Montreux, Switzerland

May 13-14, 2002

After what turned out to be an excellent stay in Zermatt, we drove out to Montreux, on the Lake Geneva shoreline, the most Eastern part, on the opposite end from Geneva. What a wonderful place Montreux is ! We had a little hotel trouble that resulted in us refusing to stay at the booked hotel and finding a different, much better hotel. But after that, everything was wonderful. There is a long promenade along the lake front, and with all the flowers in bloom, you could smell them all as you walked along the promenade. There were several playgrounds for the kids, a merry-go-round, and many ice cream shops. There is even a McDonalds.

Montreux is also known for being a major place for music. Besides the very famous Montreux jazz festival every June, a large number of major recording artists have come to Montreux to record, including the Rolling Stones, Sting, Freddie Mercury and Queen, Deep Purple, and Santana. After visiting, we can see why. It was a lovely, peaceful place to visit. We hope the pictures show the same thing.

Here are some general scenes from Lake Geneva. First, two swans and their swanlings. Then a picture of the paddleboat that ferries people around the lake. 

On our walk along the promenade we stopped in a park and let Jeff and Connor run around a bit. Here is  Connor working off a little excess energy.

Various shots of the whole family stopping for a breather along the shoreline. It is hard to tell, but those are the Alps in the background. It was still a bit cloudy when we arrived. 

OK, Chateau Chillon. What a wonderful place ! This is a medieval castle that has its beginnings back in the Bronze Age. This is when man first occupied the rock it sits on. Then, in the 11th to 13th centuries, the first walls of the castle were built. It was owned by the Counts of Savoy from the 12th century on. In 1526 the Swiss captured the castle and have used it since. Restoration work on the castle began in the 19th century, greatly aided by detailed records of the work carried out on the castle since the 12th century. Inside the walls are an armory, dungeons, keep, torture chamber, latrines, moat, several courtyards, military quarters, apartments, and a chapel. The chateau was originally built to guard the narrow pass between the lake and the mountains, and to collect taxes on anything that passed through pass.

We were all very impressed with the Chateau Chillon, and the boys enjoyed it enough that we were able to get through all 32 rooms on the tour without any trouble. Of course, being able to sit on 13th century toilets and then look to see where everything goes will keep any young boy enthralled for a long time. The boys also enjoyed crawling around in the dungeons. But the castle is very well preserved with much of the machicolations and crenellations still easily visible today.

Here are four pictures of the lake with the chateau in the background. It was an easy 40 minute walk from our hotel around the lake.

Here are the boys as the sit in a cubbyhole waiting for us. Them the infamous picture of the boys sitting on the 13th century latrines. We spent more time in this room then all of the other people in the castle combined. Most people stuck their head in, turned up their nose, and left. Not us. We lingered.

You can see from the earlier pictures that the chateau is right out on the water of the lake. The first picture gives you a good view of that as Jeff and Connor look out one of the doors in the dungeon on to the water below. From the second picture you can see the water out the window. I wondered why Connor had that look on his face until I saw what his right hand was doing. Like father like son.

Here is a view of Montreux from out of one of the chateau windows.

Alas, it came time to drive home. It was a long 6 hour drive home from Montreux. But along the way we also got to go through the Mont Blanc tunnel, which had just reopened a few weeks before. This was the tunnel that had the horrendous fire in it that killed many people. A fuel tanker had jack-knifed, rolled over, and exploded, sending a huge fireball out each end of the tunnel. It was so hot that much of the cement inside the tunnel melted. It was closed for many years for repairs. Now that it is open, they charge quite alot of money, 25 Euros, or about $22.50, to go through it. Gotta pay for those improvements some how. It is the fifth longest tunnel in the world, at just under 12 kilometers long. But going through the tunnel also meant that we got to see the tallest mountain is all of Europe, Mount Blanc, in Switzerland. Here is what it looks like.

Last Updated Monday May 20, 2002 17:59 CET