Switzerland

Geneva

Geneva is at the western end of Lake Geneva in french-speaking western Switzerland. Geneva is a modern city with nice parks and lakefront, expensive shopping and hotels, but relatively little in the way of old sights so common in Europe's cities. I flew into here with a planeload of businessmen and diplomats - within minutes of our arrival about 3 of them had already received calls on their cell phones as we were on our way to the terminal building. Geneva's airport is relatively small - much smaller than Zürich. I was here for just a few hours before departing by train for Chamonix-Mont Blanc in France. One of the most famous sights in Geneva is the Jet d'eau in the lake, the highest water fountain in the world. Also seen here are some of the boats that you can take to see the lake.

Montreux

The city of Montreux is at the other end of Lake Geneva. Montreux is a resort town, with a nice lakefront and a casino, but for me, the one best sight lies just to the south. Chillon Castle is built on a small island not much more than a large rock) on the edge of Lake Geneva. I think this is one of Europe's best and most interesting castles. Although it doesn't have prominent high towers and turrets that you might think of when you think of a castle, it has all sorts of interesting things to see on the inside - grand rooms with old furnishings, dungeons and prisons, defensive walls with loopholes for defense by bow, and the obligatory keep (highly defended central tower) and central courtyards. It began in the middle ages, with several enlargements and revisions over the centuries.

[Grand Hall] This is the Grand Hall in the castle, the columns you see are 13th century oak, the fireplace is 15th century (note the white cross above the fireplace, the same white cross that's part of Switzerland's flag today).

[Bonivard's Prison] This picture shows Bonivard's Prison in the lower part of the castle, named for Bonivard who was held prisoner here, chained to the 5th pillar for 4 years. The poet Byron carved his name on the 3rd pillar. Also down here are a crypt, former arms storehouses, secret passages, a chapel, and evidence of modifications (doorways that have been closed off, etc.) and remnants of earlier structures that were either changed or destroyed in an earthquake in 1584.

Montreux Oberland Bahn

The Crystal Panoramic Express is a luxury train that travels across the Vaud Alps between Montreux and Zweisimmen. This train uses unique panoramic cars, shown here, with 8 passenger seats in the large front window, with the engineer riding in a compartment behind and above them with a view out the smaller window at the top. Note the lower and upper sets of windshield wipers. You'll notice those windshield wipers in my pictures from this train. I was very fortunate to get one of these 8 front seats (the rest of the seats are arranged in islands, with a full service bar at the back of the car). This is a first class train which requires reservations, I didn't even know I had one of these prime seats reserved until I boarded the train and went looking for my assigned seat number (other trains also run this route, including the Golden Panoramic Express, which doesn't use these same panoramic cars). The train climbs immediately out of Montreux, past vineyards and giving good views of Lake Geneva (in the left of the second picture) before heading over the top and down the valley toward Zweisimmen to the east in the direction of the Bernese Oberland. To continue to the Bernese Oberland, you have to get off this narrow gauge train and get on a full size train at Zweisimmen (there's a plan to add narrow gauge track to Interlaken which will allow uninterrupted travel from Montreux through Interlaken to Luzern on one train). [MOB]

Despite the sleek appearance, this isn't a fast train, but I enjoyed the ride anyway, especially due to the excellent view and unique experience. Tunnels were interesting - this picture shows the train about to emerge from a long tunnel, a view that normally only the engineer sees. Switches were also interesting, the front seats are ahead of the wheels, causing the illusion of not making a needed turn to avoid another train at a station, followed by the feeling of sliding over onto the right track after seeming at first that we were going the wrong way.

[MOB] Here's a typical view from the front window near the Zweisimmen end of the line. The mountains along the valley aren't as high as some other areas, for example the Glacier Express route, but it was still a nice scenic ride.

I also took a side trip down a dead-end route from Zweisimmen to Lenk due to cloudy weather that made me cancel other sightseeing plans. Here you see a few of the many cows of the region.

Created June 27, 1998
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