Switzerland

Being as organised as we are, we didn´t get round to booking our tickets to switzerland until a day before we left. Of course the train was full so instead we decided to take the scenic route from Nice, back into Italy, through Milan and then the long way round through Switzerland. We planned on buying our tickets for the Swiss leg on the train but were lucky enough to not get checked and therefore got the trip for free...score.

We arrived in Montreux at about 7pm and were welcomed by beautiful weather and stunning views of the lake. My cousin Claire and her boyfriend Milo met us at the train station and took us to a party right on the edge of the lake with a beautiful sunset and big tents with beer everywhere...was fantastic. Reminded me of Guy Fawkes parties in Karoi and/or Charara New Years. We both fell in love with the country immediately!

Milo and Claire were wonderful hosts...they have a massive (in London terms) apartment in the town of Leysin which is situated about a km up a mountain looking over the Rhone river valley. The views of the alps are fantastic. Snow capped mountains everywhere and green fields and forests as far as the eye can see. We were itching to explore so we all went for a hike through the mountains the next day and drove through some picturesque towns seeing the sights. Obviously we caught the cable car up the mountain and only walked down! That night was fortunately Leysins annual town party and parade through the streets of the town which we enthusiastic joined and mingled with the locals...Claire more so than the rest of us. Crazy party animal.

The Swiss lifestyle is very outdoor and active...loved it. Milo, being a bit of a extreme sports junkie, borrowed climbing gear and downhill mountain bikes from the Leysin community and ably led us all up a mountain the following day. We all made it up the via ferrata (rock face with artificial grips bolted into the rock) without passing out and eventually reached the summit at 2333m above sea level. We had such fantastic views of the mountains in the region and the valley and Lake Geneva (Lake Leman to the Swiss). It was definately a highlight of our trip so far! We then took the fast route back down the mountain on our downhill bikes which we hid behind some barn half way up the hill. I attempted to follow Milo (he´s absolutley crazy) straight down the mountain face almost losing my helmet and manhood at the same time while the girls took the road more travelled and met us further down...loved every second of it!

On the Monday Claire and Milo both took the day off work and we all took a trip east to the almost museum like village of Ballenberg near the town of Interlaken to learn how the Swiss lived hundreds of years ago...how they farmed, made clothes, medicine, food etc. It was lovely to see and very fasinating...a nice change from everything else we`d done on our trip. After a beer at hooters we made our way back home.

We spent our final day arranging travel and accommodation at our next destination and made our way into Montreux to meet Claire after work. It too was a lovely clean town and after a photo or 2 with the Freddy Mercury statue and a long stroll on the promenade around the lake, we made our way back to Leysin. We stopped on the way home at a fromagerie and bought enough cheese to feed a small army. That night we had a fantastic cheese fondue which filled our bellies nicely (and gave us an excuse to drink lots of wine to help the digestion) before falling asleep ready for our 5 o´clock awakening to catch the train to Salzburg, Austria.