Gsteig

Guess what the weather was today? Yes - cool and rainy. Blessedly, we caught sunshine for our two-day stay in Montreux. Our destination today is a little town in the Alps called Gstaad which is in a different canton (like a state or province) than Montreux. William has been incredibly impressed with our attention to departure times. We left four minutes early. Our little tour is running like one of Switzerland's world-renowned watches.

We drove up through the mountains, snaking back and forth to climb the steep elevation, negotiating hairpin turns and hugging the edge of the mountain. Ivan handled the bus with ease so we didn’t have to send up any prayers to the patron saint of bus drivers, St. Fiacre. For our bravery, we were rewarded with wonderful vistas, despite the rain. Steep cliffs, houses built into the hillsides, steep vineyards, cows and sheep grazing on lush green pastures. At one point, we were actually up above a layer of cloud. Down below, there were incredibly deep crevices with sparkling mountain streams trickling through them. Again, photos just can't do the panoramic views justice.

In a little town just before Gstaad, we hit an Alpine traffic jam - a herd of cattle being guided through the town to graze on another pasture. William couldn’t have scripted that one any better. I got a video of it to attach to this footprint.

Gstaad sits at an elevation of 1050 metres/3500 ft. Its soaring mountains and prestigious international boarding schools have long made it a holiday destination for royalty and celebrities. Famous people who live or have lived there include Julie Andrews, Bernie Ecclestone, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and David Niven. Cable cars connect surrounding ski areas with hundreds of kilometers of cross-country skiing and hiking trails. The nearby cable car Glacier 3000 offers nearly year-round skiing.

The weather teased us, looking as if it might clear as we approached Gstaad, but alas, we lost out in the metrological lottery. The rain was coming down hard and there was quite a wind. William gave us a very quick orientation tour of this pretty town and then left us on our own for an hour. We bailed on walking around any longer and found a little café and had lunch.Read more