French Switzerland…and France!

How can I be so fortunate to visit so many beautiful places?! True beauty is what I found in Switzerland. My friend here, Casey, had a friend living in Geneva and she invited me to go with her to visit! On the flight there we went over the island of Sardegna and the snow topped Alps. Erin, Casey’s friend, lived in the dorms and we were able to stay with her for about $8 a night. This is very cheap for Swizerland! The first night we got to eat fondue out on Lac Leman. It was so good!

Erin had class our first day there so I got to see a friend from K-State in Lyon, France. It was an expensive 2 hour train ride there, but way worth it. The scenery paid for the trip! Lyon was a very nice city and I had a great time with my friend. She is practically fluent in French and had been to Lyon numerous times, so we had a stress free day. We sat for a long time on these Roman ruins there taking in the sun and catching up.

The next day we traveled to nearby Montreux also on Lac Leman. This is one of the most beautiful places I have been. The lake was so clear and the snow-capped mountains around just set a wonderful scenery. The air there was so clean…it’s like I could smell the clean. (True mountain fresh scent!) Flowers were in bloom around the lake and there were also palm trees. We ate a picnic lunch out on a doc and were visited by one of the many swans. Later we took a nice long stroll along the lake to visit Chateau de Chillon, a palace that sits right on the water. It was like a true castle with a moat, prison chambers, and a weapons room. On the walk back we stopped to look at some of the characters of the move Ice Age that were created from some sort of tree branches. We had some amazing ice cream on the wait for the train. It gives me hope that there is life after gelato.

The last day there we just walked around Geneva and enjoyed the nice clean city. On the lake is Jet d’Eau, Europe’s highest fountain! Also there we enjoyed Swiss hot cocoas and watched the swans. I also spent too much money on Swiss chocolate. I bought some to bring home…and it is actually still here!