Montreaux and Fribourg

Ali and I headed off on our own today. We went to the Chateau Chillon in Montreaux, and then caught the train to Fribourg, where we visited a massive cathedral and wandered around the old city. The train to Montreaux went through some terrain that looked surprisingly like some spots in California – dry rocky mountains in the background, lovely vineyards, a fair amount of other orchards, etc. The castle in Montreaux was the best yet, with excellent information, well-preserved levels, and a very nice view of the lake. From the main train station in Montreaux, you walk 4km on a flower-laden path by Lake Geneve. There were a ton of stands set up right by the city (possibly a fair for a local jazz festival) and a ton of women in country-specific matching shirts and backpacks (possibly a gym teacher’s conference). The mountains were certainly smaller, since we had left the Alps for what I’m guessing are the pre-Alps, but they still surrounded the lake. Chillon was made famous by a Lord Byron poem, and tourists keep coming since it’s such a pleasant place to look out on Montreaux. The walk did not seem to be that great for Ali’s feet, though. By the time we made it to Fribourg, we had to stop to get some flip-flops that would avoid a majority of her blisters.

In Fribourg, we wandered around the old city until we found the large cathedral we were looking for, and when we finally made it there, we were 5 minutes too late to go up in the tower. It was still pretty inside, but it wasn’t long until we were back in town checking into our hostel for the night. The hostel (located in a really old hospital, but still really clean) was pretty packed, and we ended up in a room with two ladies (Irish & French) hiking the St. Jacob’s pilgrimage trail, one German lady bike touring from Berlin to the Alps, another French lady who was going to try to walk a little with the pilgrimage folks, and two people who were out late and left early. We had some fantastic pizza and seafood risotto for dinner (complete with a Swiss Pinot Noir), and then, we wandered out of the city center, over a pair of super-tall bridges, and looped down by the old city wall to get back to the main part of town. The sun has been setting rather late, and it was just dipping below the horizon as we got back to the hostel.