Switzerland was all about fabulous friends, magnificent mountains, trains and chocolate. In fact we hardly ate any chocolate when we were there, but chocolate shopswere everywhere.
We arrived in Morges, on the shore of Lake Geneva, to the open-armed welcome of all the Gamblin clan, including this note from Charlotte.
Paul is working for WWF International just outside Geneva, and Traci is having a ball being a lady who lunches (and does kick-boxing, bootcamp etc) and Charlotte and Griffin seem to be loving life here too.
Our first day together was a Sunday so we all trooped up the mountainside to Rochers-de-Naye, over 2000m above Lake Geneava. A hot sunny day up on the mountain with stunning views in all directions. We got excited along with Griff about the marmots (Charlotte described them as Swiss quokkas) and watched hang gliders take off and slowly make their way down buffeted by warm updrafts. I was so very envious, what an amazing thing to do on a clear sunny day.
It was so hot, apparently following the pattern of the entire summer, that we all decided to go down for a swim in Lake Geneva accompanied by some prosecco and snacks. Quite an amazing feeling to swim in a huge freshwater lake with a nicely warm layer on top, with the imposing mountains of France looming over you from the other side of the lake. It had the effect of making France seem so much closer, and the prospect of just swimming over there (despite the lack of swim-fitness right now) was very enticing.
It was another warm day on Monday when we walked with Traci through the Lavaux Vineyards, just out of Lausanne. World heritage listed for the length of time they have been growing grapes there, in tiny little fields, terraced out of the stony hillsides by monks. We took a boat back to Lausanne, enjoying the fruits of the vines and some lunch on our way back. So decadent!
We left the Gamblins for a bit, to visit a school friend of mine, the lovely Maura and her gorgeous family in Biel. On our way we took Paul’s advice to go up to the mountains above Interlaken for a walk underneath some of the 4000m+ mountains up there. Paul had been encouraging us to go earlier while the weather was still good… wisely, because the day we got there it was very ‘atmospheric’ – our glass-half-full take on a very cloudy wet day. If not rain gods, we might at least be cloud/fog gods? It was still incredibly beautiful, if somewhat frustrating to know that behind that wall of cloud RIGHT there is the 4000m above sea level north face of the Eiger!
We also got a true taste of the sublime efficiency of Swiss trains that day. From Morges up to Mannlichen it took four separate trains to Lauterbrunnen, then a funicular railway, then a cable car. Each of these changes were seamless, with the trains often waiting just 5 minutes or less, with the train very often just on the other side of the platform.
It was very funny talking to Maura that night, who I think wouldn’t mind me saying feels a bit stifled by Swiss efficiency after 11 years here! She feels like she needs to get to Italy regularly for just a little bit of chaos.
It was while we were at Maura’s that we got the news from home that Tim’s mum Jean was in palliative care and not expected to live long. So instead of flying from Geneva to Naples, we flew from Geneva to Perth. Jean has since stabilised, at least momentarily, but is still in hospital.
As for us we will just have to pick up where we left off next year – Southern Italy and Iceland still to come….
