Montreux-September 24, 2006

Having a foggy Saturday on our hands, we decided to take the afternoon and head to Montreaux on the far side of Lac Leman. Departing from Geneva, the train ride is about an hour, and a pleasant ride at that.

A bit of background on Montreaux -- also known as the heart of the Swiss Riviera, Montreaux has long been a vacation destination for Europe's elite. Standing at the train station and looking into the hills, you can see the luxurious chateaus aplenty.

Montreaux is also known for its connection. Each year, the Montreaux Jazz Fest ignites European Jazz lovers with the passion of music. Ok, cheesy, but the place is decorated from head to toe with ironwork art of insturments and musical composition.

Sidebar: One of my (Steve) favorites was the iron score from Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water." According to rock lore, the lead singer wrote the lyrics to the classic as an ode to Montreaux, of which he was quite fond. Looking at the pictures, you can certainly understand where it comes from.
Well, the city has erected a large iron piece depicting the full note progression of the memorable opening guitar riff. I have a personal fondness for this song because it is one of the few I can whistle through my thumbs. And standing in front of the ode, I did.

Montreaux's other connection to music is that it was the regular vacation home, and final resting place, of Queen's Freddie Mercury. At the heart of the promonade stands a statue of Mercury in full "We are the Champions" glory. Very cool. Check out the full picture archive at here to see.

This is just a simple view down a street in Montreaux. What made this view so extraordinary to me was just how ordinary it actually is over here. Every street has these picturesque buidlings, so natural in their locale but so impressive for a travelling American (or at least me, cause I'm kinda simple like that. Jaren pokes fun of me for it all the time).
Speaking of Jaren, there she is! This was taken from a public park on top of a building in front of the Palace Montreaux hotel. The view was splendid, as were the brass statues of BB King, Ray Charles and longtime Montreaux resident Victor Nabokov ("One of these things is not like the others...")


This was taken from the Chillon castle, which was quite impressive in its 1200 year old condition. As we stood here, about a dozen sky divers made their way in single file flight over the mountains and over us, on a path that seemed to take them to the valley just beyon the lake (technically, where the Jura meet the Alps).


Good day all around.