Montreux and Castle Chillon

Hello Friends and Family,

We had an "interesting" day yesterday.  We caught a train from Interlaken to Montreux.

We had about two hours of beauty streaming by our train window as we traveled toward the southwest corner of Switzerland- the French-speaking area.

 

Rain came and stayed from late-morning until we returned in the evening.  It did create some interesting photo opportunities- this is another train at a station we were passing through.

We arrived in Montreux and enjoyed a walk around the town.  We visited Castle Chillon, a medieval fortress on the shores of Lake Geneva was started in the 11th century and completed in the 14th century.  This amazing structure is in remarkable condition, and it is the epitome of every image you might have of medieval life.  We toured the castle with an audio headset tour that was well researched and included period music.

 

 Our train itinerary took us southeast, to a train change, then northeast through a 32km tunnel that required only 12 minutes to navigate- that means the train was traveling at 100mph.  The Swiss use a welded track process that creates a very smooth and quiet ride.  We had coffee and croissants on the rain, served by people who seemed to enjoy their service role- something that is a little unusual in the US.

We arrived back in our home area to more rain, a warm shower, breakfast for supper.