This post is dedicated to all the travelers out there. We often get inquiries about our favorite places that we have visited outside of the US. Before we forget, we wanted to leave detailed notes on our top picks in rank order. Instead of putting it as a post and making it impossibly long to scroll through, we have created a new page on the site here. You can find it in the future on the top menu of the blog. We pledge to continually update it through our travels!
Category Archives: Travel: Within Switzerland
Gratitude Friday: Sunny Saturdays
Last weekend, we actually split up to experience some of our bucket list items remaining.
Gabe skied with Finnish friend A at Les Contamines, France for the day. With my feet still not up to par for skiing, I opted for a scenic train to Rochers-de-Naye.
The guys enjoyed the day at Les Contamines, with sunny skies and great slopes.
Views at Les Contamines
I also enjoyed my day on the train at at Rochers-de-Naye. One of the things that I love about living here is how much people take advantage of beautiful days. I talked about this mentality in my “Profiter” post, but here are just a few examples of what I saw at the main station on the way out to my day trip:
Skiers and hikers of all ages, ready to board the train
The reason I selected Rochers-de-Naye is because of its 2000m position at the far end of Lake Geneva. I heard the views were magnificent and you could see almost the entire lake from the summit. Having confirmed sunny skies, I set off on the two hour journey.
I quickly learned that sunny skies at Rochers-de-Naye and sunny skies over Lake Geneva were two different things:
Evidence of the permacloud. Lake Geneva is below the layer.
Nonetheless, I thought the ambience was pretty neat with the mysterious cover. Despite my ill preparations of not wearing snow shoes (oops), I had fun seeing the mountains.
Gorgeous views @ Rochers-de-Naye
I didn’t happen to notice anything peculiar about the above scene. However, when I was showing my French teacher, she commented….”ah, Mount Cervin”. If you look at the pointed mountain in the distance of the photo, that is the infamous Matterhorn. Wish the view was this clear when we were in Zermatt!
Also of note, the summit hosts 7 Mongolian yourts, which each sleep 8 people. The ski slopes are only steps from the little huts, so you can easily ski from your doorstep in the winter, or hike in the summer.
Yourt with blue door
Yourt with red door
After about 2 hours, I got a little break in the clouds to envision what the view would look like on a clear day.
The blue of Lake Geneva starting to show
We are both grateful for the beautiful weekend to experience some of our final must-do’s!
Related posts:
The Adventures of Miss Widget and Her People: A New Year, Another Mountain, And A Gnome
Schwingen in Switzerland: It Wasn’t Premeditated, Our Hike Up Rochers-de-Naye
The Swiss Watch Blog: Gratitude Friday – Ski School
Sending Away for a Swiss Army Knife
There is no doubt; I am still a child at heart.
Shortly after moving to Switzerland, we made a trip to Gruyères to taste cheese and visit the village. During our cheese tour I came across a promotional offer for Swiss cheeses.
“receive a free cheese knife with four swiss cheese proof of purchase and 20 francs”
It immediately caught my eye because this promotion wasn’t for just any cheese knife. It was for the ultimate utilitarian cheese knife made by Swiss Army. Complete with cheese blade, cerated bread blade and, of course, corkscrew bottle opener. I knew immediately I had to have it.
Given my penchant for cheese, it took no time at all to collect enough proofs of purchase to send away for my knife. I honestly didn’t know what to expect when dropping the envelope into the mail. Did I translate the offer correctly? How long would it take? Would I ever see my Swiss Army cheese knife?
But with the precision of a Swiss watch, my cheese knife arrived in the mail less than two weeks later. With the eagerness and awe of a small boy I opened my package. I didn’t image that such a treasure could be had so easily!
The box
The anticipation builds
And….cheese knife!
Blades for cheese and bread
Corkscrew for wine
Since that time it has gotten lots of use during our time in Geneva…picnics at the lake, road trip snacks, train ride meals with family/friends and, most recently, ski weekend meals in the mountains.
The French Cougar using the knife on the Glacier Express
So don’t forget to ask to see the cheese knife the next time you see me. I am always happy to show off my new toy.
Gratitude Friday: UNESCO World Heritage List
This Gratitude Friday goes out to UNESCO. I actually had no clue what UNESCO was before we moved to Geneva. However, because of the sheer volume of places in Europe, it became something of note during our travels. UNESCO helps identify and protect the places in the world that are most important to humans, both culturally and naturally. There are currently 962 places in the world on the list. Roughly 80% are cultural while 20% are natural.
How wonderful that there is an organization which makes it their mission to preserve and recognize these sites? While sites like the Notre Dame in Paris might not have trouble gaining support, think about those in underdeveloped countries like Angkor Wat in Cambodia that can now have the financial and administrative resources to preserve and protect these special sites for the world to appreciate?
