On the road again - Montreux

19 days until Pearl Jam, and I don;t even get a weekend off to sleep off my stressful few days.

I'm off to Montreux for a conference. It's my first trip outside Benelux since February, and I kind of need it. I think my winter occupancy of Amsterdam is predicated on not having to stay there for any more than a month without travelling - my feet get itchy.

The only time I've been to Switzerland was for a conference in Zurich. Maybe it was the content of the conference, but I found it pretty boring... a kind of non descript cross between Germany and France... Acceptable food.... acceptable... acceptable...

I don't really know what to expect of Montreux.... I've been too busy for my usual swatch at a Lonely planet in waterstones...

I'm flying into Geneva, and as soon as I get there, I remember that Switzerland is quite 70's in style. I don't know if it;s the skiing fashions that conjour up images of Roger Moore or whatever, but it's all a bit strange.. especially the airports.

From there it's a train to Montreux... and it's another multi language country, so I have to listen to train delay announcements in two languages I don't fully understand to try and piece together an itinerary..... I'm still floating from my shiatsu at Schiphol, so I just kind of float along with it while listening to various live concerts of Pearl jam. I've overdone the bootleg of the SECC concert...:







So now I'm slightly more up to date and listening to some of the South American tour to see how they are sounding these days.

Once I'm on the train, it's clear that this could be a pretty nice trip. I'm traveling along side a great view of Lake Geneva and the alps:







I arrive at Montreux station and try to work out what direction my hotel is in. I have various maps out, trying to make sure I don't get diddled by a taxi driver. Eventuallly I look up to see what number I'm at on the street. I'm outside my hotel - maybe I was over preparing:



It's a really swish hotel and for the first time, I get to look out on Montreux' wonderful views from the Hotel Balcony:










It is absolutely breath taking! It's dusk and I can hardly see anything, but it's breath taking nonetheless.

I get a quick shower and a gym session and then head out for a walk. Its really quiet for a Saturday night, but I take a walk along Lake Geneva anyway. The only landmark I manage to see in the dark is the Freddie Mercury Memorial:



The Mountains look magnificent..... I can't wait till tomorrow to see a little more of them.

Room service dinnner..... bed....