Switzerland Day 5 - Evian, France!

Today, we took a train to the metro and the metro to a ferry, and then a ferry to FRANCE!

It felt so cool and so strange to be in a totally different country in such a short amount of time. 

On one side of the boat, there was a Swiss flag . . .

And on the other side of the boat - there was a French flag!

France!

We took this little adventure for two reasons. 

The main one being that how cool is it to say you've been to France?! 

And two, we were told to go find the Evian fountain . . . 

This got funny. 

Evian water bottles are a big thing in the US. We heard that the original source was in France and you would have thought we were looking for the original fountain of youth!

This is when we learned that French people do not like Americans. Nor are they helpful or kind. 

Rod took this picture to show that we were actually in France!

Behold, the great Evian fountain!

Hahahahaha!

To be fair, it is mineral water and it does come from springs in the French Alps, which are in 

Evian-les-Bains, France, which is on the south shore of Lake Geneva.

We definitely just expected something more grandiose.

We filled up our water bottles and enjoyed the water anyway!

It is said to be enriched with a crisp taste!

We wandered the streets for a while and popped in some fun stores. 

We found a creperie and all really wanted to try an official French crepe!

To add to our water story, we asked for water at the restaurant (

you have to pay for the water in Europe - it's never complimentary). . . 

and they brought us Evian water bottles! 

It just made the fountain funnier!

It was the day before Halloween, so our waiter "dressed up."

The crepes and hot chocolate were delicious!

These pictures just show a little more of where we were. 

The cutest little macaroons!

Back to Montreux!

Back in the train station . . . 

I know what these are for in the US, 

but the train station was so gross that they took on a different feel!

One of our friends bought us this chocolate hot dog. 

That was a one and done. 

We had our fancy Gala dinner at the hotel that night to welcome us to Montreux. 

All of us in this picture are from Utah - we did not know each other before this trip though. 

We don't get fancy very often, but it was fun to get dressed up!

Switzerland Day 4 - Gruyères and Montreux

We left Interlaken this morning by train to go to our next destination - Montreux!

It was another beautiful ride by train - so much country to see! 

We stopped in the town of Gruyères on the way and spent a couple of hours there. 

We toured a castle, shopped and had a traditional fondue lunch with lots of bread, cheese, potatoes, and more cheese.  Gruyere cheese is definitely not my favorite. 

"Gruyères is a medieval town in Switzerland. It's known for production of the cheese of the same name. The 13th-century Château de Gruyères is a hilltop fortress with 

a multimedia history show and ornate rooms. 

Inside the small St. Germain Castle, the H.R. Giger Museum shows artwork relating to the film “Alien.” 

The inside of the castle was actually beautiful and so colorful - I took hundreds of pictures, but for the sake of everyone's sanity, only posted a lot instead of a ton!

This hand was so creepy.  

According to legend, the severed hand displayed in Gruyères Castle is said to be a relic from the Holy Land, brought back by soldiers who participated in the First Crusade, serving as a talisman for the castle and its occupants; another story connects it to a battle where Count Louis of Gruyères defended his castle against invading forces, taking the hand of a fallen enemy as a symbol of victory. 

We've come a long way with wheelchairs!

My favorite spot in the castle was this French garden.

The Alien Museum was so out of place and bizarre in this cute little town. 

Look how cute this square is!

This is how we melted our cheese for lunch.

After a long ride on the train, we were finally in Montreux. Our hotel was unreal. 

Almost too hoity-toity for us!

Montreux is surrounded by Lake Geneva. There was a beautiful boardwalk going from our hotel around the lake. We loved the different things we saw each time we walked it - 

sunsets, fishermen, families, students, statues, etc.

Montreux is said to have an incredible Christmas Market.  They were just starting their preparations, but we were too early to actually attend.

Part of what makes Montreux so famous is the world-famous Jazz festival, and of course, Freddie Mercury - the lead vocalist and pianist of Queen. People acted crazy over this statue. There were always flowers at the base, and someone in our group even cried over it. 

Something I quickly learned about Montreux - people do not care for my friendliness.  

I smiled and said hello to people on the boardwalk and they were quite annoyed by me. 

This little guy and his hair had me giggling for quite a while though, 

so I'm sure I annoyed even more people!