Travel? Why not! Geneva, Chamonix and some stuff in between.

The Lake Geneva Region includes the Swiss towns and villages around the north shore of Lake Geneva or Lac Leman for the Francophiles among you. Lake Geneva is one of Europe's largest lakes and is crisscrossed by ferries and paddle-wheel steamers which can be used as an alternative means of transit or just a relaxing boat ride. The spa town of Evian-les-bains (bottled water fame) is on the south shore of the lake in France. Traveling clockwise around the lake from Geneva will take you past Nyon, Lausanne and Vevey to Montreux. Continuing south from Montreux, down the Rhone valley takes you to Martigny and the start of the Swiss Alps. Chamonix is not on the lake, but I have always wanted to visit, it has glaciers and mountains, especially Mont Blanc and the popular Tour of Mont Blanc (TMB).

I always wanted to hike the TMB, a 9 to 13 day trek passing through the seven valleys around Mont Blanc. France, Italy and Switzerland are included in the 120 mile circular route, there are 10 to 11 high passes and evenings can be spent in mountain huts or in village guesthouses.

Additional Lake Geneva Region information can be found here.

Travel

• 8 hours non-stop NYC to Geneva Airport
• 6 minutes from Geneva Airport to Geneva Main Train station
• 1 hour Geneva to Montreux by rail
• 1 1/2 hours Geneva to Martigny by rail
• 1 1/2 hours Martigny to Chamonix by rail (The Mont Blanc Express)
• 1 hour Chamonix to Geneva Airport by road

Sights

Geneva
Geneva has over 40 museums and dozens of gardens and parks.

• Lake Promenade
• St. Peters Cathedral and the old Town
• Botanic Garden
• Patek Philippe Museum - watches, musical automata and enamels
• Nyon  - 20 minutes from Geneva
• Chateau de Nyon
• Old Town
• Lakeside walks
• Chateau de Prangins - Swiss National Museum 30 minutes outside Geneva, 10 minute bus ride from Nyon.

The Geneva Pass provides discounted entry into select attractions (1 day 25CHF, 2 days 35CHF) CHF = Swiss Franc

Montreux

On the shores of Lake Geneva, of Jazz Festival and smoke on the water fame.

• Chillion Castle - 4km from Montreux, nearby train and lake boat access
• cogwheel train to Rochers-de-Naye (2,042 meters), views and a free Alpine Garden
• Lakeside Promenade and Old Town stroll

Montreux has a tourism card providing 50% reduction on entry fees and public transportation.

Martigny
In the Rhone valley a half hour south of Montreux.

• Saint Bernard museum and kennel
• Automobile museum
• 13th Century Castle, Chateau Del La Batiaz
• Roman ruins
• Trient Gorge (6 minute train ride to Vernayaz MC, 2 minute walk)
• Fortifications in Saint Maurice (10 minutes away)
• Aigle Castle in Aigle (20 minutes away)

Chamonix Mont-Blanc
Alpine Capital of Europe, catering to people desiring extreme sports as well as relaxing strolls on mountain tops.

• Alpine Museum
• Mont Blanc - Europe's highest mountain at 4,810 meters
• rack railway to France's largest glacier the Mer de Glace.
• gondola to Aiguille du Midi with views of Mont Blanc from a height of 3,842 meters

VWs at GI

We visited Governors Island this past weekend, the weather was great in the shade. Went to see the Volkswagen Traffic Jam a Classic VW car show, a Civil War encampment and a Contemporary Classical concert. The Volkswagens were great to see, the Civil War dudes put on a great show, but the concert was just not our cuppa tea.

When I was growing up, we had a red VW Beetle, we had purchased it from my uncle's neighbor, had it for a few years and now another uncle has it rusting away in his backyard. As it turns out my spouse of almost 30 years also had a VW beetle in her family while growing up. Seems like almost everyone I mentioned the VW car show to either had one or had a friend who owned one.

The show had most models present, but I did not notice any squarebacks(station wagon) or fastbacks.

Dune Buggies

The classic fiberglass body version

Dual Cab

Karmann Ghia

Beetles
 

Camper

Travel? Why not! The Glacier Express

The Glacier Express is a Swiss Rail Journey between St. Moritz and Zermatt that takes about 8 hours. The official Glacier Express description is as follows, "It is a day trip through untouched mountain landscapes, glamorous health resorts, deep gorges, delightful valleys, 91 tunnels and across 291 impressive bridges." We have traveled to Switzerland before and I can attest to the beauty of the Swiss landscape, towns and villages. A short version of the Glacier Express can be chosen, leaving from Chur instead of St. Moritz, but why cheat yourself. Seat reservations are required and food is available at your seat or in the dining car.

Altitude Profile

The Glacier Express runs summer and winter except from October 31 through December 10. The Non-Express version of this trip would involve up to 3 changes, non-stop is more relaxing.

