We felt the legendary Swiss efficiency the moment we got on our bus to Montreux. It was called The Saint Bernard Express and was adorably decorated (and wonderfully clean.) The bus left right on time and we enjoyed views of the Italian Alps through the clouds. Mom and I sat as far away from everyone else as we could, partly because my cough sounded deadly but mostly because we didn't want the locals to hear us oohhhh-ing and ahhhhhh-ing over every single cute little house. We passed through this big tunnel, border patrol boarded the bus and checked our papers, and then we were in Switzerland.
The view from our bus over the Italian Alps into Switzerland
We kept our eyes glued to the windows until the bus dropped us off at the train station. The train station was clean and made perfect sense! They printed us out a sheet of which trains to get on and within the hour we were in Montreux.
The view from the highest tower.
The train dropped us off right next to the Chateu de Chillon and we slowly strolled along the river (slowly due to the heavy packs.) The castle had lockers for our bags (which I was very excited about) and wine tasting (which my mom was very excited about). We spent our afternoon exploring every level of the castle, including the gift shop.
After a dinner of bread and cheese, we set off to find our accomodations. Mom made reservations at a hostel right next to the castle but it turned out to be a good walk down the lake. I sat and watched our bags while she looked for it. After a while, I got bored and started painting. Mom came back and we sat and watched the sun sink behind the lakefront castle.
My mom snapped a shot of me painting Chateau de Chillon.
And this is how my painting turned out!
Once we had lost the light, we walked to our hostel. We paid extra to have our own room, but after a few hours my mom started to feel sick. There was mold on the wall, sending spores into the air! We complained and they gave us our own room with 6 bunkbeds. It was surprisingly comfortable.
Our hostel room.
I had a super nutritious dinner of popcorn and nuttela and then headed to bed(s). The next morning we walked to the train and set off for the mountains!
Walking to the train station along Lake Geneva.