And also, I wanted to express our thankfulness for being able to visit over 30 new UNESCO sites during our time as ex-pats. This is something that neither one of us thought we would do in a 1.5 year span. While our travels will be slowing down with our move back to the US, I wanted to find a way to archive the sites that we had been to, both before this experience, and then after.
So, I have created a page in the main menu of the blog listing Our UNESCO Tracker. I’ll keep this up in the future as well.
Bon weekend, everyone!
The Swiss Rule Book: Drinking in Public
Drinking in public isn’t a big deal in Europe. We are constantly reminded of this with our guests. We bring along a bottle of wine to a picnic or on a train and they ask us, “you can’t actually drink that here, can you?”. The answer is yes. Europeans are far more lax about things like this. As a result, there are actually far less drunk people because it isn’t so taboo. In fact, the Swiss can start drinking wine and beer at 16. It’s 18 for hard liquor. And, we have never seen drunk teens.
Here are a few photographic reasons to further demonstrate the point:
Recently, in Italy, we had a glass of champagne at a risotto fair. They gave us cloth glass holders to string around our neck so that we could take it “to go”. This has become my favorite new accessory.
Me with my champagne glass necklace, walking around town
They put reminders up about the legal drinking age:
Babies can’t drink in public.
However, some don’t pay attention.
Before….
After….
Sorry little guy. You have to wait a few years.
And, those ‘on duty’ don’t mind enjoying a cold one.
This guy might have just had his 16th birthday
People drink in random places. It is most common on the bus to see a guy in a suit enjoying a beer on his way home from work. I prefer this photo of a lady in her 70’s opening up her bottle she purchased grocery shopping and drinking it out of the bottle at the bus stop. There is no time like the present.
It’s 5 o’ clock somewhere.
Here’s hoping that this New Years Day, you didn’t have too much to drink!
The Apéro or Après-Ski….Two Alternatives to What We Know As Happy Hour
When we lived in The States, we frequently had “Happy Hour”. Whether it was with colleagues or friends, it was common to get together after work, enjoy a drink and catch up. In the US, it is also common for bars and establishments to have Happy Hour Specials such as dollar beers or half priced glasses of wine, etc.
In France, they have a similar tradition, however usually without the discount. We’ve had the pleasure of experiencing them before but while in Morzine for Christmas, we feel like we’ve really gotten a lot of practice!
The first is “L’Apero”, or The Apero. L’Apero is the French bridge between your normal busy day and the start of the evening. Enjoying an ‘aperitif’ before dinner is classified as a gesture of health or well-being, to start your appetite. The typical aperitif consists of : champagnes, martinis, vermouths, sherries, or a light or sweet white wines, as well as small snacks like olives, chips or nuts. A fruit juice is also an alternative to the alcoholic beverages.
Having Champagne for an aperitif
In ski towns, the apero has a fun spin in terms of the “Après Ski”. Literally translated, it means ‘after the ski’. Crowds gather at the most popular bars to start the night. Here the drink selections are more broad, including beers and mixed drinks.
The Après Ski buzz
Enjoying the Après Ski with friends, including a special birthday celebration
Finally, after dinner, it is common in France and other European countries to be served a digestif. Many times this is included with the meal, and is intended to help your food settle. In Greece, it is raki or ouza. In Italy, many times it is limoncello. Here in France, we had homemade apple and pear liquor as well as a hot rum digestif.
While I have heard of “the night cap”, an alcoholic beverage consumed before going to bed, in the US, I typically know it as a sleep aid vs. a digestive aid.
It sure is hard to do this research, but we are happy to do it for the benefit of the blog! Happy New Years Eve, everyone!!
Desalpe Festival
Sometimes I have to pinch myself when I realize that we live in Switzerland. We love getting to experience a completely new way of life and new customs. This past weekend was no exception, when we attended the Semsales Desalpe Festival.
What is a Desalpe you might ask? In Switzerland, the cows happily live in the Alps in the summer, munching away on the greenest of grassy pastures. However, the cold snowy temperatures that come in the winter are even too harsh for Swiss cattle. So every Fall, the happy Swiss cows come down from their summer home in the high Alps to their lower grassy pastures and barns.
Most small villages celebrate their return home with a Desalpe Festival, literally translated, “from the Alps”.
We attended the festival in the town of Semsales, in the canton of Fribourg, near Gruyeres. This festival is special because of its spacing. Typically, all the herds are condensed in one parade. However, in Semsales, each group gets the individual spotlight. From 10:00 in the morning until 18:00 in the evening, a total of 14 families march through town proudly, welcoming their herd home for the winter.
We got quite an awakening to the procession when parking our car. Literally, one of the herds came into us!
Well, hello there.
