Back from Gstaad.

Geneva, Switzerland

Well we got back yesterday after a few awesome days up in Gstaad. The drive up takes about 3 hours through typical Swiss country side. You basically follow the northern shore of Lake Geneva before heading into the mountains. Along the way up, we stopped in a town called Bulle, in the Canton of Fribourg to purchase some local cheese and grab a bite to eat. Of course, cheese fondue was the order of the day we found just the perfect local spot that someone had recommended to Brendan. Between the 3 of us, we ordered 2 local dishes. One was a half and half with wine mixed in, the other was nothing more then a big block of local cheese melted with a touch of water added. Both were excellent.

Chesse fondue with Brendan in Bulle, Switzerland

After filling ourselves up with enough bread and cheese, we continued on to Gstaad an hour or so away. Thanks to a connection Brendan had, we were able to stay for free in dormitory belonging to a local school. Brendan works at the school during the summer teaching english to international students, so he was able to hook us up with the rooms. That night, the three of us headed out for some drinks and foosball with the Gstaad locals. Sadly, my foosball skills weren't up to speed and the locals handedly beat us, but it was a fun night none the less.

After breakfast Saturday morning, we drove into a neighboring town called Lauenen where we started hiking towards the Gelten Glacier. The hike was awesome, typically Swiss up through the mountains, crossing glacier fed rivers as we made our way up from the valley floor. We stopped for lunch about 2/3 of the way up and were pretty much the only people up there since this time of the year is the off season for the area.

Hiking up towards the Gelten Glacier

Brendan and I

After hiking for close to 7 hours, we were pretty hungry by the time we returned to the car around 6pm. Brendan knew of a great restaurant at the top of a ski resort that he wanted to check out so we headed over a few valleys to find it. How anyone would find it without knowing about it is beyond me, but basically you just drive up this one-way mountain rode to the top of a ski resort where you'll find two restaurants beside each other. We chose the restaurant on the right and of course, I had to order cheese fondue yet again. (It is so good...) The view from the top was amazing and we could clearly look back on what we had just hiked and all the surroundings peaks.

That night, Brendan and I wandered around Gstaad looking for a good time. We first checked out the super-swanky Hotel Bellevue where we had a few drinks in the piano bar, then we headed over to the local "club" (read: zebra suede couches, lots of mirrors, disco ball, etc...) for a few more drinks before retiring to our rooms.

Since we were all pretty tired, Sunday morning started a bit slower and a bit later then usual. We decided to drive to Gsteig, a town just down the road, and take a cable car up to a popular plateau in Sanetsch. There was a man-made lake up there because of damn, so we lazily hiked around the lake, stopping for lunch along the shoreline. (I've never had so much bread, cheese and nutella in my life.)

Sanetsch

After a few hours up top, we caught the cable car back down to Gsteig around 3pm. On the ride town, we shared the cable car with two sisters in the 70's from the local town. We struck up a conversation with them and ended up giving them a drive back into Gstaad. Along the way, Rosa, one of the sisters who spoke very good english, mentioned that she used to work for a missionary in Cambodia. So we started talking about that area and when all was said and done, she had given a list of contacts in Cambodia to go see should I need a place to stay or anything. Apparently, all I have to say is that Rosa sent me and everything should be taken care of. We'll see in a few months I guess...

After dropping the sisters off in Gstaad, I decided to knock off another item from my list of things to do.... Paragliding in the Alps. Turns out there is a local paragliding outfit in Gstaad so I decided to check them out. After meeting with David, my tandem pilot, we headed up the gondola to take off. After a few minutes of waiting for the wind we started running down the ski school. Within a few seconds we were airborne, and it was amazing. Much different then sky diving, for those that have jumped before. You have way more control paragliding then I thought and you really do feel like a bird flying over the valley. David did a few spiral turns that didn't go so well with all the drinks from the night before, then we did huge giant-slalom style turns just feet above the ski trail. At one point, we were both trying to touch the ground with our hands. Just awesome. About 15 minutes later, it was over and while I was a little dizzy and uneasy for the next hour or so, it was an awesome experience.

Paragliding in Gstaad

Note dangling feet...

Saturday night we just snacked for dinner, went out briefly for a drink or two, then retired pretty early, still tired from our long hike on Friday and still somewhat spinning from my paragliding earlier in the day.

Sunday brought yet another beautiful day in Gstaad though sadly we had to drive back to Geneva. We took a route that took us over the Col Pillon mountain pass which provided just spectacular mountain vistas and on into the town of Aigle. From there, we followed the lake back to Geneva to return the rental car.

Chateau d'Aigle

We spent the afternoon walking around Geneva, taking a boat taxi across the lake, then walking down to the famous Geneva water jet. From there, we hiked up to the St Pierre Cathedral, though since it was closing we didn't get a chance to climb inside the towers, which apparently offer an excellent panoramic view of Geneva. We strolled back to Brendans apartment later that night where his roommate had cooked us dinner then went wandered around Geneva some more later that night, stopping at a local cafe along the lake for hot chocolate.

It's now Monday morning and Brendans friend, Gail, is catching a train back to Paris where she's in school. Brendan is going to catch up on some studying today, while I run some errands in Geneva. We're still trying to figure out the plan for this weekend. We'd like to head up to Solden for the world cup ski race, but I haven't been able to confirm lodging up there yet, so that plan is still on hold. Brendan and I might catch a train to Lausanne later this week for the day, otherwise we don't have a ton planned yet for the coming days.

The only other tidbit to share is that after walking around Geneva for a few days now, I'm amazed (and in awe) of the sheer number of watch stores on each corner. And these aren't little Rolex knockoff booths, these are the real deal. I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise given the whole Swiss timing thing, but it's still impressive...

Kenny