OK, that was a joke, those are all German words meaning "Room Free" (room to let), Exit, Airport, and Entrance.

Whew. The past few weeks since I returned have gone by so fast, and I am taking off for San Francisco this Thursday (7 am departure! What was I thinking??) so I figure I better get at least one of my trip reports started. So here are a few notes from Switzerland, I'll write a starter report on my stay in Brittany and Normandy, maybe next week after I am back. Please let me know if you have questions in general, I hope I can help. And I'll add in more details later if needed maybe even next week, I have a lot to wrap up in the next 48 hours.

First of all, let me say that I had simply marvelous weather my entire trip, but for part of one day (in France) and the morning of the next until the brume subsided. Mid 70s, the kind of blue skies you dream about on vacation, and no humidity! Another solo trip for me, however, I owe this trip to a few very persistent people - Colonel Chilcott, whom I had stayed with 5 years ago, convinced me of the necessity of a visit back to Normandy, this year of the 60th anniversary of the landings, and friends in Germany have been urging my return for some time now - so we decided to meet in Switzerland.

I spent about 10 days winging around northern France then dropped the car off at Orly for a short flight on Easyjet to Geneva. (I think it may have been all of 45 minutes?? Surely the preflight took longer than the actual flight in this case) Instead of staying in Geneva overnight, I took a train right from the airport to Vevey, arriving around 11 PM. Unlike my stay in France, where it got dark well after 10 PM, it was dusk by the time I landed at Geneva at 930 so my train trip along the lake saw me looking at darkness and some lights off in the distance. Little did I know what lay in store for me the next morning.

The next morning was my first full day in Vevey and as soon as I rounded the corner and found myself in the main square facing the lake, my jaw dropped. I didn't know there were big mountains encircling the lake! It was breathtaking! It was like going to sleep in Kansas and waking up in Oz.

Before I even started off I found myself wishing I had more than just this one day to explore the area before heading off to Zermatt. Lake Geneva is on the short list of places to go back and spend a good amount of time. So many little towns to explore - and I only brushed the veneer of two, Vevey and Montreux (and I do mean brush - I had to catch a 4 PM train to Zermatt).

I sauntered down to the dock (I already had the boat scheds so I had a rough outline of how I wanted to spend my day) and grabbed the one going to Chateau Chillon. It was so crisp, and so clear, maybe low 60s, but sunny - absolutely wonderful. It felt so good to have a seat on the boat, in the sun, and chug across the lake to the Chateau.

For visitors to Vevey and environs, there are nice flowered promenades along the water, from the Chateau to Montreux and farther, then as you close in on Vevey they pick up again. I have pictures on ofoto of my walk for those interested, if you care to email me or request them here. So, I strolled and took pictures.

Vevey is the home of Nestle, and there are many other things to see and do in the area - wine trains, chocolate trains, etc. I didn't have time to do any of that, unfortunately.

I had lunch at one of the many cafes lining the main square (nearly 50 bucks for 3 courses and a half bottle of wine, ooof! Switzerland isn't cheap - this was LUNCH).

At 4 PM I left for Zermatt. The train ride was beautiful, I noted that they put a little altitude map near the window, to tell you where you are heading and how far you have climbed! Those Swiss sure are proud of altitude (and their trains which eat mountains for breakfast).

Zermatt was just charming. I stayed at the Allalin and I can't recommend this hotel enough. Lovely hotel, I had room 56 which I specifically asked for - perfect view of the Matterhorn! The room was very spacious, the bathroom had skylights and there was also a big balcony. It seemed what a Swiss hotel room should be, with wood-carved walls and Schranks too.

Zermatt is a hiker's paradise - they aren't joking around! The hostess Kristin was so sweet, she gave me some good ideas for alternative hikes (Rotherd and Blauhorn were still closed. Too early). So I decided to take the funicular to Sunegga, hike to Findeln and then Findelbach, then take the train up to Gornergrat and poke around. Have no fear, the Swiss are meticulous in their marking of the hiking trails. I also visited the hiker's cemetery which was very poignant. I noticed the largest number of folks memorialized there, were 18-24 year old men. Some things never change - who is the riskiest cohort, still?

I spent two nights there, then took off on the Glacier Express for Pontresina where I met my friends. Now that is an E ticket for sure. Absolutely stunning scenery! You go through an amazing variety of backdrops. I shall have to find the stats, but its staggering the number of bridges, tunnels, viaducts, etc. you pass over/through on this trip. It's an 8 hour trip, and if you are in first class, you have the panoramic view cars (which are quite nice, but thank God for A/C because that lovely sun just shines right in!) In some cases you are going literally around around around a mountain - easier than going straight up. It was funny, a person sitting near me whom I had struck up a conversation exclaimed - wow, there are a lot of similar looking churches in this area! Haha! (it was the same church - we passed it maybe 4 times?)

So, I got to Pontresina and met my friends. It was nice to see them again after nearly 2 years. I can't believe its been that long actually. We went out to eat and yapped over a bottle of wine and Italian food.

The next morning we pondered over where to go. It was shaping up to be yet another lovely day, and there were so many choices. Since my friends are marathon hikers and I am not, we opted for something which was good exercise but wouldn't prove to leave me in a heap somewhere, left out as a warning to other hikers who dared to hike beyond their lung capacity.

So we decided to take the funicular up to Muottas Muragl and take pictures, for a start. We chugged our way to the top and you know how you take a ton of pictures as you are climbing but each extra bit of altitude is even better and you end up deleting the lower ones for space because they just don't compare- It was like that. From the top we could see where we planned to hike later that day. I even have a postcard of the view. We could see Celerina, St. Moritz, Sils, and the lakes! We decided to spend that day hiking the upper lake that we could see from afar. (I forget the name, I will look it up) So after we got down we took off for Sils. The hike was wonderful - and so peaceful. Just the lapping of the lake against the shore - the trail hugged the shore. Many more pictures- I also found out this area is called Heidiland, supposedly this area were her haunts in the book.

The next day we decided to go to Zuoz and check it out. As it turned out, I took a ton of photos there. It's an old quaint village, that seems to have a monopoly on beautiful doors, windows, and flowers. The hostess at the hotel (Hotel Post, by the way, and I also highly recommend this hotel as well - charming, clean, good food and friendly people) told us the stream (river) in that town led to Pontresina so we feasibly could walk back if we wanted or we could stop in any town along the way and catch a train. Which is exactly what we did - we hiked to Bever along the river and then got a train back to Pontresina. When we returned, we decided to take the chair lift up to Languard (sp?) which was.. I am running out of words! Amazing? Stunning, gorgeous, breathtaking? as well. (Can you tell I'm a big Switzerland fan?)

As I was flying home from Zurich the next morning, after we ate dinner I decided it was time to hoof it to the train station and start the long journey home. For anyone interested, its doable, but a long leg - 4 hours on a train, you get in late to Zurich, I stayed at the Marriott, at 175 bucks the most expensive place I stayed (hotels really werent that bad, pricewise) and early the next morning left for home.

If you like my photos, please drop me a line or comment here! I love taking photos, and I love traveling. If I can help with any travel details, let me know - also if you have some of your own to share, please send me a link or post it here. and thank you to everyone who has viewed my photos - I hope they bring you as much enjoyment to view as I did to take.