Walking into town, we got to see quite a few more processions. The first few cows wear very tall ornamentation. Sort of like Christmas trees on their heads:
Nope – not Christmas in October. Just the Desalpe festival!
Then comes the more subdued cows….smaller floral arrangements.
This lady has a classier look going on. But what she looses in floral prowess, she makes up in cowbell size. Holy cow.
Moo-ve over and get out of my way, lady.
Just an everyday walk on the highway
In addition to the cows, groups of musicians were also a special part of the Desalpe. We enjoyed the cowbell group:
The cowbell band
Handling their bells. The muscles on these folks have to be strong!
We really enjoyed the Alphorn band
They also have delicious cheese and meat based foods.
This was a super big pot of cheesy potatoes
Local meat, cheeses, and breads for lunch. Plus some nice red wine from the nearby vineyards.
If you are attending a Desalpe, just make sure to wear old shoes or maybe even some wellies. You are most certainly going to step in something nasty.
Hey lady, maybe you want to keep your baby out of the cow poo
I thought this was my best picture of the day until I realized what was happening.
For a more interesting visual, check out the video footage from our day at the Desalpe:
Postcards from the Swiss Riviera
Switzerland, being landlocked, actually has no ocean. However, the shores of Lake Geneva near Montreux and Vevey are named “The Swiss Riviera” because of it’s picturesque and prestigious location on the lake, in view of both the Swiss & French Alps. When Heidi & Olga were visiting Geneva, we took a day trip to this special region of Switzerland.
This area is located about an hour train or car ride from Geneva. The ride provides amazing views of the coastline of Lake Geneva.
Typical view in the Swiss Riviera
Upon arriving in Montreux, we walked through the Montreux Marché, or Friday market. I had actually never been to Montreux for a Friday market, and found it delightful. It included vendors selling everything from handmade sweaters, to Provençal soaps, to secondhand goods. They also had quite a variety of delicious street food.
We strolled along the Quai des Fleurs (walkway of flowers) towards Villeneuve. One of the most special things about Montreux is that it has somewhat of a tropical ambience to it, provided by its plants and landscaping.
They have a few nice hotels in Montreux
Beautiful flowers against the French Alps. Seems like Summer, not Autumn!
A sweet hibiscus overlooks Lake Geneva
After a half hour’s stroll, we reached Chateau Chillon. The castle dominates the coastline and was a major defensive structure up until modern times. We didn’t go inside, but instead enjoyed the different perspectives we could see on the nature trails surrounding the chateau.
Chateau Chillon in autumn.
The legendary castle
The modern speedboats were a funny juxtaposition against the medieval castle
After walking back to Montreux and partaking of some of the market food, we then decided to visit to the Lavaux region. I have heard numerous rave reviews about Le Deck, a beautiful bar/restaurant that overlooks the UNESCO designated Lavaux vineyards. Heidi & Olga were game for checking it out, so we took a small regional train to Chexbres, the small town where Le Deck is located. Note that it is possible to get there on the train, if you pay a 1.80 CHF supplement on your Geneva-Montreux train ticket. And you can return straight to Geneva via Lausanne.
The town of Chexbres is a quintessential Swiss wine town. Gabe & I have driven guests through it, descending off the A1 at the Chexbres exit and weaving down the wine roads to Rivaz. There are almost as many wine cellars as citizens, with dozens of these little operations dotting the small village. We have always enjoyed the drive; however, there is a certain magic about walking around in the town that Heidi, Olga & I discovered. This was especially true during the timing of our visit, as it was the height of the grape harvest. The locals were busy, soaking in the sunshine, and tasting the year’s dividends.
The village of Chexbres
It was very tempting to stay and drink our way through the town, but we continued on walking towards the outside of town and our destination: Le Deck. Our friends were right – this is certainly a special place. Cushy chairs and linen canopies provide an oasis above the Lavaux vineyards. You can purchase wine by the glass and enjoy the view, savoring the fruits of the labor of the vineyard workers, who just happened to be harvesting underneath our feet.
The Lavaux vineyards
Olga, enjoying a glass of Lavaux rosé
Au Revoir, Swiss Riviera. Thanks for a remarkable day!
Slow Up. Wait a minute…
We recently participated in the Geneva Slow Up. I had read about this bike event last summer. I noticed it again when flipping through a pdf of the Fête de Genève brochure. Gabe and I decided that we should do it since we’d been delinquent about riding the bikes we had shipped all the way from the US. However, we woke up to rainy skies and they were continuing to drizzle at the start time of 10:00. At 11:00, they cleared and Gabe mentioned that maybe it wasn’t a “hard start” that it was continual.
