Even in the small village of Leysin, there was a library. Very quaint.
On Sunday, we walked around the charming little village of Aigle. As it's in the French speaking region of Switzerland, everything is in French. I saw a patchwork shop, which was closed. We were back in Aigle the next day, Monday, but the shop was closed again. I now know that 'Lundi-Ferme' is Monday - Closed, not Monday to Friday.....The Aigle Chateau (Castle) is also a wine museum, as it is in a wine-growing region. Here I am at the entrance to the castle.
We tried several local white wines (we just asked for 'vin blanc') over the week and they were all lovely - slightly sweet and fruity. Each city and village we visited in French speaking Switzerland had signposts for the village/city centre - 'centre ville', so we would follow these signs and end up in cobblestoned streets, with quite old buildings - often festooned with window boxes overflowing with bright flowers (especially geraniums).
We went on the Swiss Chocolate Train on Wednesday. It was an additional cost to the rail pass, but was an all day train trip. We went out through Gruyere and stopped at a cheese factory. The journey finished at the Nestle chocolate factory at Broc. The whole town smelled of chocolate.
We had lunch at Gruyere Castle, which was fascinating. The castle had been lived in for hundreds of years by the Counts of Gruyere and was a medieval castle. The village seen here is a walled village in front of the castle. All tourist shops and restaurants, now. I had an excellent roesti for lunch (grated potato pancake). Col had Alpen Macaroni Cheese (not as good as my lunch!).
We tried several local white wines (we just asked for 'vin blanc') over the week and they were all lovely - slightly sweet and fruity. Each city and village we visited in French speaking Switzerland had signposts for the village/city centre - 'centre ville', so we would follow these signs and end up in cobblestoned streets, with quite old buildings - often festooned with window boxes overflowing with bright flowers (especially geraniums).
We went on the Swiss Chocolate Train on Wednesday. It was an additional cost to the rail pass, but was an all day train trip. We went out through Gruyere and stopped at a cheese factory. The journey finished at the Nestle chocolate factory at Broc. The whole town smelled of chocolate. 
We had lunch at Gruyere Castle, which was fascinating. The castle had been lived in for hundreds of years by the Counts of Gruyere and was a medieval castle. The village seen here is a walled village in front of the castle. All tourist shops and restaurants, now. I had an excellent roesti for lunch (grated potato pancake). Col had Alpen Macaroni Cheese (not as good as my lunch!).From the castle, you could see the whole valley.
It was a very picturesque village, with lots more window boxes!
It was a very picturesque village, with lots more window boxes!
One day, we jumped on the train and did a big circuit around 1/4 of the country. We left Leysin at 8.58am and returned at 9.30pm! Leysin - Aigle - Lausanne - Bern - Speitz - Montreaux - Aigle - Leysin. Whew! Bern is the capital and had heaps of of outdoor dining, as seen here. It was good to be somewhere where we could understand more of what was spoken (it is in the German speaking area).In Bern, I bought zwei saltzbretzel (2 salted pretzels) from BretzelKoenig (Pretzel king) - delicious!
We also visited a natural history museum and saw a complete mammoth skeleton, as well as tons of fossils. Amazing.
In Lausanne, there was an alphorn busker.....
There was also a wonderful fresh food markets through the pedestrian mall in the city. Lots of wonderful berries and other fruit and fresh vegetables (reminded me of the Wednesday farmer's market in Brisbane).
A
nother day, we were going to go to Lausanne, but missed the train because we were booking the Swiss Chocolate Train. So we decided to go the other direction to Sion instead. As we approached Sion, we could see a castle up on the hill overlooking the city. We got off the train and followed the Centre Ville signs, but weren't sure how to get to the castle. We stopped at a souvenir shop and asked for directions to the castle. The shopkeeper only spoke a little English, but we asked if she spoke German, which she did. So we had this great French/English/German conversation and got directions to the 'Alte Stadt - drei Strassen und gehen rechts' (old city - 3 streets and go right). Once we got to the Alte Stadt, there were signs for the castle.
We climbed up this rather steep roadway to find outselves with a choice, as there were two big hills - so, was it up a very steep long path to the castle or up a shorter, but no less steep path to the cathedral and natural history museum? The shorter path won out! It was rather warm and we had already walked some steep hills.The museum was fantastic - neanderthal bones and artifacts from the stone age, bronze age and right up to modern times. Just amazing to see these items 'in the flesh' that we would only see in a book.
The view over Sion from the cathedral was worth the hard climb. We looked over at the castle on the other hill and decided to call it a day - it WAS rather hot.Switzerland was really very interesting - I would go again!
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