Montreux Part Deux...

I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off all day, but I wanted to get this post up before too long, so here it is: part deux of our day-trip to Montreux, Suisse and our tour of the 13th century castle: Chateau Chillon!!!





[View from the Great Room/Dining Room...]


[...which happened to be right next to the torture chamber...this box was in the torture chamber...]






[Obviously safe.]


[Part of the wall is a natural rock formation...]



[This is where they pour the hot oil if an intruder gets past the first part of the stone fortress...]



[A backwards clock...]









[View from the top of Chateau Chillon...]


[Swiss Alps over Lac Leman/Lake Geneva...]


When we had arrived at the castle it had begun raining more significantly than on our walk around the lake, however, once we were done our tour of Chateau Chillon it stopped raining and the sun even came out...





Chateau Chillon and Montreux, we will be seeing you again...



A la prochain friends...

Because cancer sucks and tulips are pretty.

Yesterday, on my bike ride home from CERN, I noticed that the tulip sellers were out in a field behind the Val Thoiry/Migros. This became priority numero uno for our Saturday. We rode our bikes down the mountain and found fields of beautiful-ready-to-be-picked tulips in an array of colors. Even better yet - not only do you get 25 whole tulips (including the bulb) for 12€ or 18 CHF, but the proceeds go to fight cancer! Winner winner poulet diner!!!



So how does this whole pick-your-own-tulips jaun work you ask? Well, you show up, and a guy gives you a bucket and some scissors. Then go and pick as many tulips as you want. The final step: bring them to the guy, he counts them, you pay him - and fight cancer!!!



Step number two proved to be more difficult then we thought, but after a few tries we got the hang of pulling the tulips out of the ground with bulbs intact...


[Action shot! Trying to locate the bulb that didn't come out of the ground with the tulip...]




[Dan had to dig a few bulbs out too...]


[Success!!! First one I was able to get out without breaking the flower off of the bulb...]







Sidenote: I know, I lied. Part Deux of our Montreux day trip coming soon, promise!

Bonne week-end!

A la prochain friends...

So I tried a little Freddie....

[Chateau Chillon, Montreux, Suisse...]

We've had a whirlwind couple of weeks here as we just got done hosting one of our friends who was in from the US, and I am absolutely exhausted (lots of cheese, a day trip or two, and lots of science talk will do that a girl). So with that, I figured I'd show you a bunch of pictures from one of our day trips, which happened to be somewhere neither Dan nor I had ever been: Montreux, Suisse. I took a merde-ton of pictures, so I'm assuming that this will be part 1 of 2. What's so cool about Montreux? For one, it's surrounded by the Alps and on Lac Leman/Lake Geneva, but yet can sustain a climate full of palm trees and other tropical plants. In the summer, there's a huge jazz festival that takes over the city every year. Also, it is home to a very old castle from the 13th century, called Chateau Chillon. But the very best thing?


Freddie-F'n-Mecury.


Singer of songs, lover of life.


The Freddie Mercury Statue. It's right there. In all its glory. On the lakefront.



But Freddie isn't the only musical statue around Montreux...


Here Dan and Mike show off their best Ray Charles...

After having some fun in front of the statues, we decided to take this grey day for a walk along the lake, towards Chateau Chillon...


[Walking down to the lake...literally...]



["The Bather"...]


[Poppies and the Alps...]










[I totally dig lonely little boats...]


[Walking along the lake...]


And after about an hour or so walking along the palm trees, poppies and tennis clubs around Lac Leman, we got our first real glimpse of the castle in the distance...


[Hint: It's on the left...]

To be continued...

Next up: Chateau Chillon (or, "that's an interesting place to put a torture chamber...")

A la prochain friends...

Sidenote: Remember the seed planting initative that I'm joining in on? Well it's here if you don't. But as per my quota of planting one new seed for every blog post, and 2 new seeds for every new follower, my current seed count, including today's post is: 5. Woohoo!!!