I was skeptical, but we rode down to Quai de Gustav Ador anyhow. And, we were pleasantly surprised. More belated bikers. And lots going on. You can start when you like, as long as you finish by 16:00. You can be on bike, trike, roller blades, or unicycles. Or even on foot. The only rule was you had to go in the same direction.
First impression of Slow Up. Cool. (For our non-Swiss readers, rivella is a Swiss soda).
We did our first few km and were impressed by how well executed this event was. First of all, cars are banned from the roads completely. Guards blocked every road that interfered with the 33km course. A heck of a lot of roads. We counted easily 100. This made it so enjoyable for me. I am not the best rider and since bikes ride with traffic in Geneva, it is intimidating for me to bike around town.
The first ascent gave us a nice view of Geneva near Cologny. As a side note, this little field was where part of Frankenstein was written!
There were “garages” in case you had a bike mishap. This was also a bonus, to know you wouldn’t be stuck 16 km away from Geneva, without aid.
Migros Sport “garage” helping bikers
And there were plenty of refreshment stands offering cereal, energy bars, apples and Rivella.
Camp in Choulex
As we started, we exclaimed how awesome it was. It was my assumption that I had missed the last eleven events and I was mad at myself because of what a great time it was. However, we found a brochure later in the day that showed that these take place in different places all over Switzerland. You can see the future ones here. So, it just comes to Geneva once a year.
We also found a map to find out where the heck we were going.
Our route
Our route continued through vineyards and cornfields. It was so peaceful. We stopped in Gy, where they had a really cool Slow Up Village. Most people were drinking wine and beer. They might have been in better shape than us. We opted for water. And a sausage.
Not sure if this is the best meal for biking 33km, but it was the only option.
We then crossed into France. Spectators gave us a bottle of Evian, a local French product, as we cruised along. This is the closest I think I’ll ever get to being a rider in the Tour de France. For one, it was my first time riding a bike in France. Second, we got swag. And, I told Gabe, we sort of did a little tour around France….
Great way to spend a Sunday
After 33km, we were looped back into Geneva and we crossed the finish line.
Thanks, Slow Up!
We aren’t experienced bike riders so couldn’t even make it up the hill to our house after riding 3 hours. However, we were happy and content with our little Sunday activity!
A Perfect Swiss Day
Hooray! Isabella and Ferdinand have been here! They had a wedding to attend in England and we were lucky that they came to Geneva to visit us beforehand.
Ferdinand had to work at the beginning, organizing a golf event. Once work was done, on the weekend, the four of us set off on a Swiss adventure.
Our first stop was the Lavaux wine region. Isabella can’t drink currently (she is expecting), but we wanted to show them this UNESCO gem nonetheless. So, we took the Chexbres exit off of the A1 and descended down the village towns into Rivaz. They were breathtaken with the gorgeous terraced vineyards as we are every time we visit.
Next stop…..Gruyères.
Ramparts of Gruyères
Walking around the château
Lovely little village
We skipped the cheese tour (we knew we were having raclette for dinner), but all did order Gruyère-cheese based dishes for lunch.
After Gruyères, we drove to Broc, home of Cailler chocolate factory.
Smelling the cocoa beans.
Branche candy bar machine
Ta da! The tasting room!
I just go straight to the good stuff at the end now. I am trained.
Discussing the merits of milk & white chocolate
Weeeeee!
After playing on the playground a bit, we headed back to Geneva. We had a big night in store.
The Schwingen & Switzerland crew was hosting a raclette party before the big Fête de Genève fireworks. Ferdinand and Isabella had raclette their last time in Switzerland, in Zurich, but they were impressed by S’s monstrous spread.
The spread at the S’s
Raclette in action
For dessert, S had “Creme de Gruyère” and “Creme Brulée” Movenpick ice cream. She surprised her dad and me with a candle in each carton for a birthday surprise. It was the loveliest ‘cake’ I have ever had. If you have an opportunity, I urge you to try Movenpick ice cream. Full of Swiss whole cream, its the real deal.
We left their house and were immersed in the madness that is Fête de Genève. We say it is the absolute busiest, craziest time of year in Geneva.
We luckily found a spot for 12 of us, near the rides, and watched the magnificent hour long fireworks:
The beginning of the fireworks
Love this type!
Jet d’eau, in harmony with the show
What a perfect Swiss day!
Related Links:
The Swiss Watch Blog: Cheese Wars
The Swiss Watch Blog: It’s Raining – I guess we have to go to the chocolate factory
The Swiss Watch Blog: Famous Swiss Foods – Cheese
The Swiss Watch Blog: Famous Swiss Foods – Chocolate
The Swiss Watch Blog: The land of chocolate and cheese
The Swiss Watch Blog: Thanks for a Joyeux Anniversaire, everyone
The Swiss Watch Blog: The fête commences
The Swiss Watch Blog 