I would travel from St. Moritz to Zermatt and spend an additional day in Zermatt. I have visited Zermatt before, but would like to go back.

Travel

• 8 hours non-stop, NYC to Zurich Airport.
• 20 minutes Zurich Airport to Zurich.
• 3 1/2 hours from Zurich to St. Moritz via rail. (change at Chur)
• 8 hours Glacier Express (9AM-5PM winter and summer)
• 3 1/2 hours Zermatt to Zurich airport via rail. (change at Visp)

Geneva could be an alternative gateway city, but is 6 hours from St. Moritz, so an option would be to fly into Zurich and fly out of Geneva.
Departure times of the Glacier Express make it a prerequisite to spend the previous evening in either St. Moritz or Zermatt.

Sights

Zurich - Largest Swiss City.
The Zurich Card provides free public transport and free access to all museums for just 20 Swiss Francs for a 24 hour period.

• Zurich Succulent Plant Collection (Free, 9AM - 4:30PM daily)
• Botanic Garden
• Uetliberg - Mountain look out, access from Zurich via the S10 train
• Swiss National Museum (next to the Zurich Main Rail Station)
• Beyer Watch and Clock Museum
• Lake Zurich by Boat

St. Moritz - Sunny Holiday Resort

• Piz Nair, mountain views from 3057 meters, via 2 funiculars and a gondola.
  

Zermatt - Home of the Matterhorn

• Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, mountain views from 3,883 meters (3 gondolas)
• Sunnegga, mountain views via a funicular through the mountain
• Matterhorn Museum
  

Souvenirs

• Swiss Army knife
• Swiss Watch
• Swiss Chocolate
• Swiss Absinthe
• Jet Lag

World-wind Itinerary
Depart NYC PM
Day 1: Arrive Zurich, evening in St. Moritz
Day 2: Glacier Express, 9AM from St. Moritz, arrive Zermatt 5PM, transfer and sleep in Zurich.
Day 3: Depart Zurich, arrive NYC

More Relaxed 5 Day World-wind Itinerary
Depart NYC PM
Day 1: Arrive Zurich, evening in St. Moritz
Day 2: Glacier Express, 9AM from St. Moritz, arrive Zermatt 5PM, stay the night.
Day 3: Full day in Zermatt, second evening in Zermatt.
Day 4: Full day in Zurich, evening in Zurich.
Day 5: Depart Zurich AM.

All photos from the Glacier Express website.

If only he could use his talents for good and not evil

I had this big hard plastic ball that our previous dog loved to play with and which our current dog could care less about. There was a threaded 1 inch hole where one would add water or sand to slow down the speed at which the dog could bat the ball around the yard. The ball happened to be on the work bench one day and next to it was lying a threaded copper fitting that sort of fit the threaded hole in the ball, I don't always get to clean up after completing a project. So I had this idea to make a fountain. I toyed around with just placing the ball at the end of a copper pipe and connecting the hose to it. But then I bought a low flow pump and the path was paved towards building an actual fountain. For some reason I had a few of these flattened glass marbles (proper term is "glass gems") lying about and thought that they would look good affixed to the ball. So I bought a few bags from the $1 store and started gluing. I used GE Premium silicon glue. Do you know how long it takes to glue a bags worth of flattened glass marbles to a ball and how much area it covers? Answers: a long time and not much.  Do you know about this gravity thing and sloped surfaces? Well, because of that, I could only work on small sections at a time.

Here is the ball half covered in flattened glass marbles. I artfully sprayed the ball with some gold paint to give it some class. Don't worry it gets better.

Here it is viewed from the top, looks done, it wasn't.

I finally finished covering the surface of the ball and started seriously thinking about what I would use as a reservoir. And how I would support the ball over the reservoir, and run the electric. I picked up a bucket, an old chamber pot, I contemplated making a reservoir out of ferrocement, I looked at plastic tubs and even a wooden whiskey barrel. Ended up that a friend had found a fully function fountain with a sphere at the side of the road and had brought it home. Only drawback for her was that there was a leak. She offered, I did not decline, I fixed the leaks and came closer to the fountain of my dreams.
Wanting to preserve the existing sphere that came with the fountain, I looked for a platform for my flattened glass marble sphere and any other fountains of fancy I might come up with in the future. The final design decision was to use a polyethylene (PE) cutting board cut to fit the fountain opening. I did not attach the ball to the platform, just rested it in the hole I had cut, seen in the following photo. The PE was easy to work with and was plenty strong.

See the pretty ball, I had some turquoise colored rocks (from the $1 store) to spread around the base and hide the white PE base. Guess what, those bags of rocks didn't go far either.

And here it is months later, the fountain in a stop action photo.

And finally for those without an imagination or in need of a pee,  a world premier video.