Since returning to Switzerland this week, I am trying to catch up with myself. Here's another post about an adventure earlier this summer. Tom's annual CIO conference is always in Switzerland, but the location changes. I'm sure you can guess the location for 2014. I was not invited to the conference, but I was happy to take the train to Montreux on Friday afternoon to join Tom and spend the weekend with him there. The conference conveniently ended the day the jazz festival began.
The company always choose nice hotels and we sure couldn't complain about the view from our room.
The tents below were for craft vendors selling their wares.
Montreux has definitely invested in its walkway along Lake Geneva. There were beautiful flower gardens the whole way and music notes on the fences! Perfect!
We're not experts on jazz by any stretch and most often don't choose it. Therefore, we didn't know any of the names on the program and opted not to purchase any tickets. We decided we would be just fine with whatever was available free of charge.
The first group we heard (playing on the stage labeled music in the park) was actually a high school jazz band from
Washington state, USA! I was very impressed with their soloists. That
was something I never felt comfortable doing - they were very good.
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| female bassist - love it! |
We were lucky enough to have chosen to sit down for a glass a wine -
when it started raining we had a pretty good spot! Umbrella compliments
of the hotel.
Of course, we saw and listened to many street musicians as we walked along.
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| desperately in need of a haircut |
I have seen South American Indians playing their panpipes all over the world - they sure get around. I admit to having no idea what the instrument on the right is called.
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| an appropriate decoration for the city |
Before the music started on Saturday, we took a bus down to Chillon Castle walking back to Montreux along the lake afterwards. The conference had taken a tour of the castle, but Tom was willing to go again and act as my personal guide. (I can never go to too many castles - they're all unique)
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| inner courtyard |
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| kitchen |
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| watch your head! |
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| I chose not to climb out there... |
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| on our way back to Montreux |
We saw the beginning of a race on our way.
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| pirates! |
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| unfair advantage? |
Time for more music! The singer on the "Music in the Park" stage had a really nice voice, but we enjoyed the solo jazz pianist at "El Mundo" the most. We talked to him at his break and then stayed until the end of his set to buy a CD. He was from Greece, but spoke English well having studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Unfortunately, the CD isn't as good because it's a group and not just him. I'll just consider it a donation to his career.
It's fitting that Montreux has a shop that sells pianos. Notice the awning and the sign in the shape of a grand piano over the door. This one's for you, Pam!
I think the JAZZ sign is temporary, but a nice touch.
We took our chances (no reservation and an unknown restaurant) and sat down for an outdoor dinner. My food was better than I expected for blindly choosing a restaurant in a crowded tourist town. We had seats where we could hear this young woman singing. We were also rewarded with a beautiful sunset. Well, it was actually blinding me on the way down, but very pretty anyway.
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| looks good, right? |
This group was clearly having a great time. Fun to watch.
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| ambiance at night |
There was a lot going on in Montreux. The next morning, right outside our hotel, we saw the start of a race. Don't know if it was a charity run or something else, but there were a lot of runners.
Since the music didn't start until evening and by then we needed to be on our way back to Zurich, we decided to head out in the morning. We opted for a boat to Lausanne since we'd never explored that city. From there, we would take a train back to Zurich and then on to Horgen. It was a perfect day for a boat ride.
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| au revoir to our hotel |
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| vineyards |
Here are some photos from our short walk around Lausanne - of course there was a cathedral. It was difficult to get a picture of from the outside because we couldn't get far enough away with all the other buildings.
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| cathedral peeking through |
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| city hall with clock |
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| climbing up to the cathedral |
This is the best I could do from near the entrance. Without google images, I would have no idea what it looks like in its entirety. There was a lot of pretty stained glass.
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| thanks google |
Time to climb back down and catch a train back home. It was a fun weekend jaunt.
We hadn't spent much time in the French region of Switzerland so the trip was probably overdue.
