CHAMPERY MEMORIES

 

July 26, 2009

Time to leave our chalet with a beautiful view. Don needs his internet and the folks at home are wondering what happened to us.  (see more of Don's photos)

I went out in the morning to check Jean-Louis’ apricots, which need another week to be ripe, and then I picked my last raspberries before we had our breakfast, cleaned up and headed out on our roundabout route back to Estavayer-le-lac.

We said goodbye to our treacherous driveway, snapping a few photos to confirm our memories of it, and made our way out of Brignon, past Sion and west along the sparsely traveled freeway. I wonder what our Swiss visitors think of our freeways, with 4 or 5 lanes and bumper-to-bumper traffic. Swiss freeways have two lanes, one for each car using it.

We decided to go up to Champery, the nice little ski town at the Portes du Soleil, to see if it is cute and quaint and what changes have occurred over the 25 years since our gang went skiing there.

Champery still retains its character. When we arrived they were having a market day, with lots of fresh produce, bread and cakes, bolts of fabric, wine, handicrafts and such. Musicians were playing in the plaza and there were lots of people in the street.

We checked to be sure that our comfy Pension Souvenir was still in operation, and then strolled the main street, looking at the produce and goods, enjoying the musicians and sunshine. Some changes have been made. The gondola has been moved down the hill, and the train station has been moved down there too. Most of the new building has been kept to traditional style, but Don groused about a few big condo buildings that were too modern. As we strolled around the town we shared all of our good memories of Kirk, DJ and Gary and our $99 trip on People’s Express and our wonderful stay in Champery.

After leaving Champery we went down the mountainside to the Lake and drove around the east side. We stopped at the lakeside Chateau de Chillon and ate our picnic lunch nearby as we watched the interesting boats ply the waters. There was a steam paddlewheel boat full of tourists, and an interesting Chinese junk, and lots of motor boats zipping around the lake.

Montreux Switzterland's Riviera

After lunch we went on to Montreux, where the famous jazz festival is held. Don set Trixie (our gps) to take us to photo-op sites, and we stopped and started our way through the bustling town, Don leaving me parked in many illegal spots while he jumped out and snapped a shot of something, we aren’t sure what.  (see more of Don's Photos)

After driving along the lakeside for several miles we cut across Vevey to the fast road and headed north for home.

It was good to be back in Estavayer and Don turned on the tv to watch (nap) to the last leg of the Tour de France, with the racers on the Champs Elysee. After that he went upstairs and set up his computer and got online right away to catch up on email and download and stitch his photos. Alas, he discovered that our annual nemesis is back to haunt us. Our website is down, the domain name is up for grabs, our renewal in limbo. Every year we go through this with Hostonce. It gives Don such angst. So we wrote them an email and we will see if we get any answer.

Dinner, a few Skype calls home, a little tv and off to bed. There is supposed to be a big storm tomorrow, but Don has lots of work on the reports to keep him busy.