Château-d'Oex

We both had a great night’s sleep - the beds are extremely comfortable and the linens are gloriously luxurious. The bathroom has a scale in it. Feeling brave, I hopped on. It said, “Low”. I was pretty sure that it was referring to the battery and not my weight. No real damage so far. Better keep walking 6-8 miles a day.

We ate in the breakfast room with its breathtaking view of Lake Geneva and the Alps. That’s the best morning view we have ever had.

A little more about Montreux. It’s a traditional resort town on Lake Geneva, nestled between steep hills and the lakeside. It’s known for its temperate climate making visiting in either the summer or the winter enjoyable. The promenade is lined with flowers, sculptures (some weird, some very attractive), Mediterranean trees and grand old buildings from the Belle Epoque era. Music is a huge park of this town. It hosts the Montreux Jazz Festival for two weeks every July - I can’t imagine how busy this sleepy little town becomes then. The parkette across from the hotel has bronze statues of some of the big names of music - Ella Fitzgerald, BB King, Stevie Wonder and more. This town and its beauty has and will continue to lure writers, poets, artists, musicians and those simply looking to escape to the simplicity of nature and all its glorious beauty.

We actually had free morning time since we didn’t have to rendezvous with William until 11:00 a.m. To wear off some of the effects of the Food Olympics in which we have been competing for the past two weeks and the lovely chocolate croissants at the breakfast bar, we walked a couple of miles through the town this morning. Lots of fabulous window shopping. The prices are in Swiss Francs, so we had to up everything by a third. Clothes, shoes, jewelry, watches, linens - it’s all here and way out of range. Sprinkled along the way were delightful little bakeries and cafés full of tempting treats and lots of hot coffee. Would have loved to spend the morning people watching, but we had a date with a train.

Our activity for today is a train trip up into the Alps from Montreux to Château-d’Oex (House of the Oxen). Good things come to those who are patient. We had a gloriously sunny, warm day - finally! The train snaked its way up the mountain, switching back and forth to handle the steep elevation. The train was used until about 15 years ago mainly for transportation of goods, but is now almost strictly a tourist attraction. There is a spur line that is called the Chocolate Train Route. Must put a ride on that on my bucket list.

The scenery we drank in for the next hour was stunning, awe-inspiring, panoramic, idyllic, jaw dropping, memorable. Steep, craggy mountains, Lake Geneva glistening in the sunlight, tiny picture postcard villages, cattle grazing on 60° slopes, deep gorges with streams running through them - we saw it all. It was a trip to remember. My only regret - pictures simply can’t do it justice.

We arrived a little before 1:00 p.m. in Château-d’Oex which sits an an elevation of about 1000 metres/3300 feet. By comparison, Montreux sits at about 400 metres/1300 feet. It’s a lovely little town of about 3,500 people who work mainly in the tourism industry or the dairy industry. We had lunch at Le Chalet Restaurant. We had the whole place to ourselves - there are 36 of us doing the cruise extension plus William and Ivan. Here, the owners make their own type of Guyère cheese. Right in the restaurant we watched as the cheesemaker patiently stirred the milk in a huge copper pot over an open wood fire. He was using a large whisk which removed the whey (fed to the pigs) from the curd granules. Then he took the curd granules out of the copper pot using a linen cheese cloth. The curds were then pressed into a wheel-shaped mould. It will sit in this mould for 24 hours during which time the mould will be turned five times. Then the cheese will get a salt bath for 24 hours and then be set aside in temperature-controlled cellar to mature for at least six months.

While watching the cheesemaking process, we feasted on cheese fondue (which would have been totally sufficient), then cured pork, scalloped potatoes and carrots, followed by poached pears and chocolate ice cream, all washed down with local wines. Definitely salad for supper tonight!

We had some time to enjoy the town and the glorious sunshine before climbing back on the bus to snake our way down the mountain through lots of little villages. The country is trying very hard to support those who live in these villages so that these villages can stay alive and that their vibrancy and charm can be shared with the world.

We got back to the hotel and headed out shortly afterwards for our standard dinner - salad, croissants (chocolate tonight), grapes, milk and bar chocolate (working our way through the country’s vast selection). We ate on the promenade and watched the sun go down over Lake Geneva. Glorious.

We are in for the night now. Lots of pictures to sort through and choose for the blog. It’s going to take a while. We are off to Gstaad tomorrow.Read more