent a few minutes peering into the gray fog wondering if we could make out the matterhorn, but all we could see was a big fat nothing.. After a while we decided to head back down, as it was 0 degrees celcius up there and it started to snow (I still don't understand why I go to all these cold places in Summer, maybe I'm subconsciously missing home? I dunno).

Anyhow, I'm spent, but next time you'll hear from it will be about Leeds Festival (yay!).

Speak to you soon,
Ben

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