Switzerland

I feel now is a good point in the trip to begin describing the hard lessons we have learned so you don't have to.

1) Whenever flying on your second connecting plane don't assume that the flush button is in the same location as on the first plane. More than likely it will end up being a "Call for Assistance" button. And no, pressing it again doesn't turn it off. It only rings the bell a second, third, forth time as you begin to panic. Find the flush button (on the left this time) and run like hell!

2) 220v sockets never play nice with 110v appliances, especially hair straighteners that begin melting and almost burn down B&B's. You can thank Ashleigh for that tidbit.

3) And of course, avoid dancing cowboys at all cost.

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Here are a few photos from the apartment. The spots that look like green fields are actually vineyards. And speaking of, we are having a wine tasting experience tomorrow.

Today we visited Lausanne, Switzerland. The highlight, at least for me, was the Cathedral. Its beginnings as a church date back to the 6th century, though it wasn't built into a cathedral until around 1000. The area around the altar featured a basement crypt and tombs of bishops and other clergymen. You can't help but feel apart of the Da Vinci Code here, especially with the Templar Knight statues surrounding the altar and everything when looked at carefully creates the letter "M".

The past 2 days we have visited the Château de Chillon and the Castle of Gruyères, both in Switzerland. The Château de Chillon is in Montreux on the shore of Lake Geneva, while the Castle is in the Swiss countryside which gave a nice change of scenery. I'm being rushed, so this will be all.

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After our all-day trek to Mont-Blanc in France yesterday, we came home to an incredible lightning storm over the lake. While I didn't manage to capture any of the lightning, I did get a decent shot of the restaurant outside our Bed & Breakfast.

Today we awoke to more rain in the morning, but by noon the rain had passed so we headed down to Montreux, Switzerland (about 20 minutes away and home to Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water”—go listen to the lyrics). Besides that though, Freddie Mercury found a haven from stardom in the town of Montreux and because of this, the citizens have erected a statue of the Queen front man and also hold a day of celebration in his honor every September.

Now to elaborate on our first 2 days...
Day one was pretty lazy as we adjusted to the “never-ending day syndrome” brought on by a plane ride that none of us slept on and an arrival at 7:45am. Eventually we made it to Ouchy, a smaller part of Lausanne, to walk the streets and listen to live music. As we were walking up, Michael and Consuelo were telling us of this crazy man they once saw in cowboy boots and a kilt dancing during one of the shows. As odd as that is alone, they then elaborated that he’d be the only one dancing right in front of the stage and would spin around on too many occasions to be accidental exposing the lack of clothing underneath his kilt. So on this fine Sunday night, we too were in for such a treat. Like a celebrity in a crowd of admirers, he made a small entrance to the laughter of people who were un(fortunate) enough to have seen him before and as the music picked up, began to dance a dance I can conjure no words to describe. I can only hope that one photo can do it some justice. Why one photo you ask... well, you see, I didn’t want to be zoomed in at the wrong moment of a spin. So I got in and got out, so to speak. I’m hoping none of your imaginations led you down that path; if so… seek immediate therapy.

Day two was similarly nauseating, just in a different way. We went to France to see Mont-Blanc, a 12,000 ft. mountain in the French Alps. We took two lifts to ascend to the top and then immediately lost our breath. The simple task of climbing 20 steps had us all panting and sitting down for the next 5 minutes. For those of us who dared to look over, the view was amazing.

Au revoir

We made it! I'm short for time, so here are a few photos that I will provide commentary on later. Let your imaginations run wild with the kilt-wearing cowboy dancer.