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Heide and Mark Adventuring until the money runs out.... |
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Europe by Rail We slept in on New Years Day, but were up in time for the hotel breakfast which was typically continental -- meats, cheeses, and breads with a slight french influence. (We also were served croissants.) Surprisingly, there wasn’t any coffee with breakfast which was, of course, distressing to Mark. Finding a cup of coffee became our late-morning task. We wandered out into Geneva and found a beautiful, clean western European city. Lake Geneva has incredibly clear water – standing on the bridge we could see the fish! The lake also seems to have an insulating effect. We never felt cold all the time we were in Geneva.The city has a beautiful old town. It’s narrow, winding streets are built into a hill. Most of the shops, cafes and bistros were closed, but we enjoyed just wandering the streets discovering a new surprise around each corner. We also took note of all the posh cars. Wow! Switzerland, in general, is exceedingly expensive.
After a good few hours walk... Mark and I found a café where we sat down and had the best coffee I have had in a long, long time! Being from Seattle, (home of Starbucks!) I’m a bit of a coffee snob. The café au lait was wonderful and our cup of coffee turned into an afternoon of sitting in the café and, funny enough, the coffee turned to wine. We've really enjoyed swiss food. It seems to be a combination of French and Italian cuisines with a bit of a unique Swiss twist thrown in. In our adventure out of Geneva, I finally felt like someone who was staring to see Europe! No, it wasn’t seeing a particular sight that evoked the feeling, but strapping on the backpacking and traveling by train! After breakfast (surprisingly the hotel had coffee this morning!?!) we traveled by train from Geneva to the town of Montreau where we intended to see the Chateau of Chillion which is apparently one of the most popular tourist attractions in Switzerland. In order to get there, we had a 45 minute walk along the lake front with our packs on. I was surprise how easy it was to travel with the pack... I can’t imagine doing that distance with big yella!! Fortunately, we were able to drop our packs at the ticket counter when we got to the Chateau and we could enjoy the tour of the castle pack free. Even our trek back to Montreau was eventful due to the weather... it was stormy! The waves of the lake were crashing over the barriers and people were getting wet! At one point, Mark had to pull me up on a wall to keep me from getting soaked. I was so glad to have my Helly Hansen rain jacket that Mark gave me for Christmas!
From Montreau, we took the train to the town of Sion. The views from the train were stunning as we ventured into the foot hills of the Alps. We hadn’t made a hotel reservation in Sion, but we had our guidebook and I had done some research about hotels in the area. We stumbled upon the Best Western Hotel Du Rhone and we decided to take a room there then we went out and explored the town. Mark found a wonderful little “cellar bar” called Casanova’s with a decadent ambiance and illuminated with candle light. We had a few drinks before heading back to the hotel for a sound night’s sleep. Next Entry: January 5, 2003 Previous Entry: December 31, 2002 This Page was last update: Thursday, May 27, 2004 at 2:05:04 AM This site is using the Adult Contemporary (purple) theme.
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